Falcileptoneta taoqii Yu & Lin, 2025

Falcileptoneta taoqii Yu & Lin sp. nov.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Taoqi Wang; individualCount: 1; sex: male; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: 8631AECC-8D90-5A9F-8C0C-00FB228905AD; Taxon: scientificName: Falcileptoneta taoqii ; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Jilin; municipality: Tonghua; locality: Ji'an City, Dalu Town, Gaodi Village, Group 8, Feng Cave ; verbatimElevation: 310.8 m; verbatimCoordinates: 125.8232 ° E, 47.0471 ° N; Identification: identifiedBy: Yejie Lin; dateIdentified: 2024; Event: year: 2024; month: 1; day: 24; habitat: Cave; Record Level: institutionCode: IZCAS-Ar 45515 GoogleMaps

Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Taoqi Wang; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: DDE0855A-075F-52B1-926E-CF494F9EEFF4; Taxon: scientificName: Falcileptoneta taoqii ; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Jilin; municipality: Tonghua; locality: Ji'an City, Dalu Town, Gaodi Village, Group 8, Feng Cave ; verbatimElevation: 310.8 m; verbatimCoordinates: 125.8232 ° E, 47.0471 ° N; Identification: identifiedBy: Yejie Lin; dateIdentified: 2024; Event: year: 2024; month: 1; day: 24; habitat: Cave; Record Level: institutionCode: IZCAS-Ar 45516 GoogleMaps

Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Taoqi Wang; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: DDE0855A-075F-52B1-926E-CF494F9EEFF4; Taxon: scientificName: Falcileptoneta taoqii ; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Jilin; municipality: Tonghua; locality: Ji'an City, Dalu Town, Gaodi Village, Group 8, Feng Cave ; verbatimElevation: 310.8 m; verbatimCoordinates: 125.8232 ° E, 47.0471 ° N; Identification: identifiedBy: Yejie Lin; dateIdentified: 2024; Event: year: 2024; month: 1; day: 24; habitat: Cave; Record Level: institutionCode: IZCAS-Ar 45517 GoogleMaps

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Taoqi Wang; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: 71F3DDEB-4035-5085-985C-3B9B3C2EE46C; Taxon: scientificName: Falcileptoneta taoqii ; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Jilin; municipality: Tonghua; locality: Ji'an City, Dalu Town, Gaodi Village, Group 8, Feng Cave ; verbatimElevation: 310.8 m; verbatimCoordinates: 125.8232 ° E, 47.0471 ° N; Identification: identifiedBy: Yejie Lin; dateIdentified: 2024; Event: year: 2024; month: 12; day: 7; habitat: Cave GoogleMaps

Description

Male (holotype). Total length 2.16. Carapace 0.71 long, 0.86 wide. Eye sizes and interdistances: ALE 0.07, PME 0.06, PLE 0.05, ALE – PME 0.08, PLE – PME 0.03, PLE – PLE 0.09, AER 0.12, PER 0.15. Clypeus 0.16 high. Chelicerae with eight promarginal and four retromarginal teeth. Leg measurements: I 6.02 (1.66, 0.25, 1.85, 1.39, 0.87), II 4.48 (1.23, 0.22, 1.33, 0.95, 0.75), III (1.04, 0.21, -, -, -), IV 5.26 (1.46, 0.22, 1.61, 1.20, 0.77). Palp 1.34 (0.59, 0.19, 0.23, 0.33). Opisthosoma 1.20 long, 0.82 wide.

Colouration (Fig. 4 View Figure 4 A): Carapace yellowish-brown, without any pattern, cover with separated hair, edge darker; radial furrow obvious, lighter. Fovea longitudinal, reddish-brown. Chelicerae yellowish. Endites and labium yellowish-brown, bulging out medially, longer than wide. Sternum brown. Legs yellowish-brown without any pattern. Opisthosoma oval, yellowish-brown mottled with brown spots, dorsal lighter. Spinnerets yellowish-brown.

Palp (Fig. 2 View Figure 2 A – C): Femur without row of strong spine, six times longer than wide. Patella slightly curved, three times longer than wide. Tibia base with 11 spines ventrally, with three trichobothria dorsally, one near cybium, two near patella, abreast. Two retrolateral tibial spines, dorsal spine shorter and darker than ventral spine, ventral spine semi-transparent, with a sharp and curved bending process apically. Tarsus unbranched, with a depression in the middle, apically blunt with dense of long setae. Bulb oval, almost 2.22 times longer than wide. Median sclerite transparent, blade-shaped, widest in the middle. Prolateral sclerite more sclerotised than median sclerite, straight laterally, but curved ventrally, needle-shaped. Conductor membranous, dorsal expanded in lateral view. Base of the embolus almost as wide as conductor, embolic tip strongly curved, sickle-shaped.

Female (paratype). Total length 2.23. Carapace 0.80 long, 0.69 wide. Eye sizes and interdistances: ALE 0.07, PME 0.06, PLE 0.06, ALE – PME 0.08, PLE – PME 0.03, PLE – PLE 0.08, AER 0.14, PER 0.15. Clypeus 0.15 high. Chelicerae with eight promarginal and five retromarginal teeth. Leg measurements: I 5.31 (1.46, 0.23, 1.61, 1.22, 0.79), II 4.08 (1.16, 0.24, 1.13, 0.88, 0.67), III 3.51 (0.96, 0.23, 0.91, 0.83, 0.58), IV 4.59 (1.36, 0.20, 1.44, 1.11, 0.48). Palp 1.42 (0.48, 0.14, 0.33, 0.47). Opisthosoma 1.30 long, 0.88 wide.

