A N N A L E S Z O O L O G I C I (Warszawa), 2015, 65(1): 101-107
TWO NEW OPADOMETA SPECIES (ARANEAE: TETRAGNATHIDAE) FROM SARAWAK, MALAYSIA MUHAMMAD NASIR DZULHELMI1*, SU SURIYANTI2, MOHAMED ZULQARNAIN1 and CHE YUSOFF NORMA1 1
Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, National University of Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia * Corresponding author:
[email protected]
Abstract.— Two new species from the genus Opadometa Archer, 1951 (Araneae: Tetragnathidae) are described, the O. sarawakensis sp. nov. and O. kuchingensis sp. nov. from Bako National Park, Sarawak, Malaysia. Descriptions, illustrations and summary on the web characters are provided based on female specimens. Key words.— Araneae, Opadometa, spider taxonomy, orb-weaver, Borneo Island.
INTRODUCTION The genus Opadometa Archer, 1951 belong to the family Tetragnathidae and contains two described species and eight subspecies (Platnick 2014). The O. fastigata (Simon, 1877) has one subspecies O. f. korinchica (Hogg, 1919) and is distributed in India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Taiwan. The O. grata (Guerin, 1838) is found in Japan, Laos, Indonesia and New Guinea with adjacent islands (e.g. New Britain), with seven other subspecies namely O. g. anirensis, O. g. bukaensis, O. g. maitlandensis, O. g. mathiasensis, O. g. salomonum, O. g. squallyensis and O. g. tomaensis (Strand, 1911) (Platnick 2014). However, there is no recent information with regards to the Opadometa subspecies. The Opadometa is closely related to the genus Leucauge in the presence of two rows of trichobothria on femur IV. In general, Opadometa species can be distinguished from other genera by the presence of dense brushes of hairs surrounding the tibia IV. However, there are also several Leucauge species (i.e. L. taiwanica, L. tessellata) which also have dense PL ISSN 0003-4541 © Fundacja Natura optima dux doi: 10.3161/00034541ANZ2015.65.1.008
brushes of hairs on tibia IV (Yoshida 2009). The size of the male is very minute (3 mm in length), with the frontal part of the male chelicerae armed with many black spines. However, the male Opadometa species are very rare to be found due to their cryptic and minute size and this make it difficult to describe this species. Due to this, the male O. fastigata were believed to be conspecific to the O. grata (Murphy and Murphy 2000, Koh and Ming 2013). The female is three times larger (9 mm in length) and having flat epigyne with triangular atrium and soft spermathecae (Alvarez-Padilla and Hormiga 2011). The Opadometa species can either be diurnal or nocturnal depending on the species (personal observation). They rest at the center of the open hub orb-webs constructed at 45° orientation with at least 30 radii and 30 spirals (Alvarez-Padilla and Hormiga 2011). The present two new species have dense brush of hairs on tibia I and IV and do not fit the description of the other two recognized species. This paper describes the female of Opadometa sarawakensis sp. nov. and O. kuchingensis sp. nov. from Bako National Park, Sarawak, Malaysia.
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MATHERIAL
AND METHODS
Specimens collected were stored in 75% ethanol where the abdomen colouration fades and turns to dark-brown. Specimens were illustrated under Niko n SMZ-U microscope. The following abbreviations are used throughout the text: ALE – anterior lateral eyes, AME – anterior median eyes, PLE – posterior lateral eyes, PME – posterior median eyes. Female genitalia were dissected and cleared in Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) for examination. Illustrations of the epigyne for comparison of O. fastigata (Simon, 1877) were adopted from Barrion and Litsinger (1995), Yoshida (2009), while O. grata (Guerin, 1838) were adopted from Alvarez-Padilla and Hormiga (2011) and Song et al. (1999) respectively (Figs 1–4). Spider webs were powdered, photographed and measured using KLONK Image Measurement Light software. All morphological measurements were in millimeters (mm) and web characters were measured in centimeters (cm). The web photos and web characters for O. sarawakensis (Fig. 22) and O. kuchingensis (Fig. 23) are summarized accordingly (Table 1). The specimens are stored in Museum of Zoology, University of Malaya, Malaysia.
