Metashinobius hikariae Wei & Liu, 2025

Cheng, Yufan, Liu, Jie & Wei, Mian, 2025, Metashinobius gen. nov., the second Asian genus with uncleared subfamily placement of Trechaleidae (Araneae, Lycosoidea) from southwest China, with the description of a new species, Biodiversity Data Journal 13, pp. e 153601-e 153601 : e153601-

Metashinobius hikariae Wei & Liu sp. nov.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Mian Wei; occurrenceID: 7C0E161A-8E0E-5202-BE4F-62BFF4BAF049; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Guizhou; locality: Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture, Leishan County, Xiannutang ; verbatimElevation: 1712; verbatimCoordinates: 26.3748°N, 108.2044°E; Event: eventDate: 29 Jul 2021

Description

Male (holotype). Habitus as in Fig. 2. Total length 4.58. Carapace 2.46 long, 2.17 wide. Abdomen 2.12 long, 1.22 wide. Eye diameters and interdistances: AME 0.15, ALE 0.12, PME 0.17, PLE 0.20; AME – AME 0.06, AME – ALE 0.06, PME – PME 0.11, PME – PLE 0.15, AME – PME 0.10, ALE – PLE 0.20. Measurements of legs: I 13.02 (3.52, 1.05, 3.85, 3.49, 1.44), II 12.75 (3.28, 0.90, 3.76, 3.31, 1.50), III 10.66 (2.87, 0.86, 2.97, 2.90, 1.06), IV 12.29 (3.32, 0.92, 3.22, 3.49, 1.34). Leg spination: I: Fe d 2 p 2 r 2, Ti p 2 r 2 pv 3 rv 3, Mt p 3 r 3 pv 3 rv 3; II: d 2 p 2 r 2, Ti p 2 r 2 pv 3 rv 3, Mt p 3 r 3 pv 3 rv 3 v 1; III: Fe d 3 p 2 r 2, Ti d 3 p 2 r 2 pv 3 rv 3, Mt p 3 r 3 pv 3 rv 3 v 1; IV: Fe d 2 p 2 r 1, Ti d 2 p 2 r 2 pv 2 rv 2, Mt p 3 r 3 pv 3 rv 3 v 1. Chelicerea with 3 promarginal teeth and 4 retromarginal teeth, the third retromarginal teeth smallest.

Palp (Fig. 1). Retrolateral tibial apophysis strong, bloom-shaped, consisting of a root and a crown, the latter consisting of 16 spine-shaped projects and divided into two branches, ventral branch fishtail-shaped and consisting of 12 projects and dorsal branch consisting of 4 projects. Ventrodistal protuberance large and distinct. Cymbium with relatively short distal part and sclerotised ecto-basal part and with membranous basal part of cymbial retrolateral margin. Tegulum large, with tegular probasal notch. Sperm duct wavy. Median apophysis large and strongly sclerotised, divided into three divisions; lateral division thin and digitate; ventral division broad and uplifted, approximately rectangular; dorsal division with a claw-shaped guide groove pointed downwards and a laminar margin. Conductor long and membranous. Terminal apophysis semicircular. Embolus long and arc-shaped, hidden by median apophysis from ventral view.

Female. Unknown.

Diagnosis

The males of Metashinobius hikariae sp. nov. resembles Shinobius species, particularly S. orientalis (Yagunima, 1967) by: 1) the relatively small subtegulum, which is obviously smaller than the tegulum from ventral view; 2) having a concavity on the posterior margin of tegulum; 3) the wavy sperm duct; 4) the irregular-shaped median apophysis (A; fig. 20 in Sierwald (1993); fig. 2 n in Serita (2021)). In the other two Shinobius species, the subtegulum is larger than or subequal to the tegulum from ventral view, the posterior margin of tegulum is straight, the sperm duct is approximately straight from dorsal view and the median apophysis is horizontally flipped “ 9 ” - shaped (fig. 3 A in Wang et al. (2024); fig. 2 A in Zhang et al. (2024)). However, the new species can be distinguished from S. orientalis by: 1) have 4 postmarginal teeth (Fig. 2 E), versus having 3 in the latter; 2) having a modified retrolateral tibial apophysis and a larger ventrodistal protuberance (Figs. 1 A and B), versus lacking the retrolateral tibial apophysis and having a smaller ventrodistal protuberance in the latter (figs. 20 and 21 in Sierwald (1993); fig. 2 n in Serita (2021)); 3) the median apophysis being larger than the subtegulum from ventral view and the distal tip of the guide groove pointing downwards (Fig. 1 A), versus being smaller than the subtegulum and with the distal tip of the guide groove pointing upwards in the latter (figs. 20 and 21 in Sierwald (1993)).

Etymology

The specific epithet is from “ Hikari Kagura ”, one of the main protagonists from the animation “ Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight ”, whose weapon bloomed at the crucial moment, referring to the bloom-shaped retrolateral tibial apophysis of the male palp of the new species.

Distribution

Guizhou Province, China (only known from the type locality) (Fig. 3 ).

Figures

Figure 3. Distributions of Metashinobius hikariae sp. nov. and Shinobius spp. A type locality; B living male. The circle with red border indicates the type locality of S. orientalis.