Establishing a new species group of Pseudopoda Jäger, 2000 with the description of two new species (Araneae, Sparassidae)

Abstract

The huntsman spider genus <i>Pseudopoda</i> Jäger, 2000 contains 140 species worldwide, of which 61 have been described from China. In this paper, this knowledge is increased by the description of two new species from Yunnan Province in China. These new species, <i>P. physematosa</i> <b>sp. nov.</b> (♀) and <i>P. semilunata</i> <b>sp. nov.</b> (♂♀), are treated with five previously described ones, <i>P. bibulba</i> Xu & Yin, 2000 (♂♀), <i>P. signata</i> Jäger, 2001 (♂♀), <i>P. wu</i> Jäger, Li & Krehenwinkel, 2015 (♂♀), <i>P. yinae</i> Jäger & Vedel, 2007 (♂), and <i>P. yunnanensis</i> Yang & Hu, 2001 (♂♀), as the newly defined <i>Pseudopoda signata</i> species group. The <i>P. signata</i> group can be distinguished from other groups within <i>Pseudopoda</i> by the male palps with long, slightly broad, S-shaped embolus, small but distinct tegular apophysis, pronounced dRTA and reduced vRTA, and by the female with V-shaped or W-shaped anterior margins of lateral lobes, membranous and wide first winding, long and strongly curved SIDS (sclerotised internal duct system), the latter mostly covered by the first winding. The monophyly of this group is also supported by molecular phylogenetic results mainly based on Chinese <i>Pseudopoda</i> species. In addition, photographs of <i>P. bibulba</i> (♂♀), <i>P. signata</i> (♂♀), and <i>P. yunnanensis</i> (♂♀) are provided. <i>P. bibulba</i> is newly recorded from Guizhou Province and <i>P. signata</i> is newly recorded from Yunnan Province.