Abstract
Thorell (1897) erected the monotypic genus Palicanus based on a single male specimen from Yangon (formerly Rangoon) in Myanmar (formerly Burma). Initially the genus was placed in Drassidae Sundevall, 1833, which later became a junior synonym of Gnaphosidae Pocock, 1898. The genus was subsequently transferred to Clubionidae Wagner, 1887 (Simon 1897) and finally to Miturgidae Simon, 1886 (Lehtinen 1967). Palicanus caudatus Thorell, 1897 is notable because of its mouse-grey appearance (Deeleman-Reinhold 2001) and is currently known to occur in China, Indonesia, Myanmar, Reunion Island and Seychelles (World Spider Catalog 2019). Gravely (1931) described Systaria barkudensis (Gravely, 1931), originally placed under Syrisca Simon, 1886, on the basis of specimens collected from the Indian state of Odisha. The species was redescribed once (Majumder & Tikader 1991) and later it was transferred to Systaria Simon, 1897 (Deeleman-Reinhold 2001). In this paper, we synonymise S. barkudensis with P. caudatus and provide supplementary information on the somatic morphology and male genitalia with detailed illustrations.
References
Deeleman-Reinhold, C.L. (2001) Forest spiders of South East Asia: with a revision of the sac and ground spiders (Araneae: Clubionidae, Corinnidae, Liocranidae, Gnaphosidae, Prodidomidae and Trochanterriidae [sic]). Brill, Leiden, 591 pp.
Gravely, F.H. (1931) Some Indian spiders of the families Ctenidae, Sparassidae, Selenopidae and Clubionidae. Records of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 33, 211–282.
Jacquot, M., Derepas, B. & Deguine, J.-P. (2016) Seven newly recorded species and families of spiders from Reunion Island (Malagasy region) (Araneae, Araneomorphae). Bulletin de la Société Entomologique de France, 121, 421–430.
Lehtinen, P.T. (1967) Classification of the cribellate spiders and some allied families, with notes on the evolution of the suborder Araneomorpha. Annales Zoologici Fennici, 4, 199–468.
Majumder, S.C. & Tikader, B.K. (1991) Studies on some spiders of the family Clubionidae from India. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, Occasional Paper, 102, 1–175.
Reimoser, E. (1934) Araneaea us Süd-Indien. Revue Suisse de Zoologie, 41, 465–511.
https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.155628
Saaristo, M.I. (2002) New species and interesting new records of spiders from Seychelles (Arachnida, Araneaea [sic]). Phelsuma, 10 (Supplement A), 1–31.
Simon, E. (1897) Histoire naturelle des araignées. Vol. 2. Roret, Paris, 192 pp.
Thorell, T. (1897) Viaggio di Leonardo Fea in Birmania e regionivicine. LXXIII. Secondo saggio sui Ragni birmani. I. Parallelodontes. Tubitelariae. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova, 17 [=37], 161–267.
World Spider Catalog (2019) World Spider Catalog. Version 20.0. Natural History Museum Bern. Available from: http://wsc.nmbe.ch (accessed 17 February 2019)