Choiroblemma metok Zhou, Zhang & Tong, 2024, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Zhou, Yang
name: Zhang, Xiaoqing
name: Tong, Yanfeng
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Tetrablemmidae
Choiroblemma
Choiroblemma metok

description: Choiroblemma metok sp. nov.
Materials
Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Panlong Wu; individualCount: 1; sex: male; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: DC568B4F-4B5F-5C52-B2B8-6E19CAB09EB5; Taxon: order: Araneae; family: Tetrablemmidae; genus: Choiroblemma; specificEpithet: metok; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Xizang; county: Nyingchi City, Metok County; verbatimCoordinates: 29°19′30″N, 95°19′59″E; Identification: identifiedBy: Yanfeng Tong; Event: eventDate: 21 September 2013; Record Level: institutionCode: SYNU- 1379
Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Panlong Wu; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: C59EA94F-9374-5001-A7B0-3902049CDCE1; Taxon: order: Araneae; family: Tetrablemmidae; genus: Choiroblemma; specificEpithet: metok; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Xizang; county: Nyingchi City, Metok County; verbatimCoordinates: 29°19′30″N, 95°19′59″E; Identification: identifiedBy: Yanfeng Tong; Event: eventDate: 21 September 2013; Record Level: institutionCode: SYNU- 1380
Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Zhizhong Gao; individualCount: 5; sex: 1 male, 4 females; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: 7572C843-6313-5D55-93A0-100E837D9D38; Taxon: order: Araneae; family: Tetrablemmidae; genus: Choiroblemma; specificEpithet: metok; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Xizang; county: Nyingchi City, Metok County; locality: hills behind the Petrochina Motuo gas station; verbatimCoordinates: 29°19′46″N, 95°20′32″E; Identification: identifiedBy: Yanfeng Tong; Event: eventDate: 22 September 2013; Record Level: institutionID: SYNU- 1374-1378
Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Yejie Lin; individualCount: 2; sex: male; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: C376BB62-898E-50BC-88A1-44B89FC39352; Taxon: order: Araneae; family: Tetrablemmidae; genus: Choiroblemma; specificEpithet: metok; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Xizang; county: Nyingchi City, Metok County; locality: Yadang Village; verbatimCoordinates: 29°20′36″N, 95°20′48″E; Identification: identifiedBy: Yanfeng Tong; Event: eventDate: 6 August 2013; Record Level: institutionID: SYNU-F- 091-092
Description
Male (holotype). Colouration: body orange brown, legs yellowish. Habitus as in Fig. 1 A, C and E.
Measurements: total length 1.13; carapace 0.55 long, 0.47 wide, 0.29 high; abdomen 0.73 long, 0.52 wide, 0.47 high; clypeus 0.16 high; sternum 0.32 long, 0.35 wide. Length of legs: I 1.30 (0.42, 0.14, 0.32, 0.21, 0.21); II 1.16 (0.38, 0.14, 0.26, 0.19, 0.19); III 0.99 (0.28, 0.13, 0.22, 0.20, 0.16); IV 1.37 (0.42, 0.14, 0.36, 0.24, 0.21).
Carapace reticulated, margin with small denticles; cephalic region slightly sloped in lateral view; eyes in three distinct pairs; clypeus very high, with distinct snout-like protrusion (Fig. 1 B and F); chelicerae frontally with basally wide, conical horn, distally with well-developed prong (Fig. 3 E); sternum with sparse setae, reticulated (Fig. 1 D). Opisthosoma oval; dorsal scutum large, oval, glossy, densely pitted, covered with fine setae; pulmonary plate glossy, with pits for setae; pre-anal plate much wider than postgenital plate. Legs unmodified.
Palp (Fig. 3 A – D): femur and tibia slightly swollen; cymbium with a conical apophysis; bulb subglobular; the embolus very thin and needle-like, conductor sclerite short, nearly half length of the embolus.
Female (SYNU- 1380). As in male, except as noted. Habitus as in Fig. 2 A, C and E.
Measurements: total length 1.23; carapace 0.50 long, 0.47 wide, 0.27 high; abdomen 0.83 long, 0.65 wide, 0.48 high; clypeus 0.13 high; sternum 0.34 long, 0.36 wide. Length of legs: I 1.25 (0.41, 0.15, 0.29, 0.20, 0.20); II 1.12 (0.41, 0.14, 0.21, 0.18, 0.18); III 1.00 (0.30, 0.13, 0.22, 0.18, 0.17); IV 1.42 (0.45, 0.16, 0.35, 0.25, 0.21).
Cephalic region slightly elevated in lateral view; clypeus without the snout-like protuberance; chelicerae horn absent (Fig. 2 E and G).
Abdomen: epigynal fold wide; pre-anal plate with a rectangular extension on posterior margin (Fig. 2 H).
Genitalia: a very thin duct running into a small vestibule; vulval stem wide, strongly sclerotised; lateral horns long, slightly sclerotised, supporting the base of vulval ducts of seminal receptaculum (Fig. 3 H).
Diagnosis
This new species is similar to Choiroblemma bengalense and Choiroblemma rhinoxunum (Bourne 1980: figs. 31–44) in the snout-like protrusion of clypeus of male and the thin embolus, but can be distinguished by the thin and short conductor (Fig. 3 A – C), vs. wide and robust, the conical apophysis of male palpal cymbium (Fig. 3 C and D) vs. lacking, the distally prong of male chelicerae (Fig. 3 E) vs. lacking and the extension of female pre-anal plate on posterior margin (Fig. 2 H) vs. on the middle area.
Etymology
The specific name is a noun in apposition taken from the type locality.
Distribution
Known only from the type locality (Fig. 4).
description: Published as part of Zhou, Yang, Zhang, Xiaoqing & Tong, Yanfeng, 2024, First record of the tetrablemmid armoured spiders (Araneae, Tetrablemmidae) from Xizang, China, with description of a new species, pp. e 143503 in Biodiversity Data Journal 12 on page e143503, DOI: 10.3897/BDJ.12.e143503