Biodiversity Data Journal : Taxonomic paper
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Taxonomic paper
Bridging the distributional gap of Tylorida striata (Thorell, 1877) and new synonymy (Araneae: Tetragnathidae)
expand article infoSiddharth Kulkarni‡, Swara Yadav§
‡ Biome Conservation Foundation, Pune, 18, Silver Moon Apts.,1/2A/2, Bavdhan Kh.,Pune 411021, India
§ Zoology Department, Yashavantrao Chavan Institute of Science, Satara, Satara, Maharashtra, India
Corresponding author:
Academic editor: Pedro Cardoso
Received: 12 Mar 2015 | Accepted: 25 Mar 2015 | Published: 26 Mar 2015
© 2015 Siddharth Kulkarni, Swara Yadav
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: Kulkarni S, Yadav S (2015) Bridging the distributional gap of Tylorida striata (Thorell, 1877) and new synonymy (Araneae: Tetragnathidae). Biodiversity Data Journal 3: e4878. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.3.e4878
 Open Access

Abstract

Background

Although Tylorida striata has not been reported from India, observations on India Biodiversity Portal (IBP 2015), an open access repository for biodiversity information of Indian subcontinent, showed images resembling this species. The respective locality in Gujarat, India was explored and specimens were studied to confirm record of T. striata in India. Literature study showed some taxonomic lacunae which needed to be resolved.

New information

The tetragnathid spider Tylorida striata (Thorell, 1877) is redescribed on examination of its long unknown syntypes from Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi deposited in the Natural History Museum of Giacomo Doria, Genoa, Italy and additional material from Kendari and other Indonesian regions. Description of Tylorida stellimicans (Simon, 1885) mentions its identity with T. striata, which however characterizes sub-adult of T. striata and is accordingly synonymized. Tylorida striata is newly recorded from India which links the distributional gap between China to Australia and Comoros Islands. Distributional and taxonomic records of Tylorida species with T. striata- like globose abdomen infer probable synonymy, which is subject to genus revision.

Keywords

Tylorida, syntypes, synonymy, new record, wide distribution.

Introduction

The World Spider Catalog (2015) currently consists of ten accepted Tylorida species distributed in parts of Asia, Australasia and Africa. Simon (1894) established genus Tylorida on the basis of Meta striata Thorell, 1877. Currently valid as Tylorida striata (Thorell, 1877), this species has a long and interesting taxonomic and faunistic history. In a series of publications on spiders from Malaysia and Papua New Guinea, Thorell (1877) described Meta striata based on female specimens collected from Kandari (now Kendari), South east Sulawesi, Indonesia mentioning this species is also found on Amboina (now Ambon Islands), Indonesia. Hasselt (1882) described its male from Sumatra. Strand (1922) reported a male from Bandar Bahive, Sumatra. He noted that it is not easy to identify this species on the basis of previous literature and warned that, difficulty in understanding its femoral setae could lead to its placement in wrong genus. Gerhardt (1923) nicely illustrated the male palp showing the coiled spermatic ducts.

Bösenberg and Strand (1906) described Tylorida magniventer from an unknown location in Japan which was later synonymised with T. striata by Tanikawa (2005). Tylorida striata has been reported a number of times from Japan (Yaginuma (1960), Yaginuma (1971), Yaginuma (1986)). Kulczyński (1911) reported the species from Andai, North New Guinea based on a female specimen; Chrysanthus (1963), Chrysanthus (1975) reported the species based on a female from South New Guinea; Lee (1966) reported a male from Taiwan; Davies (1988) illustrated female epigynum and male palp using Australian specimens.

Dimitrov et al. (2008) examined male holotype of Sternospina concretipalpis Schmidt & Krause, 1993 from the Comoros Islands and synonymised with T. striata, thus extending the species distribution far to the west. They noted conspicuous distributional gap and speculated that it may be due to lack of study, particularly from the Indian subcontinent. A detailed morphological description and phylogenetic position of T. striata in reference to its genus was provided in the atlas of Tetragnathidae (Álvarez-Padilla and Hormiga 2011). However, the whereabouts of Thorell's type(s) of Meta striata were unknown (Álvarez-Padilla and Hormiga 2011, Dimitrov et al. 2008).