TAXONOMY Opadometa Archer 1951 Type species. Leucauge grata Guerin, 1838.
Opadometa sarawakensis Dzulhelmi et Suriyanti sp. nov. Etymology. The specific name is a noun, referring to the state of the location where the holotype was collected. Diagnosis. The O. sarawakensis resembles as O. kuchingensis but differed in the following: Epigyne: (1) The spermathecae shape for O. sarawakensis is oblong as in bean-like shape, while O. kuchingensis are ovate as mushroom-like shape, and O. grata are rectangular-like in shape. Body colouration: (2) The O. sarawakensis has red oval patch on the dorsal abdomen while the blue colouration with black markings covering other part of the abdomen, while O. fastigata and O. kuchingensis has reddish-orange colouration. Description. Female. Total length 9.05; Carapace: 3.57 long, 2.54 wide; carapace dark-brown in colour, carapace longer than wide, cephalic area markedly
2
1
3
4
Figures 1–4. Female epigyne. O. fastigata: ventral view (1) Barrion and Litsinger 1995, (2) Yoshida 2009; O. grata: ventral view (3) Alvarez-Padilla and Hormiga 2011, (4) Song et al. 1999. Figures are not drawn to scale.
TWO NEW OPADOMETA SPECIES FROM MALAYSIA
narrower than thoracic area, sternum darker brown in colour and slightly longer than wide in length, 1.44 long, 1.42 wide (Fig. 7). The thoracic area is wider and lower than the cephalic area. Eyes: Diameters AME 0.14, ALE 0.12, PME 0.13, PLE 0.12; inter-distances AME–AME 0.18, AME–ALE 0.47, PME–PME 0.15, PME– PLE 0.44, PLE-PLE 0.10, AME–PME 0.21; clypeus 0.15 high. Lateral eyes loosely contiguous or almost so, eight eyes slightly recurved in two rows (Figs 5, 6). The AME is slightly bigger than PME. PME slightly shorter than AME, distance between PME slightly shorter than between AME, PME size greater than distance between them, AME size about the same as distance between them, distance between PME and PLE are about three and a half times the PME eye size. Chelicerae: Promargin with series of 4 teeth, retromargin with series of 4 teeth (Figs 10, 11). Abdomen: abdomen 8.57 long, 5.10 width; Pear-shaped pointed forward abdomen overhanging the carapace, blue colour covering the abdomen and some black markings on the abdomen with a red coloured oval patch at the middle part of the abdomen (Figs 8, 9). Spinnerets: Spinnerets at ventral tip of the abdomen, tip of spinneret facing downward and does not exceed end of abdomen. Legs: The legs are dark brown in colour with black annulations, leg formula (I–II–IV–III), leg measurements (femur/ patella/ tibia/ metatarsus/ tarsus/ total): leg I (4.58/1.25/ 4.16/5.56/1.81/17.36), leg II (4.72/1.32/4.31/4.16/1.52/ 16.03), leg III (2.78/0.83/1.53/2.22/0.97/8.33), and leg IV (4.17/1.20/3.29/4.44/1.53/14.63). Short spines on legs, Leg I: femur I with 1–3 spines, tibia I with no spines, dense brush of hairs covering more than one-third of the tibia; Leg II: femur II with no spines, tibia II with 3–4 spines, very few brush hairs covering more than one-third of the tibia, one row of long trichobothria covering one-third of retrolateral femur II; Leg III: femur III with 1–2 spines, tibia III with 3–4 spines, one row of short trichobothria covering more than two third of prolateral femur III; Leg IV: femur IV with 1–3 spines, tibia IV with 1–3 spines, thick brush of hairs covering more than one-third of the tibia, two rows of long trichobothria covering more than two third of the prolateral femur IV. Epigyne: Simple and weakly sclerotized, spermathecae oblong and bean-like in shape, copulatory duct and spermathecae almost equal in length (Figs 12, 13). Male. Unknown. Type material. Female holotype (BNP003) from Bako National Park, Sarawak, Malaysia (1°41’N, 110°26’E) was collected by hand picking (Collector: Suriyanti Su) during daytime at 1315 hours on 26th April 2013. Distribution. It is known from the type locality at the lowland dipterocarp forest in Sarawak. Similar species was also recorded from wooded areas and disturbed forest in Brunei (Koh and Ming 2013), and
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Maliau Basin, Sabah. It is likely to be found in Borneo rainforest. Natural history. Diurnal. The spider was found resting at the center of its web during daylight. The webs were constructed at 30° angle between two trees in an open space above 200 cm from the ground which was covered with dead leaves.
