Published March 17, 2025 | Version v1

Macrothele indicola Tripathi & Kadam & Sherwood & Sudhikumar 2025, comb. nov.

  • 1. Centre for Animal Taxonomy and Ecology, Department of Zoology, Christ College, Irinjalakuda, Thrissur, Kerala 680 125, India.
  • 2. Sacred Heart College, Pandit Karuppan Rd, Thevara, Ernakulam, Kerala 682 013, India.
  • 3. Arachnology Research Association, 124 City Road, London, EC 1 V 2 NX, United Kingdom. & Fundación Ariguanabo, 4111, Calle 58; e / ave. 41 y ave. 43, San Antonio de los Baños, Provincia Artemisa c. p. 18100, Cuba.

Description

Macrothele indicola (Tikader, 1969) comb. nov.

Fig. 13

Ischnothele indicola Tikader, 1969: 160, figs 25–29 (♂ ♀).

Type material examined

Holotype

INDIA • ♂; Meghalaya; Shillong (previously located in the state of Assam, as mentioned in original description, now the capital of the state of Meghalaya), Kench’s trace; 3 Aug. 1966; S. Biswas leg.; NZC-ZSI 3833/18.

Paratype

INDIA • 1 ♀, same data as for holotype; NZC-ZSI 3835/18.

Allotype

INDIA • 1 ♂, same data as for holotype; NZC-ZSI 3835/18.

Rationale for transferral

Tikader (1969) described this species based on specimens of both sexes, collected from Shillong, Meghalaya. Detailed examination of the type images of Ischnothele indicola shows that it has diagnostic features of Macrothele Ausserer, 1871, including the male palpal bulb with a long and slender embolus, and the female spermathecae with long receptacles and globular apical lobes, as well as the labium of both sexes bearing several cuspules (Fig. 13D, H) (see also Shimojana & Haupt 1998; Xu & Yin 2001; Xu et al. 2002). Therefore, based on the above characters, we transfer Ischnothele indicola to the genus Macrothele, creating the new combination Macrothele indicola comb. nov.

Remarks

The specimen is in bad condition and fragile, with broken legs and palp, the abdomen shows noticeable shrinking from probable historic desiccation.

Notes

Published as part of Tripathi, Rishikesh, Kadam, Gautam, Sherwood, Danniella & Sudhikumar, Ambalaparambil Vasu, 2025, Revision of Indian Ischnothelidae (Arachnida: Araneae) and descriptions of two new species of Indothele Coyle, 1995, pp. 189-212 in European Journal of Taxonomy 981 (1) on page 208, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2025.981.2827, http://zenodo.org/record/15044336

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Linked records

Additional details

Biodiversity

Material sample ID
NZC-ZSI 3833/18 , NZC-ZSI 3835/18
Event date
1966-08-03
Verbatim event date
1966-08-03
Scientific name authorship
Tripathi & Kadam & Sherwood & Sudhikumar
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Arthropoda
Order
Araneae
Family
Macrothelidae
Genus
Macrothele
Species
indicola
Taxon rank
species
Taxonomic status
comb. nov.
Type status
allotype , holotype , paratype
Taxonomic concept label
Macrothele indicola (Tikader, 1969) sec. Tripathi, Kadam, Sherwood & Sudhikumar, 2025

References

  • Tikader B. K. 1969. Studies on spider fauna of Khasi and Jaintia hills, Assam, India. Part III. Journal of the Assam Science Society 11: 154-163.
  • Shimojana M. & Haupt J. 1998. Taxonomy and natural history of the funnel-web spider genus Macrothele (Araneae: Hexathelidae: Macrothelinae) in the Ryukyu Islands (Japan) and Taiwan. Species Diversity 3: 1-15. https://doi.org/10.12782/specdiv.3.1
  • Xu X. & Yin C. M. 2001. A new species of the genus Macrothele from China (Araneae: Hexathelidae). Journal of Natural Science of Hunan Normal University 24 (3): 65-66, 72.
  • Xu X., Yin C. M. & Griswold C. E. 2002. A new species of the spider genus Macrothele from the Gaoligong Mountains, Yunnan, China (Araneae: Hexathelidae). The Pan-Pacific Entomologist 78 (2): 116-119.