Biodiversity Data Journal :
Taxonomy & Inventories
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Corresponding author: Peter Jäger (peter.jaeger@senckenberg.de), He Zhang (hancyhappy@aliyun.com)
Academic editor: Yanfeng Tong
Received: 19 Apr 2024 | Accepted: 27 May 2024 | Published: 04 Jun 2024
© 2024 Wenqin Chen, Peter Jäger, Yang Zhu, Long Yu, He Zhang
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Chen W, Jäger P, Zhu Y, Yu L, Zhang H (2024) Heteropoda lebar sp. nov.: a new species from the highlands in Pahang State, Malaysia (Sparassidae, Heteropodinae) with a distinct sexual colour dimorphism. Biodiversity Data Journal 12: e125745. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.12.e125745
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The genus Heteropoda Latreille, 1804, is ranked as the second within the family Sparassidae Bertkau, 1872. Up to now, sixteen species of this genus have been described from Malaysia.
A new species of this genus in the highlands of Pahang State, Malaysia is described under the name of H. lebar sp. nov.. Individuals of the new species live in primary forests on forest floor, active in the night on the leaf litter.
high diversity, Heteropodinae, sexual colour dimorphism, taxonomy
Heteropoda Latreille, 1804 (
New material recorded from Pahang State, Malaysia, revealed a species new to science with a distinct sexual colour dimorphism. It is diagnosed, described and illustrated and a distribution map is provided.
All spiders are preserved in 70% denatured ethanol. Observations and drawings were made using a Leica MZ 16 stereomicroscope and a Leica DLMS compound microscope, each with a camera lucida attachment. Photographs of live and preserved specimens were taken with a Canon EOS R and a Canon 100 mm macro lens in combination with a Canon MR 14EX ringlite. Photographs of copulatory organs were taken with a Leica DMC4500 digital camera attached to a Leica M205 C digital microscope.
Prosoma length/width is the length/width of the dorsal shield of the prosoma, opisthosoma length/width is the length excluding petiolus and spinnerets. Eye distances were measured in orthogonal views. Leg formula, leg spination pattern and size classes follow
Abbreviations used in the text and figures: AB—anterior bands, ALE—anterior lateral eyes, AME—anterior median eyes, C—conductor, dRTA—dorsal branch of RTA, DS—dorsal shield of prosoma, E—embolus, EF—epigynal field, FD—fertilisation duct, Fe—femur/femora, FW—first winding of internal duct system, GP—glandular pores, LL—lateral lobes, MS—median septum, Mt—metatarsus/metatarsi, OL—opisthosoma length, OS—opisthosoma, OW—opisthosoma width, Pa—patella/patellae, PL—prosoma length, PLE—posterior lateral eyes, PME—posterior median eyes, PP—posterior part of internal duct system, PW—prosoma width, RTA—retrolateral tibial apophysis, S—spermophor, SH—spermathecal head, SO—spermophor opening, SP—septal pocket, SS—slit sensillum, Ta—tarsus/tarsi, Ti—tibia/tibiae, TL—total length, vRTA—ventral branch of RTA.
Museum collections (with curators): CBEE—Centre for Behavioural Ecology and Evolution, College of Life Sciences, Hubei University, Wuhan, China (Yang Zhu). LKCNHM—Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, Singapore (Wendy Wang). SMF—Senckenberg Research Institute, Frankfurt am Main, Germany (J. Grüger, P. Jäger).