Colouration (Fig. 4 View Figure 4 B): Similar to that of male, except darker.

Internal genitalia (Fig. 3 View Figure 3 A – C): Atrium rectangular, anterior margin of atrium flat. Pore plate oval, almost four times longer than wide. Spermathecae stalk without coiled, S-shaped. Spermathecae oval, heading dorsally, separated.

Diagnosis

Compared with the Chinese species, the male of Falcileptoneta taoqii sp. nov. is similar to F. lingqiensis ( Chen, Shen & Gao, 1984) by the tibia base with dense strong spines (Fig. 2 View Figure 2 A – C).

However, the males of the new species can be distinguished by the femur lacking a strong spine (Fig. 2 View Figure 2 A – C) [vs. present in F. lingqiensis (see Chen et al. (1984): figs. 7–9)] and tibia almost as long as cybium (Fig. 2 View Figure 2 A, C) [vs. shorter than the cybium in F. lingqiensis (see Chen et al. (1984): figs. 7 and 8)].

Compared with the South Korean species, the male of F. taoqii sp. nov. is similar to those of F. bifurca Seo, 2015 , F. cormuta Seo, 2015 , F. innuta Oh & Lee, 2023 and F. sunchangensis Seo, 2016 in two retrolateral tibial spines, prolateral sclerite sclerotised and needle-shaped and embolic tip narrowed and curved (Fig. 2 View Figure 2 A and C). Females of the new species are similar to those of F. bifurca , F. innuta and F. sunchangensis in the flat anterior atrium margin (Fig. 3 View Figure 3 ).

However, male of the new species can be distinguished by the tibia base with dense strong spines (Fig. 2 View Figure 2 A – C) [vs. absent in F. bifurca , F. cormuta , F. innuta and F. sunchangensis (see Seo (2015): figs. 1 B, 2 H and F; Oh and Lee (2023): figs. 6 C, D and F; Seo (2016): fig. 4 H)], the tip of ventral retrolateral tibial spine curved (Fig. 2 View Figure 2 B and C) [vs. straight in F. bifurca , F. cormuta and F. sunchangensis (see Seo (2015): figs. 1 B, 2 H and F; Seo (2016): fig. 4 H)], the median sclerite wide, almost 4.5 times longer than wide (Fig. 2 View Figure 2 B) [vs. thin, almost ten times longer than wide in F. innuta (see Oh and Lee (2023): fig. 6 F)], the middle of the embolus unexpanded in retrolateral view (Fig. 2 View Figure 2 C) [vs. expanded in F. bifurca and F. cormuta (see Seo (2015): figs. 1 B and 2 F)] and the length ratio of the embolus base to the embolus tip is 2: 1 in retrolateral view (Fig. 2 View Figure 2 C) [vs. 3: 1 in F. bifurca and F. cormuta , 4: 1 in F. innuta and 3: 2 in F. sunchangensis (see Seo (2015): figs 1 B and 2 F; Seo (2016): fig. 4 H; Oh and Lee (2023): fig. 6 F)]. The female of new species can be distinguished by the pore plate almost four times longer than wide (Fig. 3 View Figure 3 B) [vs. twice in F. innuta (see Oh and Lee (2023): fig. 7 C)], the spermathecae stalk uncoiled (Fig. 3 View Figure 3 B and C) [vs. coiled once in F. bifurca and F. innuta (see Seo (2015): fig. 1 D; Oh and Lee (2023): fig. 7 C)] and spermathecae separated (Fig. 3 View Figure 3 B and C) [vs. close to each other in F. bifurca and F. sunchangensis (see Seo (2015): fig. 1 D; Seo (2016): fig. 4 I)].

Etymology

The specific name is a patronym in honour of the collector Mr. Taoqi Wang, which is a noun (name) in the genitive case.

Distribution

Known only from the type locality (Fig. 5 View Figure 5 ).

Biology

All specimens were collected under stones in a cave (Fig. 1 View Figure 1 ).

DNA barcode

ATAAGAGTAATTATTCGAATTGAATTAGGTCAGGGGGGTAGATTGATTGGAAATGATCATTTGTATAATGTAATTGTAACTGGACATGCTTTTGTTATAATTTTTTTTATGGTTATGCCAATTTTGATTGGGGGGTTTGGTAATTGATTGGTTCCTTTAATAGTGGGAGCACCTGATATAGCTTTTCCTCGCATGAATAATTTAAGATTTTGGTTGTTGCCTCCTTCCTTGTTTTTGTTGGTTATTTCTTGCATAGTGGAGATGGGTGCAGGTACTGGATGAACTGTATATCCTCCTTTAGCTTCTTATTTAGGTCATTCGTGATTGTCTGTAGATTTTGTTATTTTTTCTTTACATTTGGCAGGAGCTTCTTCTATTATGGGTGCTATTAATTTTATTACTACTATTGTGAATATGCGTGTTCATGGGATGTATATGGATAGGGTTACTTTATTTGTTTGGTCAGTATTAATTACTGCCGTTTTATTATTACTTTCTTTACCTGTATTGGCTGGAGCTATTACAATATTACTTTCTGATCGTAATTTTAACACTTCTTTTTTTGACCCTGCGGGGGGGGGGGATCCTATTCTATTTCAGCATTTGTTTT (GenBank accession number PQ 777284).