Knoflachia gen. nov.

Etymology.

Named after Barbara Knoflach (Innsbruck, Austria), an outstanding expert in theridiid taxonomy. Gender is feminine.

Type species.

Knoflachia kurilensis sp. nov.

Diagnosis

(comparison of the generotype). The new genus is most similar to Anelosimus Simon, 1891 in both copulatory organ characters (cymbial mesial margin with an incision; conductor with a groove for a distal portion of the spiral embolus) and somatic characters (male leg I extremely elongated, femur longer than carapace). It differs from the latter by: 1) carapace uniformly orange, abdomen uniformly black (vs carapace pale coloured with dark medial strip, abdomen with characteristic leaf-shaped pattern); 2) carapace cuticle rugose (vs smooth); 3) fovea transversal (vs rounded); 4) pars cephalica mildly sloping (vs not elevated, flat); 5) eye area not projected (vs projected); 6) male prosomal stridulatory ridges (PSR) separated into two patches (vs continuous); 7) female PSR absent (vs weak); 8) sternum equilateral triangle (vs elongated orthogonal); 9) labium fused with sternum (vs separated by distinct seam); 10) bristles of the tarsus IV comb flattened and straight (vs conical and hooked); 11) tarsus IV central claw subequal to laterals in length, thickness and shape (vs elongated, thin and S-shaped); 12) tarsal organ clearly proximal: 0.33-035 (vs slightly distal: 0.55-0.60 to slightly proximal: 0.45); 13) abdominal stridulatory pick row (SPR) setal bases strongly elongated, keeled in male, and dome-like in female (vs moderately elongated and rounded in both sexes); 14) male palpal tibia spoon-like, extremely enlarged, covers more than a half of the bulb (vs cyathiform, usual for theridiids); 15) male palpal tibia with only 2 retrolateral trichobothria (vs 2 retrolateral and 1 prolateral trichobothria); 16) cymbial mesial margin incision fold-like (vs semicircular notch); 17) the tegular apophysis (Ta) is a curved spine (vs not pointed); 18) conductor semimembraneous, its groove forming a sheath for a distal portion of the embolus (vs not membranous, its grove for embolus more shallow); 19) tip of embolus unmodified (vs. modified); 20) epigynal plate smooth (vs ridged); 20) copulatory openings located in two foveae separated by a septum (vs. foveae and septum absent); 21) each fovea with a spiral ridge (epigynal plate with transverse ridges); 22) copulatory ducts (Cd) coiled (vs. not coiled); and 23) receptacles dumbbell-shaped located inside loops of copulatory ducts (vs. oval, not surrounded by copulatory ducts).

Description.

Small (1.8-2.85) brightly coloured (orange and black) with unmodified carapace and abdomen in both sexes (Fig. 1A-F) and modified leg I in male (Figs 1D, F, 2A, B).

Carapace - rounded, almost as wide as long, moderately high, pars cephalica slightly elevated, clypeus vertical; fovea shallow, transversal (Figs 2C, 3A, C, D); 8 medium-sized eyes, AME same as others (ca 1/3 of clypeus height), lateral eyes adjacent, eye area not projected (Figs 2C, 3A, C); carapace pars stridens consist of two separated patches of regular parallel fine ridges in male (Fig. 4, B) indistinct under light microscope (Fig. 2C) and completely absent in female (Fig. 4C,); carapace cuticle rugose, setal bases elevated (Fig. 3C, D).

Sternum - almost equilateral triangle (Figs 1E, 3B); sternal cuticle rugose, setal bases elevated (Fig. 3E).

Labium - sub-rectangular, completely fused to sternum (Fig. 3B, E).

Chelicera - unmodified, without humps; promargin in both sexes with 3 teeth (2 basal fused) and pair of raised, fused setal sockets adjacent to fang base (Fig. 3E, F); cheliceral cuticle rugose, setal bases elevated (Fig. 3F).

