Abstract
A new genus of the subfamily Theridiinae Sundevall, 1833, Troglotheridion gen. nov., with the type species Troglotheridion lamellatum sp. nov. (male, female) and an additional species: Troglotheridion sangzhiense (Zhu, 1998) comb. nov. (male, female) ex. Theridion Walckenaer, 1805 is described. Both species of the new genus are restricted to caves in Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, China, and have much vestigial eyes and lost pigment. Diagnoses, descriptions, photos of both species and a distribution map are provided.
References
- Agnarsson, I. (2004) Morphological phylogeny of cobweb spiders and their relatives (Araneae, Araneoidea, Theridiidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 141 (4), 447‒626. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.2004.00120.x
- Anju, K.B., Asha, T.J. & Sudhikumar, A.V. (2024) A new six-eyed species of Dolichognatha O. Pickard Cambridge, 1869 from India (Araneae, Tetragnathidae). Zootaxa, 5523 (1), 146‒150. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5523.1.10
- Arnedo, M.A., Oromi, P., Múrria, C., Macías-Hernández, N. & Ribera, C. (2007) The dark side of an island radiation: systematics and evolution of troglobitic spiders of the genus Dysdera Latreille (Araneae: Dysderidae) in the Canary Islands. Invertebrate Systematics, 21 (6), 623‒660. https://doi.org/10.1071/IS07015
- Baba, Y. & Tanaka, K. (2019) Spiders collected in Hokuto City, Yamanashi Prefecture. Kishidaia, 114, 91‒92.
- Barrion-Dupo, A.L.A. & Barrion, A.T. (2014) First record of genus Prolochus Thorell, 1895 (Araneae: Tetragnathidae) from the Philippines, with description of a new species from Mt. Makiling Forest Reserve, Laguna. Philippine Entomologist, 28 (2), 194‒201. https://doi.org/10.59852/TPE-A634V28I2
- Chikuni, Y. (1989) Pictorial encyclopedia of spiders in Japan. Kaisei-sha Publishing Co., Tokyo, 310 pp.
- Chu, C., Lin, Y.J. & Li, S.Q. (2023) New genera and new species of Hahniidae (Araneae) from China, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. ZooKeys, 1187, 91‒134. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1187.112936
- Cokendolpher, J.C. (2004) Cicurina spiders from caves in Bexar County, Texas (Araneae: Dictynidae). Texas Memorial Museum Speleological Monographs, 6, 13‒58.
- Deeleman-Reinhold, C.L. (1978) Revision of the cave-dwelling and related spiders of the genus Troglohyphantes Joseph (Linyphiidae), with special reference to the Yugoslav species. Slovenska Akademija Znanosti in Umetnosti, Razred za Prirodoslovne Vede, Classis IV, Historia Naturalis (Prirod. Vede), 23, 1‒220.
- Deeleman-Reinhold, C.L. & Deeleman, P.R. (1980) Remarks on troglobitism in spiders. Proceedings 8. Internationaler Arachnologen-Kongress Wien, 1980, 433‒438.
- Dimitrov, D., Álvarez-Padilla, F. & Hormiga, G. (2010) On the phylogenetic placement of the spider genus Atimiosa Simon, 1895, and the circumscription of Dolichognatha O.P.-Cambridge, 1869 (Tetragnathidae, Araneae). American Museum Novitates, 3683, 1‒19. https://doi.org/10.1206/669.1
- Fage, L. (1931) Araneae, 5e série, précédée d’un essai sur l’évolution souterraine et son déterminisme. In: Biospeologica, LV. Archives de Zoologie Expérimentale et Générale, 71, 99‒291.
- Fomichev, A.A. & Omelko, M.M. (2025) A new six-eyed species of Dolichognatha O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1869 (Araneae: Tetragnathidae) from Southeast Asia. Far Eastern Entomologist, 517, 1‒8. https://doi.org/10.25221/fee.517.1
- Gao, C.X. & Li, S.Q. (2014) Comb-footed spiders (Araneae: Theridiidae) in the tropical rainforest of Xishuangbanna, Southwest China. Zoological Systematics, 39 (1), 1‒135. https://doi.org/10.11865/zs20140101
- Gertsch, W.J. (1992) Distribution patterns and speciation in North American cave spiders with a list of the troglobites and revision of the cicurinas of the subgenus Cicurella. Texas Memorial Museum Speleological Monographs, 3, 75‒122.