Opadometa kuchingensis Dzulhelmi et Suriyanti, sp. nov. Etymology. The specific name is a noun, referring to the division in Sarawak where the holotype was collected. Diagnosis. The O. kuchingensis resembles O. fastigata and O. sarawakensis but can be differentiated by the following: Epigyne: (1) The O. kuchingensis have shorter copulatory duct while O. sarawakensis copulatory ducts are more than half the spermathecae length Abdomen: (2) The O. kuchingensis has an oval abdomen that does not overhang the carapace while O. fastigata and O. sarawakensis has a pear-shaped abdomen and strongly overhangs the carapace. Legs: (3) The O. kuchingensis and O. sarawakensis have dense brush of hairs on tibia I and IV while O. fastigata has dense hairs on tibia IV only. Description. Female. Total length 7.05; Carapace: 3.33 long, 2.20 wide. Carapace light-brown in colour, carapace longer than wide (approximately 70%), cephalic area slightly narrower or nearly equal to thoracic area, sternum dark-brown in colour and slightly longer than wide in length, 1.27 long, 1.24 (Fig. 17). Eyes: diameters AME 0.18, ALE 0.10, PME 0.18, PLE 0.10; inter-distances AME–AME 0.14, AME–ALE 0.43, PME–PME 0.11, PME–PLE 0.36, PLE–PLE 0.10, AME–PME 0.21; clypeus 0.21 high. Lateral eyes loosely contiguous or almost so, eight eyes in slightly two recurved rows. PME slightly shorter than AME, distance between PME slightly shorter than between AME, PME size greater than distance between them, AME size about the same as distance between them, distance between PME and PLE are about two times the PME eye size (Fig. 16). Chelicerae: Promargin with series of 4 teeth, retromargin with series of 3 teeth (Figs 14, 15). Abdomen: abdomen 3.78 long, 2.44 width; Pear-shaped abdomen not overhanging the cephalothorax, light-orange abdomen colour with darker orange marking covering one third of the dorsal end of the abdomen, with black marking at the tip of the abdomen (Fig. 19). Spinnerets: Spinnerets at ventral tip of abdomen, tip of spinneret facing downward and does not exceed end of abdomen. Legs: Legs light-brown in colour with black annulations, Leg formula (I–II– IV–III), leg measurements (femur/ patella/ tibia/ metatarsus / tarsus/ total): leg I (4.78/1.11/4.01/5.44/
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5
6
7 8
10
11 9
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Figures 5–13. Female Opadometa sarawakensis new species. Eye pattern: (5) dorsal view, (6) frontal view; female body: (7) ventral view, (8) dorsal view, (9) lateral view; right teeth: (10) inner view, (11) lateral view; epigyne: (12) dorsal view (internal), (13) ventral view (outer).
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15 16
14
18
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Figures 14–21. Female Opadometa kuchingensis new species. Right teeth: (14) prolateral view, (15) ventral view; Eye pattern: (16) frontal view; female body: (17) ventral view, (18) dorsal view, (19) lateral view; epigyne: (20) dorsal view (internal), (21) ventral view (outer).
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Table 1. Web characters of O. sarawakensis and O. kuchingensis.