Materials and methods

Syntypes of Meta striata were loaned from Natural History Museum of Giacomo Doria, Genoa, Italy (MSNG) at Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, The Netherlands for examination by Siddharth Kulkarni and imaged using Nikon DS-Ri1 mounted on Leica M165C™ stereozoom microscope, Indonesian material using Zeiss™ Stemi SV11 stereomicroscope and Indian material using Brunel IMXZ™stereozoom microscope and imaged using Canon 1200D™ mounted camera. Indonesian specimens are deposited at Naturalis Biodiversity Center (RMNH), Leiden, The Netherlands and Indian specimens are deposited at Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), Mumbai. Map was prepared using QGIS (2015). All morphological measurements are in millimetres (mm).

Taxon treatment

Tylorida striata (Thorell, 1877)

Nomenclature

Meta striata Thorell, 1877: 427.

Meta striata Hasselt, 1882: 25.

Argyroepeira bigibba Thorell, 1887: 140.

Argyroepeira s. Thorell, 1887: 142.

T. striata Simon, 1894a: 737, f. 809.

Argyroepeira s. Workman & Workman, 1894: 19, pl. 19.

Tylorida magniventer Bösenberg & Strand, 1906: 187, pl. 15, f. 397.

T. striata Bösenberg & Strand, 1906: 187, pl. 15, f. 420.

Sternospina concretipalpis Schmidt and Krause, 1993: 7, f. 1.

Tylorida stellimicans Simon, 1885: 449. New synonymy.

Materials   Download as CSV 
Syntype:
  1. scientificName:
    Tylorida striata
    ; taxonomicStatus:
    accepted
    ; scientificNameID:
    urn:lsid:nmbe.ch:spidersp:014401
    ; kingdom:
    Animalia
    ; phylum:
    Arthropoda
    ; class:
    Arachnida
    ; order:
    Araneae
    ; family:
    Tetragnathidae
    ; taxonRank:
    species
    ; nomenclaturalCode:
    ICZN
    ; genus:
    Tylorida
    ; scientificNameAuthorship:
    (Thorell, 1877)
    ; locationID:
    Ambon Islands, Indonesia
    ; continent:
    Asia
    ; islandGroup:
    Maluku archipelago
    ; island:
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    ; country:
    Indonesia
    ; countryCode:
    IDN
    ; year:
    1874
    ; individualCount:
    2
    ; sex:
    Female
    ; lifeStage:
    adult
    ; recordedBy:
    O. Beccari
    ; occurrenceStatus:
    present
    ; identifiedBy:
    Thorell
    ; identificationReferences:
    Studi sui Ragni Malesi e Papuani. I. Thorell, T. (1877)
    ; type:
    specimen
    ; institutionID:
    Museo Civico di Storia Naturale “Giacomo Doria”, Italy
    ; institutionCode:
    MSNG
    ; basisOfRecord:
    Preserved specimen
Other materials:
  1. scientificName:
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    ; taxonID:
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    ; kingdom:
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    ; order:
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    ; family:
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    ; taxonRank:
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    ; genus:
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    ; scientificNameAuthorship:
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    ; locationID:
    TYPE LOCALITY
    ; continent:
    Asia
    ; country:
    Indonesia
    ; countryCode:
    IDN
    ; stateProvince:
    SOUTH EAST SULAWESI
    ; locality:
    Taneah, 40 km south of Kendari, sea-faced
    ; eventDate:
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    ; individualCount:
    1
    ; sex:
    1 female
    ; recordedBy:
    C.L.and P.R. Deeleman
    ; type:
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    ; institutionID:
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    ; institutionCode:
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    ; collectionCode:
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    ; basisOfRecord:
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  2. scientificName:
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    ; taxonomicStatus:
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    ; scientificNameID:
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    ; kingdom:
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    ; family:
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    ; taxonRank:
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    ; nomenclaturalCode:
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    ; genus:
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    ; scientificNameAuthorship:
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    ; locationID:
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    ; continent:
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    ; country:
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    ; countryCode:
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    ; stateProvince:
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    ; locality:
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    ; verbatimCoordinateSystem:
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    ; decimalLatitude:
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    ; decimalLongitude:
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    ; samplingProtocol:
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    ; eventDate:
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    ; year:
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    ; month:
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    ; day:
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    ; habitat:
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    ; eventRemarks:
    post monsoon
    ; individualCount:
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    ; sex:
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    ; lifeStage:
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    ; catalogNumber:
    BNHS Sp. 139–144
    ; occurrenceRemarks:
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    ; recordedBy:
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    ; occurrenceStatus:
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    ; identifiedBy:
    Siddharth Kulkarni
    ; identificationReferences:
    Studi sui Ragni Malesi e Papuani. I. Thorell, T. (1877); Morphological and phylogenetic atlas of the orb-weaving spider family Tetragnathidae. Álvarez-Padilla, F.
    ; type:
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  3. scientificName:
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    ; taxonomicStatus:
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    ; country:
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    ; locality:
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    ; verbatimCoordinateSystem:
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    ; habitat:
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    ; individualCount:
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    ; sex:
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    ; catalogNumber:
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    ; identifiedBy:
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    ; identificationReferences:
    Studi sui Ragni Malesi e Papuani. I. Thorell, T. (1877); Morphological and phylogenetic atlas of the orb-weaving spider family Tetragnathidae. Álvarez-Padilla, F.
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    ; locality:
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    ; sex:
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    ; class:
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    ; taxonRank:
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    ; genus:
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    ; scientificNameAuthorship:
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    ; continent:
    Asia
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    ; countryCode:
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    ; stateProvince:
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    ; locality:
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    ; eventDate:
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    ; individualCount:
    1
    ; sex:
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    ; recordedBy:
    C.L and P.R. Deeleman
    ; type:
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    ; locality:
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    ; eventDate:
    01/03/1990
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    Deeleman and leg. Suh. Djojosudharmo
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    ; taxonRank:
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    PreservedSpecimen