Legs - Leg formula 1243 in males and 1423 in females, leg I of male extremely long and stout, Fe I can be almost 1.5 times longer than carapace length (Figs 1A-D, 2A) in large specimens; distal part of femur 1.5 times wider than proximal; metatarsus and tibia I in large specimens with 2 ventral rows of tubercles, surmounted by robust blunt suberect macrosetae (Figs 2A, B, 5A); bristles of tarsus IV theridiid comb flattened and straight, not hook-like (Fig. 5B, C); tarsus IV central claw subequal to laterals by length, thickness and shape in both sexes, and not distinguished from claws of other leg pairs (Fig. 6A-C); metatarsal trichobothria 1-1-1-0, bothria dome-like (Fig. 5F), usual for theridiids (Eskov and Marusik in prep.); tarsal organ clearly proximal (0.33-0.35), its opening large, more than setal sockets (Fig. 5D, E); leg cuticle imbricate (Fig. 5E).

Female palp - full-segmented; palpal tibia with 2 trichobothria; palpal claw simple, non-semipalmate, strongly dentated (Fig. 6D).

Abdomen - more or less globular; pedicel area with suprapedicillate dorsal (11 o’clock) proprioceptor setae (Figs 4F, 7A); stridulatory pick row (SPR) lateral of pedicel, regular, not curved, consist of few (<7) setae (Fig. 4D, F); SPR setal bases strongly elongated and keeled, tetragonal in profile, with setae vertically protruded from its middle portion in male (Fig. 4D, E), and rounded, dome-like in female (Fig. 4F); epiandrous gland spigots arranged in a pair of distinct depressions (sockets), 3 spigots per socket (Fig. 5D); wide tracheal spiracle near spinnerets, not straight, with pair of lobes (Sl, Fig. 7C); colulus absent, but median pair of colular setae persists (Fig. 7C); ALS piriform field small, less than 20 spigots (Fig. 8A, B, E); PLS posterior AG spigot enlarged and flattened, subquadrate in profile (Fig. 8A, C); PMS with 3 spigots (1 mAP + 2 AC) in male (Fig. 8E, F) and 4 spigots (1 mAP + 2 AC + 1 CY) in female (Fig. 8A, E); abdominal cuticle fingerprint (Fig. 7A), booklung cuticle smooth.

Male palp - patella short, almost as wide as long, 2.4 times shorter than tibia; tibia spoon-like, extremely enlarged, ca 2/3 of cymbial length, covers more than half of proximal part of bulb (Figs 9A, 10A), with 2 retrolateral trichobothria (Fig. 10D) and with several setae on its inner surface (probably artifact) (Fig. 11A) and; cymbium 1.9 times longer than wide, with round proximal part and finger like tip slightly bent retrolaterally; cymbial mesial margin distally with small bulge (Sb) (when observed with light microscope: Fig. 9A-C), which is dissected longitudinally by fold-like excavation (when observed with SEM: Figs 10B, C, 11D); cymbial ectal margin distally with groove-like cymbial hood (Ch) (Fig. 11D). Bulb as long as wide, with relatively small tegulum (Te), tegular apophysis (Ta) appears as simple curved, weakly sclerotized spine (Figs 9A, 10A, B, 11B, D); elongated hyaline conductor (Co) with groove serving as sheath for distal portion embolus (Fig. 10B, C); embolus filamentous coiled forming loop ca. 400°, (Fig. 11B); radix (Ra) and median apophysis (Ma) (we are not sure about homology) in unexpanded palp completely hidden by enlarged retroventral part of tibia (Figs 10A, 11C); median apophysis (?) with 2 arms: large spine like posterior (Mp) and small prolateral (Pm).

Epigyne - as seen by light microscope (Fig. 9D, E): epigynal plate about as long as wide, weakly sclerotized, with pair of round membranous parts (Rm) separated by thin septum; endogyne with long coiled weakly sclerotized copulatory ducts (Cd) and dumbbell-shaped receptacles (Re) standing perpendicular to epigynal plate behind Rm. As seen by SEM (Fig. 7A, B): epigyne with kind of foveae, well delimited by latero-posterior rim (Lp) and septum (Sp). Rim and septum forming guide groove (Gg) for embolus, anteriorly from septum Gg shallower, Gg forms 2 coils (about 720°) and terminates in copulatory opening (Oc).

Composition and distribution.

Only the type species, K. kurilensis sp. nov., known only from the type locality (South Kurile islands, Kunashir Island: Fig. 12). The future records of this genus are surely anticipated in other Far East regions such as Hokkaido.