Anaxibia folia Sankaran & Sebastian 2017, spec. nov.
Creators: name: Sankaran, Pradeep M.
name: Sebastian, Pothalil A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Dictynidae
Anaxibia
Anaxibia folia

description: Anaxibia folia spec. nov. (Figs 1– 3)
Type material: Holotype: Male (ADSH2831 A), INDIA: Kerala: Malappuram, Nilambur, Canolly’s Plot, 11o16'06.17''N, 76o12'22.21''E, 20 m alt., 16 May 2013, P.M. Sankaran leg., from forest litter, by hand. Paratypes: 1 male, 2 females, 1 juvenile (ADSH2831 B), same data as for holotype.
Etymology. The specific epithet is a neuter plural in apposition, derived from the leaf litter-dwelling habit of the new species. Latin: folium = leaf.
Diagnosis. Anaxibia folia spec. nov. is most similar to Anaxibia pictithorax (Kulczyński, 1908), but can be separated from the latter by the following combination of characters: cymbial caudal lobe (CL; Fig. 2B, D) almost straight and remaining covered by tibia in ventral view (cymbial caudal lobe of A. pictithorax with strong baso-prolateral bend and visible in ventral view), tibia with ventral bulging (tibia of A. pictithorax lacks ventral bulging), dorsal tibial apophysis (DTA; Fig. 2D) short and distant from cymbial caudal lobe (A. pictithorax with broad DTA lying close to cymbial caudal lobe) and epigyne with sclerotised horizontal plates (SHP; Fig. 2E) and without lateral foveae (epigyne of A. pictithorax with lateral foveae and without sclerotised horizontal plates) (compare Figs 2B–E with Kulczyński 1908: plate 23, figs 27–29). Females of A. folia spec. nov. can be separated from the females of A. rebai, the only Indian congener by lacking paired brown or black patches on the posterior half of mid-dorsal opisthosoma and epigyne with sclerotised horizontal plates and without lateral foveae, whereas the posterior half of mid-dorsal opisthosoma of A. rebai with paired conspicuous deep brown or black patches and epigyne with lateral foveae and lacks sclerotised horizontal plates (compare Figs 1B, 2E with Tikader 1966: figs 1a–b).
Description. Male (holotype, Figs 1A, C, E, 2A). Carapace brownish with dark brown striae, with cephalic region elevated more than thoracic region (Figs 1A, 2A). Fovea absent. Ocular area, clypeus, chelicerae, fangs, labium, maxillae, sternum brownish. AER recurved, PER straight; AME black, all others pearly white (Fig. 1A). Boss prominent. Cheliceral promargin with three teeth, retromargin with one. Maxillae with reduced scopulae. Sternum covered with black hairs, weak medially; truncate between coxae IV, with blunt tip. Opisthosoma widely oval, creamy white with inconspicuous broad greyish patches, covered with a uniform mat of fine greyish hairs; dorsum provided with two pairs of sigillae (Fig. 1A). Anal tubercle prominent (Fig. 1C). Cribellum reduced (Fig. 1C). Spinnerets creamy white with greenish shades only on posterior lateral spinneret; anterior lateral spinneret widest, posterior lateral spinneret longest (Fig. 1C). Legs slender, spineless, setaceous, brownish with green shades; metatarsus IV with reduced calamistrum (Fig. 1E). Body length 1.35. Prosoma length 0.56, width 0.50. Opisthosoma length 0.79, width 0.58. Eye diameters: ALE 0.03.
