Holotype

Female (XUX-2013-159), Mount Wangjiang, Huangyang Village, Zhuangbian Town, Hanjiang District, Putian City, Fujian Province, China, 25.66°N, 118.87°E, 680 m a.s.l., 10 July 2013, collected by F.X. Liu, X. Xu, and Z. T. Zhang. No male found.

Etymology

‘Wangjiang’ refers to the type locality of this species, Mount Wangjiang.

Diagnosis

Females of G. wangjiangensis sp. nov. differ from all other Ganthela species by the W-shaped posterior part of the genital area, and can be further distinguished from G. venus sp. nov. by the connected basal genital stalks (Fig. 7A, B). Ganthela wangjiangensis sp. nov. differs from all other Ganthela species by the following unique nucleotide substitutions in the standard DNA barcode alignment: G (54), C (101), C (179), C (320), A (336), T (372), C (386), C (422), G (476), T (512), and C (632).

Description

Female (holotype). Carapace and opisthosoma light brown; tergites slightly dark brown; sternum narrow, length more or less twice of width; a few long pointed hairs running over ocular mound in a longitudinal row; chelicerae robust, with promargin of cheliceral groove with 12 strong denticles of variable size; legs with strong hairs and spines; opisthosoma with 12 tergites, with tergites 2–6 larger than others, and the with tergite 4 being largest; seven spinnerets. Measurements: BL 11.50, CL 4.90, CW 4.30, OL 6.40, OW 5.55; ALE> PLE> PME> AME; palp 7.94 (2.78 + 1.50 + 1.48 + 2.18), leg I 9.10 (3.05 + 1.35 + 1.70 + 1.80 + 1.20), leg II 9.50 (2.80 + 1.67 + 1.71 + 2.02 + 1.30), leg III 10.00 (2.75 + 1.76 + 1.57 + 2.45 + 1.47), and leg IV 13.62 (3.83 + 1.92 + 2.28 + 3.52 + 2.07).

Female genitalia

The posterior part of genital area W-shaped (Fig. 7A, B), with a pair of receptacular clusters separated from each other, and with the basal parts of short genital stalks fused (Fig. 7A, B).

Distribution

Fujian (Putian) Province, China.

Remarks

Ganthela wangjiangensis sp. nov. was collected within 1 km of G. venus sp. nov., but at a higher altitude.