Web characters Web diameters, vertical/horizontal Number of radii Number of spirals Mesh size Hub diameter, Vertical / horizontal Free-zone diameter, Vertical / horizontal Web area Free-zone area Hub-area Height from ground
22
O. sarawakensis
O. kuchingensis
33.5 cm, 30.69 cm 39 62–70 0.18–0.29 cm 2.48 cm, 2.25 cm 3.96 cm, 3.67 cm 779.87 cm2 29.84 cm2 4.77 cm2 200 cm
14.74 cm, 22.03 cm 24 24–28 0.23–0.36 cm 1.94 cm, 2.03 cm 3.99 cm, 5.70 cm 181.93 cm2 19.46 cm2 1.17 cm2 200 cm
23
Figures. 22–23. (22) Web of O. sarawakensis; (23) Web of O. kuchingensis.
1.56/16.90), leg II (4.01/1.02/3.22/3.89/1.22/13.36), leg III (2.44/0.68/ 1.56/2.02/0.89/7.59), and leg IV (4.44/0.89/ 3.00/3.78/ 1.11/13.22). Short spines on legs, Leg I: femur I with 3–5 spines, tibia I wit 3–4 spines, dense brush hairs covering more than one-third of the tibia, Leg II: femur II with 1–2 spines, tibia II with 3–4 spines, very few brush hairs covering more than one-third of the tibia, one row of short trichobothria covering half of retrolateral femur II, Leg III: femur III with 1–2 spines, tibia III with 3–4 spines, one row of short trichobothria covering more than two third of prolateral femur III; Leg IV: femur IV with 1–2 spines, tibia 4 with 3–4 spines, dense brush hairs covering more than one-third of the tibia, two rows of long trichobothria covering more than one third of the prolateral femur IV (Fig. 18). Epigyne: Epigyne simple and weakly sclerotized, spermathecae ovate and mushroom-like in shape,
copulatory duct shorter than spermathecae in length (Figs 20, 21). Male. Unknown. Type material. Female holotype (BNP005) from Bako National Park, Sarawak, Malaysia (1°41’N, 110°26’E) was collected by hand-picking (Collector: Dzulhelmi Nasir) during the daytime at 11:30 hours on 27th April 2013. Distribution. It is only known from the type locality at the lowland dipterocarp forest in Sarawak. Natural history. Diurnal. The spiders were found resting at the center of its hub during the day light. The webs were constructed at 45° angle at an open space above 200 cm from ground which was covered with dense shrubs. Premature female of similar species were also found at close proximity to where this adult female was caught.
TWO NEW OPADOMETA SPECIES FROM MALAYSIA
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank Zainal Mustafa and Dzulfeqar Nasir for the illustrations used in the paper. We acknowledge the Sarawak Forestry Department (SFD) and Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) for the research permit (NCCD.907.4.4 (Jld.) 7-199; No. 182/ 2012). This project was funded by MyBrain15 scholarships and University of Malaya IPPP grant (PG096-2012B) awarded to Dzulhelmi M.N.
REFERENCES Alvarez-Padilla, F. and G. Hormiga. 2011. Morphological and phylogenetic atlas of the orb-weaving spider family Tetragnathidae (Araneae: Araneiodea). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 162: 713–879.
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Barrion, A. T. and J. A. Litsinger. 1995. Riceland spiders of South and South East Asia, Wallingford: CAB International, XV + 700 pp. Koh, J. K. H. and L. T. Ming. 2013. Biodiversity in the heart of Borneo: Spiders of Brunei Darussalam. Kota Kinabalu: Natural History Publications (Borneo), IX + 357 pp. Murphy, F. and J. Murphy. 2000. An introduction to the spiders of South East Asia. Kuala Lumpur: Malayan Nature Society, VII + 625 pp. Platnick, N. I. 2014. The world spider catalog, version 13.0. American Museum of Natural History, online at http:// research.amnh.org/entomology/spiders/catalog/index. html (accessed 1 May 2014). Song, D. X., Mingsheng, Z. and C. Jun. 1999. The spiders of China. Shijiazhuang: Hebei Science and Technology Publishing House, 640 pp. Yoshida, H. 2009. The spider genus Leucauge (Araneae: Tetragnathidae) from Taiwan. Acta Arachnologica, 58: 11–18.
Received: July 22, 2014 Accepted: December 20, 2014