Description

Syntypes (Fig. 1) (examined by Siddharth Kulkarni). Two adult females, undissected epigyna, abdomen detached from cephalothorax; abdomen of one female damaged right laterally. Measurements of one syntype. Total length 5.36, carapace 2.03, 1.60 wide, abdomen 2.74 long, 3.14 high.

a
b
c
d
Figure 1.

Meta striata, female syntype.

a: Habitus (detached cephalothorax and abdomen placed together), dorsal view (Scale=5 mm)  
b: Abdomen of same syntype, lateral view (Scale=3 mm)  
c: Vulva, ventral view (Scale=0.3 mm)  
d: Labels in syntype vial  

Carapace brown, sternum and legs fawn; trichobothrial sockets on proximal quarter length of femora IV. Abdomen yellowish brown with shiny guanine patches lined from apex towards ventral side, as also seen in live specimen (Fig. 2). Abdomen globose, roughly triangular in lateral view with two small tubercles at apex. Epigynal plate flat, 1.5 times wider than long, coils of fertilization ducts seen translucently (Fig. 1c).

Figure 2.  

Tylorida striata, live female from India (BNHS Sp. 139).

Dissected epigynum in other material shows, coiled and sclerotized fertilization and copulatory ducts, parallel just before joining spermatheca (Fig. 3​).

Figure 3.  

Tylorida striata, vulva, dorsal view, specimen from India (BNHS Sp. 139) CD- copulatory duct, FD- fertilization duct, S- spermatheca (Scale=0.2 mm).

Remarks: 

The female length of T. striata per taxonomic literature and examined specimens ranges between 3.2-5.5 mm (Suppl. material 1​). Álvarez-Padilla and Hormiga (2011) reported average size of female as 10 mm which is an error (pers. comm. Fernando Álvarez-Padilla).

