Phonognatha guanga Barrion & Litsinger, 1995

Phonognatha guanga Barrion & Litsinger, 1995 . Philippines: Luzon Island, Laguna Province, Los

Baños, IRRI Farm, 4.iv.1984, A. T. Barrion, female holotype ( IRRI, not examined); Liliw, Tuybaana

Village, 14.iii.1979, T. J. Perfect, subadult female paratype ( IRRI, not examined) .

This species from the Philippines was originally described as a member of Phonognatha without providing an explicit justification of why the Philippine species should be classified in the genus. Unlike Phonognatha or closely related taxa, this species has a high clypeus, abdomen without dark-on-white markings, truncate abdomen with a posterior tubercle, V-shaped epigynum, lack of copulatory ducts inside a capsule and non-lobed spermathecae. Furthermore, there is no note about an orb web with leaf retreat; this specimen was collected under leaves. This species is a member of Linyphiidae as pointed out by Hormiga (1998). The illustrations of the epigynum of the holotype ( Barrion & Litsinger, 1995: fig. 321F, G) clearly suggest that guanga is a member of the genus Neriene , as delimited and diagnosed in van Helsdingen’s (1969) monograph, based on the presence of spirally coiled grooves in the atrium [e.g. see van Helsdingen’s (1969) figs 347 and 386 for two examples of the epigyna of Oriental species]. Barrion & Litsinger (1995) also describe two species of Neriene under the tetragnathid genus Meta , as pointed out by Hormiga (1998). Wunderlich (2008: 94) had also suggested that these two species are linyphiids.