- Kallal, R.J. & Hormiga, G. (2018) An expanded molecular phylogeny of metaine spiders (Araneae, Tetragnathidae) with description of new taxa from Taiwan and the Philippines. Invertebrate Systematics, 32 (2), 400‒422. https://doi.org/10.1071/IS17058
- Lee, S.Y. & Kim, S.T. (2021) A new spider of the genus Yunohamella (Araneae: Theridiidae) from Korea. Species Diversity, 26 (2), 165‒169. https://doi.org/10.12782/specdiv.26.165
- Li, B., Zhao, Z., Chen, Y.X., Chen, H.F., Wu, Z.Y. & Li, S.Q. (2019a) Vappolotes, a new genus of coelotine spiders (Araneae, Agelenidae) from Guizhou, China. Zootaxa, 4701 (5), 434‒442. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4701.5.3
- Li, B., Zhao, Z. & Li, S.Q. (2023a) Three new species of the genus Vappolotes Zhao & Li, 2019 (Araneae, Agelenidae) from southwest China. Zootaxa, 5270 (2), 325‒336. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5270.2.8
- Li, B., Zhao, Z., Li, S.Q. & Xie, C.Y. (2023b) Description of the unknown male of Vappolotes tianjiayu Li, Zhao & Li, 2023 (Araneae, Agelenidae, Coelotinae) from China. Biodiversity Data Journal, 11 (e114147), 1‒8. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.11.e114147
- Li, B., Zhao, Z., Zhang, C.T. & Li, S.Q. (2019b) Troglocoelotes gen. n., a new genus of Coelotinae spiders (Araneae, Agelenidae) from caves in south China. Zootaxa, 4554 (1), 219‒238. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4554.1.7
- Lin, Y.C. & Li, S.Q. (2010) Long-legged cave spiders (Araneae, Telemidae) from Yunnan-Guizhou plateau, southwestern China. Zootaxa, 2445 (1), 1‒34. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.2445.1.1
- Lin, Y.J., Li, S.Q., Mo, H.L. & Wang, X.H. (2024) Thirty-eight spider species (Arachnida: Araneae) from China, Indonesia, Japan and Vietnam. Zoological Systematics, 49 (1), 4‒98. https://doi.org/10.11865/zs.2024101
- Liu, J., May-Collado, L.J., Pekár, S. & Agnarsson, I. (2016) A revised and dated phylogeny of cobweb spiders (Araneae, Araneoidea, Theridiidae): a predatory Cretaceous lineage diversifying in the era of the ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 94, 658‒675. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2015.09.023
- Mammola, S. & Isaia, M. (2017) Spiders in caves. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 284 (1853), 20170193. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.0193
- Marusik, Y.M. & Logunov, D.V. (2017) New faunistic and taxonomic data on spiders (Arachnidae: Aranei) from the Russian Far East. Acta Arachnologica, 66 (2), 87‒96. https://doi.org/10.2476/asjaa.66.87
- Mendoza, J. (2014) Taxonomic revision of Hemirrhagus Simon, 1903 (Araneae: Theraphosidae, Theraphosinae), with description of five new species from Mexico. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 170 (4), 634‒689. https://doi.org/10.1111/zoj.12112
- Merrett, P. & Ashmole, N.P. (1989) A new troglobitic Theridion (Araneae: Theridiidae) from the Azores. Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society, 8 (2), 51‒54.
- Miller, J. (2005) Cave adaptation in the spider genus Anthrobia (Araneae, Linyphiidae, Erigoninae). Zoologica Scripta, 34 (6), 565‒592. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1463-6409.2005.00206.x
- Peck, S.B. & Shear, W.A. (1987) A new eyeless, stridulating Theridion spider from caves in the Galapagos Islands (Araneae, Theridiidae). The Canadian Entomologist, 119 (10), 881‒885. https://doi.org/10.4039/Ent119881-10
- Pedroso, D.R. & Baptista, R.L.C. (2014) A new troglomorphic species of Harmonicon (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Dipluridae) from Pará, Brazil, with notes on the genus. ZooKeys, 389, 77‒88. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.389.6693
- Roth, V.D. (1992) A new and first troglobitic spider from Arizona (Thymoites, Theridiidae). Texas Memorial Museum Speleological Monographs, 3, 123‒126.
