Check List the journal of biodiversity data Check List 12(5): 1960, 15 September 2016 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.15560/12.5.1960 ISSN 1809-127X © 2016 Check List and Authors NOTES ON GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION New locality data for Stegodyphus tibialis (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1869) (Araneae: Eresidae) from Telangana state, India Pravalikha Gunti1*, Chelmala Srinivasulu1, 2 and Gundena Devender1 1 Natural History Museum and Wildlife Biology and Taxonomy Lab, Department of Zoology, University College of Science, Osmania University, Hyderabad 500007, Telangana State, India 2 Systematics, Ecology and Conservation Laboratory, Zoo Outreach Organization (ZOO), 96 Kumudham Nagar, Vilankurichi Road, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641035, India * Corresponding author. E-mail: prava.gunti@gmail.com Abstract: We present the first record of the velvet spider Stegodyphus tibialis (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1869) from Telangana state, India. A male specimen of this species was collected from Osmania University campus, Hyderabad. We describe the male and provide a map of the global range of the species. by camera mount using Olympus live view DSLR E-420 camera. Measurements are in mm, taken by Mitutoyo vernier calipers. The distribution map (Figure 2) was prepared using Arc-GIS (ver. 10.2). The specimen was deposited in the Osmania University Natural History Museum (OUNHM), Museum collection of the Department of Zoology, Osmania University, Hyderabad. Key words: fauna; geographic distribution; velvet spiders Stegodyphus tibialis (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1869) Figure 1 For a complete list of synonymies, see World Spider Catalog (2016). The cribellate spider family Eresidae C.L. Koch, 1845, commonly known as “velvet spiders”, is represented globally by 97 species within nine genera. In India, eresids are known by six species of Stegodyphus Simon, 1873. Members of Stegodyphus are gregarious in habit, leading a communal or social life, hence the common name “social spiders”. Compact nests with entrance and exit holes are built by a number of individuals. The nest is sticky in nature to trap wandering insects, which are dragged into the nest by the members of the colony and fed on. A peculiar behavior, known as matriphagy (suicidal maternal care) has been observed in members of this family, including S. lineatus (Latreille, 1817) (Salomon et al. 2015). Stegodyphus spp. known from India are S. tibialis (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1869); S. sarasinorum Karsch, 1891; S. mirandus Pocock, 1899; S. pacificus Pocock, 1900; S. hisarensis Arora & Monga, 1992 and S. semadohensis Shivaji, 2013 (World Spider Catalog 2016). Here, we discuss the global distribution of S. tibialis, adding a new locality record in India, and describe the male of the species. The specimen was collected by hand, photographed in live (Figure 1) and later preserved in 90% ethanol. One of the palpi was separated, cleared in 50% NaOH solution (30 minutes), examined under Olympus U-CTR30-2 trinocular microscope and photographed Check List | www.biotaxa.org/cl Material examined: 1 ♂ (OUNHM.ART.ARA.2015.31), Osmania University Campus (17°25ʹ N, 078°31ʹ E), 20 December 2015 (G. Devender). The spider was found on the ground and its nest could not be traced (a similar observation was made by Ono 1995). Figure 1. Male Stegodyphus tibialis (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1869) live habitus; inset: palpal organ. 