Male (holotype): Measurements: TL 17.1, PL 8.6, PW 7.7, AW 3.8, OL 8.5, OW 4.8. Eyes: AME 0.40, ALE 0.73, PME 0.60, PLE 0.75, AME-AME 0.21, AME-ALE 0.05, PME-PME 0.31, PME-PLE 0.50, AME-PME 0.46, ALE-PLE 0.49, CH AME 0.95, CH ALE 0.60. Spination: Pp 131, 101, 2121; Fe I–III 323, IV 33(4)1; Pa I–III 101, IV 10(1)1; Ti I–IV 2226; Mt I–II 1014, III 2014, IV 303(4)6. Mt I–III with dense scopulae along entire length, IV with distal and proximal field and few rows of stronger setae along entire length. Measurements of palps and legs: Palp 13.5 (4.4, 2.1, 3.1, -, 3.9); I 48.0 (12.8, 4.8, 14.0, 12.8, 3.6); II 52.6 (14.4., 5.1, 15.4, 14.0, 2.7); III 39.9 (11.5, 4.2, 11.5, 10.0, 2.7); IV 44.1 (12.3, 4.0, 12.1, 12.6, 3.1). Leg formula: II-I-IV-III. Chelicerae with 3 promarginal and 4 retromarginal teeth, ca. 85 denticles in dense patch close to promarginal teeth and one escort seta.
Palp (Figs
Colouration (Fig.
Heteropoda spp., habitus, dorsal view (these pictures were taken by Peter Jäger).
Female (paratype syntopic with holotype): Measurements: TL 27.8, PL 11.9, PW 9.8, AW 5.5, OL 15.9, OW 10.7. Eyes: AME 0.50, ALE 0.85, PME 0.70, PLE 0.82, AME-AME 0.32, AME-ALE 0.11, PME-PME 0.47, PME-PLE 0.81, AME-PME 0.75, ALE-PLE 0.77, CH AME 1.33, CH ALE 0.81. Spination: Pp 131, 101, 2121, 1014; Fe I–III 323, IV 331; Pa I–III 101, IV 001; Ti I–IIII 2026, IV 2126; Mt I–II 1014, III 2014, IV 3036. Mt I–III with dense scopulae along entire length, IV with distal and proximal field and few rows of stronger setae along entire length. Measurements of palps and legs: Palp 16.9 (5.1, 2.5, 4.0, -, 5.3); I 44.4 (12.5, 5.5, 12.4, 10.9, 3.1); II 47.8 (13.7, 5.8, 13.5, 11.6, 3.3); III 39.7 (11.6, 4.9, 11.0, 9.3, 2.9); IV 44.9 (13.0, 4.7, 12.0, 11.7, 3.5). Leg formula: II-IV-I-III. Chelicerae with 3 promarginal and 4 retromarginal teeth, 80–90 denticles in dense patch close to promarginal teeth, 8 denticles in proximal half and one escort seta.
Copulatory organ (Fig.
Colouration (Fig.
Variation. Male: TL 16.0–19.1, PL 7.9–9.3, OL 8.1–9.8. Female: TL 18.6–24.4, PL 9.0–14.0, OL 9.6–12.8. Some females with lateral lobes bulging more medially and, thus, covering more strongly median septum (Fig.
The males of H. lebar sp. nov. can be distinguished from those of all other congeners by the widened apical part of the conductor with retrolaterad, acuminate, triangular and rounded part (Figs
The specific name is derived from the Malay word lebar (ليبار), meaning broad and referring to the fact that the males with a widened conductor; adjective.
Spiders were observed during the night on the forest floor on the leaf litter of secondary or primary forests in elevations between 1000 and 1300 metres. Only in two females scars were found (one irregular elongated scar on left patella IV dorsally; one small round scar on right coxa III proximo-ventrally). It might be that mating bites do not often occur in this species.
This new species was previously identified as H. tetrica Thorell, 1897 (
The internal duct system of females of H. lebar sp. nov. does not show any widened parts that could be easily discerned as spermathecae as, shown schematically for Theridion melanurum Hahn, 1831 (
The senior author thanks Joseph K.H. Koh (Singapore) for his generous invitation to Bukit Fraser in 2013 and Tilmann Laufs for his company and support during the 2015 travel. This study was supported in part by grants from National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (NSFC-32300378; NSFC-32301291), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2022M721075; 2023M731035), the Open Foundation of Hubei Key Laboratory of Regional Development and Environmental Response (2022(B)004).
Writing - original draft: PJ, WC. Writing - review and editing: YL, PJ, YZ, HZ.