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Type: Correspondence
Published: 2008-10-20
Page range: 65–68
Abstract views: 32
PDF downloaded: 1

The true female of Heteropoda squamacea Wang, 1990 (Araneae: Sparassidae)

Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, P. R. China
Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, P. R. China
Research Institute Senckenberg, Senckenberganlage 25, D-60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Araneae Sparassidae

Abstract

Besides the genus Olios Walckenaer, 1837, Heteropoda Latreille, 1804 is the most diverse genus in the spider family Sparassidae. Currently, a total of 192 Heteropoda species are known, among them 13 from China (Platnick 2008). In the current paper, the female of Heteropoda squamacea Wang, 1990 is described for the first time. The previously proposed female of H. squamacea appeared to be a misidentification of H. venatoria (Linnaeus, 1767) (Jäger & Yin 2001). Another female paratype of H. squamacea falls into the variation scheme of H. tetrica Thorell, 1897 (Eusemann & Jäger, in press) and most likely belongs to this species. Due to congruence of palpal structure, especially the bifurcated tip of the conductor, H. bifurcuta Wang, Chen & Zhu, 2002 (not: H. bifurcula; contra Platnick 2008) is considered as a junior synonym of H. squamacea.

References

  1. Eusemann, P. & Jäger, P. (in press) Heteropoda tetrica Thorell 1897 — variation and biogeography with emphasis on copulatory organs (Arachnida: Araneae: Sparassidae). Contributions to Natural History.

    Jäger, P. (in press) Revision of the huntsman spider genus Heteropoda Latreille 1804: species with exceptional male palpal conformations from South East Asia and Australia (Araneae: Sparassidae: Heteropodinae). Senckenbergiana biologica, 88.

    Jäger, P. & Yin, C.M. (2001) Sparassidae in China. 1. Revised list of known species with new transfers, new synonymies and type designations (Arachnida: Araneae). Acta arachnologica, 50, 123–134.

    Platnick, N.I. (2008) The world spider catalog, version 8.5. American Museum of Natural History. Available from http://research.amnh.org/entomology/spiders/catalog/index.html (accessed: 27 February 2008).

    Song, D.X., Zhu, M.S. & Chen, J. (1999) The Spiders of China. Shijiazhuang, Hebei Science and Technology Publishing House, 640 pp.

    Wang, H.H., Chen, H.M. & Zhu, M.S. (2002) A new species of the genus Heterpoda [sic!] from China (Araneae: Sparassidae). Journal of Baoding Teachers College, 15, 18–19. [In Chinese]

    Wang, J.F. (1990) Six new species of the spiders of the genus Heteropoda from China (Araneae: Heteropodidae). Sichuan Journal of Zoology, 9, 7–11. [In Chinese]