AME 0.04. PLE 0.02. PME 0.02. Eye interdistances: AME–AME 0.02. AME–ALE 0.02. AME–PME 0.02. PME–PME 0.05. PME–PLE 0.06. Clypeus height at AMEs 0.07, at ALEs 0.08. Chelicerae length 0.23. Measurements of pedipalp and legs. Pedipalp 0.60 [0.17, 0.11, 0.09, 0.23], I 1.73 [0.50, 0.18, 0.44, 0.36, 0.25], II 1.57 [0.46, 0.16, 0.37, 0.34, 0.24], III 1.35 [0.40, 0.14, 0.30, 0.30, 0.21], IV 1.52 [0.46, 0.15, 0.35, 0.36, 0.20]. Leg formula: 1243. Pedipalp (Figs 2B–D): Palpal segments uniformly brownish, spineless; femur disto-dorsally with a short bulging (Figs 2C–D, 1 st arrow); patella retrolaterally with a short, triangular process (PP; Fig. 2B); tibia with ventral bulging (Figs 2B–C, 2 nd arrow), distoventrally with short, knob-like ventral tibial apophysis (VTA; Fig. 2C), with an obliquely oriented, plate-like dorsal tibial apophysis (DTA; Fig. 2D). Cymbium proximo-prolaterally with a moderately long caudal lobe (CL; Fig. 2B, D). Tegulum moderately large. Dictynid terminal apophysis stout, medio-retrolaterally placed (dTA; Fig. 2C), disto-ventrally with a horizontal ridge (Fig. 2B, 3 rd arrow). Subtegulum small, globular (ST; Figs 2B–C). Embolus originating prolaterodistally from tegulum, moderately long, with wedge-shaped proximad tip resting near base of conductor (E; Fig. 2C). Conductor originating retrolatero-proximally from tegulum, unmodified, smoothly curved (C; Figs 2B–C), with straight basal part and prolaterad apical part (uC, tC; Fig. 2B).
Female (paratype, Figs 1B, D, F). Like male except the following. Carapace, ocular area, clypeus, chelicerae, fangs, maxillae, labium, sternum, legs, spinnerets, palps straw coloured (Fig. 1B). Opisthosoma lacking greyish patches (Fig. 1B). Cribellum well marked, unipartite (Fig. 1D). Calamistrum prominent, uniseriate (Fig. 1F). Palpal tibiae and tarsi bear spine-like macrosetae. Body length 1.59. Prosoma length 0.60, width 0.51. Opisthosoma length 0.99, width 0.65. Eye diameters: ALE 0.03. AME 0.03. PLE 0.02. PME 0.02. Eye interdistances: AME–AME 0.03. AME–ALE 0.02. AME–PME 0.02. PME–PME 0.05. PME–PLE 0.05. Clypeus height at AMEs 0.05, at ALEs 0.06. Chelicerae length 0.21. Measurements of palp and legs. Palp 0.53 [0.15, 0.08, 0.10, 0.20], I 1.88 [0.57, 0.19, 0.46, 0.41, 0.25], II 1.75 [0.54, 0.18, 0.41, 0.38, 0.24], III 1.54 [0.49, 0.17, 0.33, 0.34, 0.21], IV 1.82 [0.59, 0.19, 0.42, 0.40, 0.22]. Leg formula: 1423. Copulatory organ (Figs 2E–F): Epigyne simple, hirsute, widely flat, laterally with distinct, sclerotised, smoothly curved horizontal plates (SHP; Fig. 2E). Copulatory openings crescent-like, widely separated, lying near to the posterior border of epigyne (CO; Fig. 2E). Copulatory ducts short, sclerotised, basally wide, basal part remains contiguous with an enlarged sac-like median diverticulum (CD; Fig. 2F); median diverticulum roughly squarish with anterior concavity, postero-laterally with paired, broad lobes overhanging to the basal part of copulatory ducts (MD, LLMD; Fig. 2F). Spermathecae small, sclerotised, circular (S; Fig. 2F). Fertilization ducts narrow, angular, originating postero-laterally from spermathecae (FD; Fig. 2F).
Distribution. Only known from the type locality (Fig. 3).
Note. Males of A. rebai are misidentified and belonging to Nigma shiprai (Tikader, 1966) (World Spider Catalog 2017).
description: Published as part of Sankaran, Pradeep M. & Sebastian, Pothalil A., 2017, Anaxibia folia spec. nov. - a new litter-dwelling dictynid spider from India (Araneae: Dictynidae: Dictyninae), pp. 441-444 in Zootaxa 4363 (3) on pages 441-444, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4363.3.9, http://zenodo.org/record/1108254