1 Volume 12 | Number 5 | Article 1960 Gunti et al. | First report of Stegodyphus tibialis from Telangana, India Figure 2. Global distribution range of Stegodyphus tibialis (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1869), showing specimen-based site records from India, Myanmar, Thailand and China. Distribution: India: Mysore (type locality), Karnataka (1♂) (Pickard and Cambridge 1869); Pune, Maharashtra (2♀) (Kraus and Kraus 1989); Lal Bagh, Bangalore, Karnataka (1♀, holotype of S. socialis) (Pocock 1900); Jalarpet, Madras, Tamil Nadu (1♀) (Kraus and Kraus 1989); Tambaram scrub jungles, Tamil Nadu (9♂, 32♀) (Phanuel, 1963); Coonoor, Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu (1♀) (Kraus and Kraus 1989); Ayyanar Falls, Tamil Nadu (1♀) (Kraus and Kraus 1989), and Osmania University, Hyderabad, Telangana State (1♂) (present study). Myanmar: Minhla, Burma (1♂) (Simon 1884). Thailand: Lan Sang, Tak, Thailand (1♂) (Ono 1995) China: Dali county (4♂; 20♀); Binchuan County (2♂); Yunnan Gengma (2♂; 7♀) and Yunnan Province county (1♀) (Yang and Hu 2002; Yang et al. 2008). lineatus (Latreille, 1817), S. nathistmus Kraus & Kraus, 1989 and S. tibialis (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1869) (Kraus and Kraus 1989). The species is distinguished from the members of mirandus group by the presence of very thick, fusiform hairs on the tibia of leg I. A description of the male is as follows: Small-sized eresid (Table 1). Carapace reddish black, with short Table 1. Body measurements of adult male Stegodyphus tibialis (O. PickardCambridge, 1869). (L: length; W: width) The genus Stegodyphus is divided into three species groups — africanus, dufouri and mirandus. They are primarily defined by different character expressions in the male and female genitalia. Stegodyphus tibialis belongs to the mirandus group. This group is characterized by: the males with the bulb having a heavily sclerotized terminal element and at least the terminal apparatus with a separate and conspicuous sclerotized lamella or clawlike hook; the females with the epigynum and vulva in most species in an oblique or even vertical position. This feature of epigynum positioning is less extreme in S. Check List | www.biotaxa.org/cl Character Measurement (mm) Carapace (L; W) 3.57; 2.80 Chelicerae (L; W) 1.38; 0.75 Sternum (L; W) 1.88; 0.98 Abdomen (L; W) 3.71; 2.43 Legs: total (femur+patella+tibia+metatarsus+tarsus) 2 I 8.85 (2.57+1.27+1.71+2.04+1.29) II 6.58 (1.90+0.88+1.26+1.57+0.97) III 5.09 (1.77+0.85+0.91+0.93+0.63) IV 7.48 (2.32+1.19+1.52+1.59+0.86) Palp: total (femur+patella+tibia+tarsus) 3.08 (0.90+0.46+0.26+1.46) Volume 12 | Number 5 | Article 1960 Gunti et al. | First report of Stegodyphus tibialis from Telangana, India Delhi for research fellowship; CS acknowledges support from UGC-DSA I (SAP II and DST-FIST) Program in Zoology, Department of Zoology, Osmania University. Special thanks to Mr. Alireza Zamani (Editor) and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments from which the manuscript benefitted. yellow hairs on the lateral sides as a thin line. Clypeus raised to a height of 0.74mm, chelicerae black and with yellow hairs at the base. Sternum narrow with a line of yellow hairs centrally. Legs reddish black with a line of yellow hairs running centrally from femur to tibia; leg formula 1423. Abdomen with two bands of yellow hairs, anteriorly and posteriorly, centrally with black hairs. Abdomen dorsally with 5 sigillae; ventrally black; cribellum with yellow hairs. Palpal organ with terminal apparatus guiding the embolus, forming one single stout element with heavily sclerotized region. One irregular oval fold shows a coarse surface structure consisting of ridges and scales. Terminal part of embolus conducted by a fold of a bill-like construction (Kraus and Kraus 1989) (Figure 1). Stegodyphus tibialis was described as Eresus tibialis, on the basis of a single adult male specimen collected from Mysore, India (Pickard-Cambridge 1869). The species was subsequently recorded from Burma (now Myanmar) and transferred to the genus Stegodyphus by Simon (1884) on the basis of reddish brown cephalothorax, elongated carapace, eyes arranged in three rows, and notched chelicerae. Pocock (1900) described S. socialis based on female specimens. The first description