Aculithus languan Jiang & Liu, 2025

Aculithus languan Jiang & Liu sp. nov.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: Phu- 178 ; recordedBy: Liu Ke-Ke; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: E3509C28-A8A8-52B3-8CF6-B2A373512088; Taxon: scientificName: Aculithus languan sp. nov.; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Jiangxi; locality: Shangrao City, Wuyuan County, Wuyuan Forest Birds National Nature Reserve, Dazhangshan, Wolong Valley ; verbatimElevation: 533 m; verbatimCoordinates: 29°31'28.84"N, 117°44'39.07"E; georeferenceProtocol: GPS; Event: samplingProtocol: sieving; eventDate: 3 / 2 / 2025 GoogleMaps

Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: Phu- 178 ; recordedBy: Liu Ke-Ke; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: 208348DE-58CD-5180-8C27-980666884DD4; Taxon: scientificName: Aculithus languan sp. nov.; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Jiangxi; locality: Shangrao City, Wuyuan County, Wuyuan Forest Birds National Nature Reserve, Dazhangshan, Wolong Valley ; verbatimElevation: 533 m; verbatimCoordinates: 29°31'28.84"N, 117°44'39.07"E; georeferenceProtocol: GPS; Event: samplingProtocol: sieving; eventDate: 3 / 2 / 2025 GoogleMaps

Description

Female (Holotype). Habitus as in Fig. 1 View Figure 1 A and B and Fig. 2 View Figure 2 C and D. Total length 2.81, carapace 1.23 long, 1.06 wide.

Eye sizes and interdistances (Fig. 1 View Figure 1 A): AME 0.05, ALE 0.08, PME 0.04, PLE 0.07; AME-AME 0.03, AME-ALE 0.02, PME-PME 0.07, PME-PLE 0.08, AME-PME 0.08, AME-PLE 0.14, ALE-ALE 0.14, PLE-PLE 0.26, ALE-PLE 0.05. MOA 0.15 long, frontal width 0.11, posterior width 0.14. Chelicerae (Fig. 1 View Figure 1 C) with three promarginal (proximal largest, distal smallest) and seven retromarginal teeth (the distal one largest, gradually decreasing in size, compact). Sternum (Fig. 1 View Figure 1 B), longer than wide, posteriorly triangular, relatively blunt. Leg measurements: I 3.77 (1.02, 0.47, 1.1, 0.79, 0.39); II 3.47 (0.93, 0.42, 0.82, 0.84, 0.46); III 3.19 (0.9, 0.37, 0.59, 0.81, 0.52); IV 4.32 (1.13, 0.42, 0.92, 1.23, 0.62). Left leg spination (Figs. 1 A and B): femora I d 11, p 111, II d 1, III d 1, IV d 1; tibiae I v 222222, II v 222221; metatarsi I v 2221, II v 2221. Pedicel 0.14 long. Abdomen (Fig. 1 View Figure 1 A and B) 1.44 long, 1 wide.

Colouration (Fig. 1 View Figure 1 A and B). Carapace yellow, with radial, irregular dark stripes mediolaterally and arc-shaped dark stripes around margin. Fovea distinct, brown. Chelicerae, endites and labium yellow. Sternum yellow, margins with dark brown mottled spots. Legs yellow, femora I-IV distally each with black annulations; tibia II distally with blackish-brown mottled markings, tibiae III-IV distally with blackish-brown annulations. Abdomen yellowish, anteriorly with a pair of large C-shaped markings, covering more than half of the anterior region; posteriorly with five dark brown V-shaped stripes extending towards the abdomen and converging towards the spinnerets; venter posteromedially has a pair of dark brown triangular spots.

Epigyne (Fig. 1 View Figure 1 D and E and Fig. 5 View Figure 5 A). Epigynal plate weakly sclerotised. Copulatory openings (CO) small, oval, shorter than the length of copulatory ducts (CD), located anterolaterally, widely separated by median septum (MS). Copulatory ducts slightly longer and thicker than spermathecae (Spe), anteriorly with pair of translucent bursae (Bu) covering nearly half of the epigyne. Glandular appendages (GA) slightly thicker than fertilisation ducts (FD), near base of bursae, located on inner side of copulatory ducts. Connecting tubes (CT) extremely short and narrower than spermathecae, extending posteriorly to connect with spermathecae. Spermathecae peanut-shaped, directed medially. Fertilisation ducts longer than spermathecae, directed anteriorly.

Diagnosis

The females of the new species are similar to A. taoyuan ( Fu, Chen & Zhang, 2016) comb. nov. in having the large, widely-spaced copulatory openings, the copulatory ducts broader and longer than the spermathecae and the extremely short connecting tubes and the spermathecae directed medially (see Fu et al. (2016): 283-284, figs. 9 G-H and 10 D-E), but can be separated from it by copulatory openings directed laterally (Fig. 1 View Figure 1 D and E) (vs. directed anteriorly), the indistinct median septum (vs. distinct median septum) (cf. Fig. 1 View Figure 1 D and Fu et al. (2016): 283, fig. 9 G), the peanut-shaped spermathecae (vs. globular spermathecae) and the fertilisation ducts longer than spermathecae (vs. shorter than spermathecae) (cf. Fig. 1 View Figure 1 E and Fu et al. (2016): 283, fig. 9 H).

Etymology

The specific epithet refers to the Chinese name of Garrulax courtoisi (Ménégaux, 1923) , ' lan guan zao mei', a critically endangered bird species from the Wuyuan National Nature Reserve for Forest Birds; noun in apposition.

Distribution

Known only from the type locality in Jiangxi Province, China (Fig. 7 View Figure 7 ).

Biology

It was collected from leaf litter in areas of broad-leaved forests and bamboo broadleaf mixed forests in hilly areas (Fig. 2 View Figure 2 A and B).