Hitobia behni ( Thorell, 1891 ), 2025

Sankaran, Pradeep M. & Caleb, John T. D., 2025, On the taxonomic validity of Indian ground spiders: VI. Genera Ladissa Simon, 1907, Melicymnis Simon, 1885, and Poecilochroa Westring, 1874 (Araneae: Gnaphosidae), Zootaxa 5673 (1), pp. 132-142 : 137-139

Hitobia behni ( Thorell, 1891) comb. nov.

Figs 16–19

Poecilochroa behnii Thorell, 1891: 19 (♀).

Type material. Holotype ♀, INDIA: Nicobar Islands: Nancowry (=Nanchovry) (7°58’N 93°33’E; 107 m a.s.l.), 1845–1847 (the Galathea Expedition), collector unknown, repository ZMUC, Denmark (zmuc00013109), examined based on photographs.

Diagnosis. Females of H. behni comb. nov. are closely related to the females of the Chinese species Hitobia cancellata Yin, Peng, Gong & Kim, 1996 as both share short median epigynal atrium, epigyne with sclerotised semi-circular lateral rims, and vulva composed of small, oval, converging spermathecae, but can be separated from the latter species by epigyne with single atrium (vs. multiple atria in H. cancellata ), and widely spaced spermathecae (vs. closely spaced in H. cancellata ) (cf. Fig. 18 and Yin et al. 1996: figs 4–5).

Supplementary description. Female (holotype; Figs 16–17 ): colouration and measurements after Thorell (1891): carapace, chelicerae, endites, labium, sternum dark brown, leg and palp segments brown with dark annulations on leg segments, opisthosoma gray-black, posteriorly with white wavy, transverse stripe on dorsum ( Fig. 16 ); carapace densely covered with fine white hairs intermingled with scattered erect yellow hairs; body length 7.00. Carapace 3.00 long, opisthosoma 4.00 long. AER straight, PER slightly recurved. Chelicerae with three pro-, and one retromarginal teeth ( Fig. 17 ). Sternum rebordered. Epigyne ( Fig. 18 ): epigyne with semicircular posterior epigynal margin having W-shaped median part, with small median triangular atrium, with sclerotised semi-circular lateral rims. Copulatory openings widely separated, mediolaterally placed. Spermathecae small, oval, converging.

Male. Unknown.

Justification of the transfer. This species shares more characters with Hitobia Kamura, 1992 rather than with Poecilochroa , such as: chelicerae with three pro-, and one retromarginal teeth (vs. chelicerae without teeth in Poecilochroa ), epigynal plate as wide as long (vs. longer than wide in Poecilochroa ), and vulvae only with primary spermathecae (vs. with primary and secondary spermathecae in Poecilochroa ) (cf. Murphy 2007: figs 290–291, Kamura 1992: figs 12, 15–16, Yin et al. 1996: figs 4–5, Song et al. 2004: figs 86B–C, 91B–C and herein figs 17–18). Thus, we propose to transfer this species to Hitobia .

Distribution. India: Nicobar Islands (Nancowry) ( Thorell 1891).

Remarks. The holotype of P. behni available at ZMUC, Denmark is rather dirty and fragile ( Figs 16–19 ) (N. Scharff, pers. comm.).

Figures

FIGURES 16–19. Hitobia behni (Thorell, 1891) comb. nov., holotype female of Poecilochroa behni Thorell, 1891. 16 habitus, dorsal. 17 chelicerae, upper. 18 epigyne, ventral. 19 original label found in the holotype vial. Figures are not to scale. © ZMUC, Denmark.