A review of the Asian orb weaving spider genus Pronoides (Araneae: Araneidae) Author Zhang, Xiao-Xiao Author Zhang, Feng Author Zhu, Ming-Sheng Deceased text Zootaxa 2010 2010-10-12 2642 1 59 67 https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.2642.1.6 journal article 4705 10.11646/zootaxa.2642.1.6 b4cfe27f-245d-40e2-8e3b-7b59463cfa77 1175-5326 5304589 Pronoides Schenkel, 1936 Pronoides Schenkel, 1936: 119 ; Yin et al. , 1997: 100 ; Song, Zhu & Chen, 1999: 309 ; Tanikawa, 2007: 89 . Type species. Pronoides brunneus Schenkel, 1936 . Diagnosis. Pronoides can be recognized by the following characters: carapace about 1.2 times longer than its width; female, juvenile and adult, abdomen with a pair of obvious anterior humps dorsally ( Figs. 1 , 10 ); epigynal plate with a depression on each lateral side ( Figs. 2 , 11 ); male femora I with more than six prolateral macrosetae ( Figs. 6 , 16 ); palpal embolus strongly curved and L-shaped in prolateral view ( Figs. 9 , 13 ). Pronoides is similar to Pronous Keyserling, 1881 in the arrangement of eyes, but can be distinguished from the latter by the following characters: the PMEs are far from the PLEs, while the PMEs are near to PLEs in Pronous ( Schenkel 1936 , Levi 1995 ); the fourth legs are shorter than the first legs, while the fourth legs are longer than the first legs in Pronous ( Levi 1995 ) ; epigynum with scape, while a scape is absent from the epigynum of Pronous ( Levi 1995 ) . Pronoides is similar to Cnodalia Thorell, 1890 in body shape, but can be distinguished from the latter by the following characters: abdomen longer than wide, while abdomen wider than long in Cnodalia ; epigynal scape longer than that of Cnodalia ; male femora I with more than six prolateral macrosetae, while with two or three prolateral macrosetae in Cnodalia . Description. Carapace yellow brown, pear-shaped, longer than wide. Cephalic region raised. Both eye rows recurved, posterior eye row wider than anterior one. MOA trapezoidal, wider than long, narrower in front than in back; PMEs largest. Clypeal height is larger than AME diameter. Labium wider than long. Sternum shield-shaped, longer than wide. Legs strong, with a few macrosetae. Leg formula: 1243. Abdomen longer than wide, with a pair of anterior humps dorsally in females. Epigynal scape short and ligulate. Spermathecae one pair, large and spherical. Male smaller, abdominal dorsum lacking a pair of anterior humps. Palpal patella with two long macrosetae; conductor membranous, median apophysis large, with a distal hook. Composition. The genus Pronoides comprises two species, P. brunneus Schenkel, 1936 and P. sutaiensis n. sp. , both distributed in the eastern Palaearctic. Pronoides ampliabdominis Song, Zhang & Zhu, 2006 was described based on a single female holotype collected from Fanjing Mountains, Guizhou Province , China . To date, no male has been found. After reexamining the female holotype (deposited in MHBU, Hebei Province ), we found its abdomen wider than long, a short epigynal scape with lateral rim, and in particular, legs I and II with extremely long prolateral tarsal claws. All of these characters conform to the diagnosis of Cnodalia , not Pronoides . We therefore transfer this species to Cnodalia , and form a new combination, Cnodalia ampliabdominis ( Song, Zhang & Zhu, 2006 ) new comb. , see note below.