of the female of S. tibialis was by Phanuel (1963) and subsequent comparison of the females of S. socialis and S. tibialis by Kraus and Kraus (1989) led to the synonymizing of the nomen S. socialis Pocock, 1900 with S. tibialis. Besides India, S. tibialis has also been reported from northwest Thailand (Ono 1995) and China (Yang and Hu 2002; Yang et al. 2008) (Figure 2). In India, this species has been recorded from Karnataka (Mysore, Bangalore), Maharashtra (Poona) and Tamilnadu (Ayyanar Falls, Coonor, Jalarpet and Tambaram) (Kraus and Kraus 1989). This report from Telangana State extends the range of the species into central peninsular India (Figure 2). The species has been poorly studied since its description. Its distribution pattern (Figure 2) shows the prevalence of species in South and Southeast Asia (India, Myanmar, Thailand and South China). It is possible that this species occurs elsewhere in the Oriental region. There have not been any specimen based reports from India since Phanuel (1963) until Siliwal et al. (2003) reported a single female from Purna Wildlife Sanctuary, Gujarat. LITERATURE CITED Kraus, O. and M. Kraus. 1989. The genus Stegodyphus (Arachnida, Araneae): sibling species, species groups, and parallel origin of social living. Verhandlungen des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins 30: 151–254. Ono, H. 1995. Four East Asian spiders of the families Eresidae, Araneidae, Thomisidae and Salticidae (Arachnida, Araneae). Bulletin of the National Science Museum, Tokyo, SeriesA 21(3): 157–169. http://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110004311831 Phanuel, G.J. 1963. Stegodyphus tibialis (Cambridge) (Family Eresidae: Araneida) from Madras. Journal of the Madras University B33(3): 305–310. Pickard-Cambridge, O. 1869. Descriptions and sketches of some new species of Araneida, with characters of a new genus. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (4th series)3: 52–74. http:// biodiversitylibrary.org/page/24740414 Pocock, R.I. 1900. The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Arachnida. London: Taylor and Francis. 279 pp. doi: 10.5962/bhl.title.17227 Salomon, M., E.D. Aflalo, M. Coll and Y. Lubin. 2015. Dramatic histological changes preceding suicidal maternal care in the subsocial spider Stegodyphus lineatus (Araneae: Eresidae). The Journal of Arachnology 43(1): 77–85. doi: 10.1636/B14-15.1 Siliwal, M., B. Suresh and B. Pilo. 2003. Fauna of protected areas 3: spiders of Purna Wildlife Sanctuary, Dangs, Gujarat. Zoo’s Print Journal 18(11): 1259–1263. doi: 10.11609/JoTT.ZPJ.18.11.1259-63 Simon, E. 1884. Arachnides recueillis en Birmanie par M. le chevalier J. B. Comotto et appartenant au Musée Civique d’Histoire Naturelle de Gènes. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova 20: 325-372. http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/7847773 World Spider Catalog. 2016. World spider catalog, version 17.0. Bern: Natural History Museum Bern. Accessed at http://wsc.nmbe.ch, 15 June 2016. Yang, Z.Z. and J.L. Hu. 2002. A new species of the genus Eresus from China (Araneae: Eresidae). Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica 7(4): 726–728. Yang, Z.Z., M.S. Zhu and Y.G. Zhang. 2008. A newly recorded genus of Eresidae from China and the revision of Eresus daliensis. Acta Arachnologica Sinica 17(2): 72–75. Author contributions: PG and GD conducted surveys and collected the specimen; PG studied the specimen and prepared the map; PG and CS wrote the text. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank the Head of the Department of Zoology, Osmania University, for providing necessary facilities and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Telangana State Forest Department for encouragement and collection permit. GBP acknowledges UGC, New Check List | www.biotaxa.org/cl Received: 25 April 2016 Accepted: 29 June 2016 Academic editor: Alireza Zamani 3 Volume 12 | Number 5 | Article 1960