Redescription of a little-known spider species, Mesiotelus lubricus (Simon, 1880) (Aranei: Liocranidae) from China
Author
Fu, Jianying
Author
Zhang, Feng
Author
Zhu, Mingsheng
text
Arthropoda Selecta
2008
17
3
169
173
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.815376
de3eeca6-9a34-4bb6-a70a-74ed158c9f57
815376
Mesiotelus
Simon, 1897
Mesiotelus
Simon, 1897
:143
;
Song, Zhu & Chen, 2001
: 304.
Type
species:
Cheiracanthium tenuissimus
L. Koch, 1866
, by original designation.
DIAGNOSIS. The presence of a long male palp (especially long tibia and patella) distinguishes the genus
Mesiotelus
from other liocranid genera. The genus
Mesiotelus
presumably has close affinities with the Palearctic genus
Liocranum
and the Nearctic genus
Hesperocranum
on the basis of potentially derived genitalic characters: male palpal tibia with a prolateral lobe and epigynum with a similar conformation, including an anterior hood and posterior spermathecal sacs and ducts [
Ubick & Platnick, 1991
].
Mesiotelus
can be distinguished from
Hesperocranum
by: tibiae and metatarsi I, II with interspersed typical spines and relatively few pairs of ventral bristles (
Fig. 7
), while the latter without spine and with numerous pairs of ventral bristles on tibiae and metatarsi
I—III
; epigynum with single hood anteriorly, while the latter with a bipartite hood; also
Mesiotelus
can be further distinguished from
Hesperocranum
by having recumbent, feathery leg setae, and the male with prognathous chelicerae.
Mesiotelus
is also very similar to the
Liocranum
, but can be distinguished from the latter by: metatarsi I, II with only one pair of long ventral spines, while the latter has two or three pairs of long ventral spines; epigynum with a single small, half-moon shaped hood anteriorly, while the latter often has a large and variously shaped hood; also
Mesiotelus
can be further distinguished from
Liocranum
by having fewer pairs of ventral bristles on tibiae and metatarsi I, II.