ZooKeys 627: A Survey of the Spider Family Nesticidae (Arachnida, Araneae) in Asia and Madagascar, with the Description of Forty-Three New Species

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Forty-three new species of Nesticidae, or scaffold web spiders, are described from China, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Madagascar, and two new junior synonyms are suggested. A new genus, Speleoticus gen. n., is described with Nesticus navicellatus Liu & Li, 2013 as the type species, and four species are transferfed from Nesticus, i.e., Speleoticus globosus (Liu & Li, 2013), comb. n., S. libo (Chen & Zhu, 2005), comb. n., S. navicellatus (Liu & Li, 2015), comb. n. and S. uenoi (Yaginuma, 1972), comb. n.

The new species described in this paper belong to four genera. Nesticella inthanoni (Lehtinen & Saaristo, 1980), syn. n. is synonymised with N. mollicula (Thorell, 1898); N. taiwan Tso & Yoshida, 2000, syn. n. is synonymised with N. odonta (Chen, 1984). The female of Nesticella connectens Wunderlich, 1995, so far unknown, is described and recorded from Thailand. Nesticidae are reported from Madagascar for the first time. Nesticella nepalensis (Hubert, 1973) is recorded for the first time from China. Types of Nesticella odonta (Chen, 1984), N. songi Chen & Zhu, 2004 and N. yui Wunderlich & Song, 1995 are re-examined and photographed. The entire genus Nesticella is reviewed, and four species groups are recognised. DNA barcodes of the new species are obtained to confirm their correct identifications.

Contents

Introduction    4
Material and methods    5
Taxonomy    8
Genus Hamus Ballarin & Li, 2015    8
      Hamus bowoensis Ballarin & Li, 2015    10
      Hamus cornutus sp. n.    10
      Hamus kangdingensis sp. n.    11
      Hamus luzon sp. n.    15
      Hamus mangunensis sp. n.    17
Genus Nescina Ballarin & Li, 2015    17
      Nescina minuta Ballarin & Li, 2015    19
      Nescina kohi sp. n.    20
Genus Nesticella Lehtinen & Saaristo, 1980    23
      Nesticella brevipes-group    24
           Nesticella baiseensis sp. n.    25
           Nesticella brevipes (Yaginuma, 1970)    28
           Nesticella caeca sp. n.    29
           Nesticella chongqing sp. n.    32
           Nesticella dazhuangensis sp. n.    34
           Nesticella gazuida sp. n.    37
           Nesticella hongheensis sp. n.    39
           Nesticella jingpo sp. n.    42
           Nesticella lisu sp. n.    44
           Nesticella liuzhaiensis sp. n.    45
           Nesticella mollicula (Thorell, 1898)    49
           Nesticella nandanensis sp. n.    49
           Nesticella odonta (Chen, 1984)    52
           Nesticella qiaoqiensis sp. n.    55
           Nesticella qiongensis sp. n.    57
           Nesticella robusta sp. n.    60
           Nesticella sanchaheensis sp. n.    61
           Nesticella songi Chen & Zhu, 2004    67
           Nesticella xiongmao sp. n.    67
           Nesticella xixia sp. n.    73
           Nesticella yao sp. n.    76
      Nesticella mogera-group    78
           Nesticella fuliangensis sp. n.    78
           Nesticella huomachongensis sp. n.    79
           Nesticella mogera (Yaginuma, 1972)    84
           Nesticella rongtangensis sp. n.    85
           Nesticella wanzaiensis sp. n.    85
           Nesticella yanbeiensis sp. n.    89
      Nesticella nepalensis-group    92
           Nesticella baobab sp. n.    93
           Nesticella connectens Wunderlich, 1995    95
           Nesticella gongshanensis sp. n.    98
           Nesticella griswoldi sp. n.    100
           Nesticella nepalensis (Hubert, 1973)    101
           Nesticella potala sp. n.    106
           Nesticella sulawesi sp. n.    108
           Nesticella tibetana sp. n.    108
           Nesticella vanlang sp. n.    113
           Nesticella yui Wunderlich & Song, 1995    113
           Nesticella zhiyuani sp. n.    116
      Nesticella phami-group    117
           Nesticella phami sp. n.    117
           Nesticella sumatrana sp. n.    122
      Nesticella quelpartensis-group    124
           Nesticella kaohsiungensis sp. n.    124
           Nesticella quelpartensis (Paik & Namkung, 1969)    127
Genus Pseudonesticus Liu & Li, 2013    128
      Pseudonesticus clavatus Liu & Li, 2013    129
      Pseudonesticus dafangensis sp. n.    129
      Pseudonesticus miao sp. n.    132
      Pseudonesticus spinosus sp. n.    136
      Pseudonesticus wumengensis sp. n.    139
      Pseudonesticus ziyunensis sp. n.    139
Genus Speleoticus Ballarin & Li, gen. n.    144
      Speleoticus navicellatus (Liu & Li, 2013), comb. n.    148
Acknowledgements    150
References    150

Appendix A    152
Appendix B    166

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