- Růžička, V. (1999) The first steps in subterranean evolution of spiders (Araneae) in Central Europe. Journal of Natural History, 33 (2), 255–265. https://doi.org/10.1080/002229399300407
- Růžička, V., Laška, V., Mikula, J. & Tuf, I.H. (2011) Morphological adaptations of Porrhomma spiders (Araneae: Linyphiidae) inhabiting soil. The Journal of Arachnology, 39 (2), 355‒357. https://doi.org/10.1636/JOACP10-66.1
- Růžička, V., Šmilauer, P. & Mlejnek, R. (2013) Colonization of subterranean habitats by spiders in Central Europe. International Journal of Speleology, 42 (2), 133‒140. http://doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.42.2.5
- Santanna, M., Rodrigues, E.N.L., Cizauskas, I. & Brescovit, A.D. (2019) On the spider genus Cryptachaea from Peru, Bolivia and cave environments in Brazil: a new species, additional descriptions and new records (Araneae, Theridiidae). Zootaxa, 4646 (2), 271‒292. http://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4646.2.4
- Tong, Y.F. & Li, S.Q. (2007) A new six-eyed pholcid spider (Araneae, Pholcidae) from Karst Tiankeng of Leye County, Guangxi, China. Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica, 32, 505‒507.
- Tong, Y.F. & Li, S.Q. (2009) Six new cave-dwelling pholcid spiders (Araneae: Pholcidae) from Hainan Island, with two newly recorded genera from China. Zootaxa, 1988 (1), 17‒32. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.1988.1.2
- Vanuytven, H. (2021) The Theridiidae of the World. A key to the genera with their diagnosis and a study of the body length of all known species. Newsletter of the Belgian arachnological Society, 35, 1‒363.
- Wang, J.H., Chang, J., Wang, K., Liang, B., Zhu, Y., Liu, Z.H., Liang, X.T., Chen, J., Peng, Y., Agnarsson, I., Li, D.Q. & Liu, J. (2025) Blue light restores functional circadian clocks in eyeless cave spiders. Science Advances, 11 (7), 1‒14. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adr2802
- Wang, K., Wang, J.H., Liang, B., Chang, J., Zhu, Y., Chen, J., Agnarsson, I., Li, D.Q., Peng, Y. & Liu, J. (2023) Eyeless cave-dwelling Leptonetela spiders still rely on light. Science Advances, 9 (51), 1‒14. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adj0348
- Wang, L.Y., Zhang, Z.S. & Peng, X.J. (2020) Dolichognatha bannaensis new species, a six-eyes tetragnathid spider from China (Araneae, Tetragnathidae). Zootaxa, 4809 (1), 197‒200. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4809.1.14
- WSC (2025) World Spider Catalog. Version 26. Natural History Museum Bern, Bern. Online. Available from: http://wsc.nmbe.ch (accessed 5 March 2025) https://doi.org/10.24436/2
- Yin, C.M., Peng, X.J., Yan, H.M., Bao, Y.H., Xu, X., Tang, G., Zhou, Q.S. & Liu, P. (2012) Fauna Hunan: Araneae in Hunan, China. Hunan Science and Technology Press, Changsha, 1590 pp.
- Yoshida, H. (2001) A revision of the Japanese genera and species of the subfamily Theridiinae (Araneae: Theridiidae). Acta Arachnologica, 50 (2), 157‒181. https://doi.org/10.2476/asjaa.50.157
- Yoshida, H. (2003) The spider family Theridiidae (Arachnida: Araneae) from Japan. Arachnological Society of Japan, Tokyo, 224 pp.
- Zhang, F., Peng, J.Y. & Zhang, B.S. (2022) Spiders of Mt. Xiaowutai. Science Press, Beijing, 387 pp.
- Zhao, Q.Y. & Li, S.Q. (2017) Callosa gen. n., a new troglobitic genus from southwest China (Araneae, Linyphiidae). ZooKeys, 703, 109‒128. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.703.13641
- Zhao, Z. & Li, S.Q. (2016) Papiliocoelotes gen. n., a new genus of Coelotinae (Araneae, Agelenidae) spiders from the Wuling Mountains, China. ZooKeys, 585, 33‒50. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.585.8007
- Zhong, R., Zhong, Y., Zhang, H., Liu, J., Liu, C.Y., Chen, K. & Hu, C.H. (2025) Taxonomic notes on the genus Yunohamella Yoshida, 2007 (Araneae, Theridiidae) from China, with two new species. ZooKeys, 1224, 69‒85. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1224.138987
- Zhou, G.C., Ye, R.R. & Zhao, Z. (2023) A new troglobitic species of the genus Troglocoelotes Zhao & S. Li, 2019 (Araneae, Agelenidae, Coelotinae) from Guizhou, China. Biodiversity Data Journal, 11 (e103265), 1‒8. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.11.e103265
- Zhu, M.S. (1998) Fauna Sinica: Arachnida: Araneae: Theridiidae. Science Press, Beijing, 436 pp.