Synonymy: 

Original description of T. stellimicans by Simon (1885)​ mentioned 'excessivement voisine' (extremely close) to T. striata distinguished T. stellimicans on the basis of arrangement and size of eyes. This description is of sub-adult T. striata where eye dimensions vary and ventral side of abdomen including epigynal plate surface is blackish. Also, wide distribution of T. striata including locality region of T. stellimicans and apparent absence of records elsewhere of T. stellimicans; we propose T. stellimicans as synonym of T. striata.

Taxon discussion

Dimitrov et al. (2008) stated the location of type material was uncertain and possibly in the Natural History Museum of the city of Geneva based on unpublished notes of Levi. The type(s) of T. striata are not there and none of Thorell’s types have been deposited in Geneva (pers. comm. Peter Schwendinger, Curator, Natural History Museum, Geneva). There is likely to be confusion between Geneva (Switzerland) and Genoa (Italy) due to similar spellings and pronunciation. Many of Thorell’s types have been deposited at Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova (also known as the Natural History Museum of Giacomo Doria, Genoa). The existence of two syntypes collected by O. Beccari in 1874 from Kandari, Indonesia was confirmed (Fig. 1d) at this museum in Genoa. Thorell (1877) mentions collection of three females, but only two were found in the vial labelled as ‘Cotypi’ and one remaining specimen is missing.

Discussion

The new record of T. striata from the Indian peninsula joins the disjunction of this species’ distribution between Comoros Islands and China to Australia (Fig. 4). Interestingly, the species is found on either sides of the Wallace line, thus distributed throughout the two ecozones of Asia (Indo-Malayan & Palearctic) and Australasia. The record from Comoros Islands, which belongs to the Afrotropical ecozone is noteworthy. The wide distribution of T. striata could be attributed to the dispersal and adaptive capacity of this species. On the other hand, Tylorida sataraensis Kulkarni, 2014 is restricted to a smaller part of Western Ghats in India (Kulkarni and Lewis 2015). These distributional variations of species belonging to same genus may suggest contrasting adaptive capacities, since T. striata undoubtedly sustains in anthropogenically exploited habitats whereas, T. sataraensis is a habitat specialist, currently under threat of habitat degradation (Kulkarni 2014, Kulkarni and Lewis 2015). Two other Tylorida species having T. striata-like globose abdomen, Tylorida mornensis (Benoit, 1978) and Tylorida seriata (Thorell, 1899) are only known from their respective type localities (Fig. 4). Tylorida seriata has not been reported since its original description from Cameroon whereas T. mornensis was recorded again from its type locality Seychelles and reported as endemic (Saaristo 2003, Saaristo 2010​). Whether this is a natural disjunction, or due to lack of study (Dimitrov et al. 2008​) or a case of synonymy similar to T. stellimicans needs to be resolved, subject to a future genus revision.

Figure 4.  

Map showing distribution of Tylorida species with T. striata-like globose abdomen.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Maria Tavano for loan of syntypes, Christa Deeleman-Reinhold for making the South-east Asian collection available, Jeremy Miller for provision of laboratory resources at Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, The Netherlands, Peter Schwendinger and Christian Kropf for help in locating the types of Meta striata. Thanks also to Atul Vartak and Prathamesh Patel for help during field work, Jeremy Miller, Cor Vink, Dimitar Dimitrov and Pedro Cardoso for suggestions to the manuscript. Siddharth Kulkarni would like to thank Ernst Mayr Travel Grant received for studying museum specimens.

Author contributions

Siddharth Kulkarni was involved in field work, specimen examination and manuscript writing, Swara Yadav reviewed the literature and examined specimens from India.

References

Supplementary material

Suppl. material 1: Female length of Tylorida striata per taxonomic reference, examined syntypes and specimens from India 
Authors:  Siddharth Kulkarni and Swara Yadav
Data type:  Morphological
Filename: Tylorida_sizes.xlsxDownload file (11.16 kb)
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