﻿First record of the spider family Trechaleidae Simon, 1890 (Araneae) from China

﻿Abstract The family Trechaleidae Simon, 1890 is reported for the first time from China, including one new species: Shinobiusconasp. nov. (♂♀). Morphological descriptions, photos and illustrations of the new species are provided. Taxonomic features of species belonging to the genus are briefly discussed. Photos of the female of Shinobiusorientalis (Yaginuma, 1967) are also presented to compare it with the new species.

First record of the spider family Trechaleidae Simon, 1890 (Araneae) from China

Introduction
The spider family Trechaleidae is relatively small, with 133 named species belonging to 17 genera (WSC 2024).Sixteen genera and 132 species are restricted to the Neotropical Realm, and only one monotypic genus, Shinobius Yaginuma, 1991 is known in the Palaearctic Realm (Japan) (WSC 2024).
While studying specimens collected from Xizang, China, we found two specimens of both sexes that are similar to Shinobius in somatic morphology and features of the male palp and epigyne.These specimens, observed in the field, construct funnel-shaped webs and carry egg sacs by spinnerets.The goal of this paper is to provide a detailed description of the new species and a brief discussion of the taxonomic position of the genus.

Material and methods
All specimens are preserved in 75% ethanol and were examined, illustrated, photographed, and measured using a Leica M205A stereomicroscope equipped with a drawing tube, a Leica DFC450 camera,and LAS software (v. 4.6).Male palps and epigynes were examined and illustrated after they were dissected.Epigynes were cleared by immersing them in pancreatin (Álvarez-Padilla and Hormiga 2007).Eye sizes were measured as the maximum diameter.Leg measurements are shown as total length (femur, patella and tibia, metatarsus, tarsus).All measurements are in millimetres.The specimens examined here are deposited in the Collection of Spiders, School of Life Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing, China (SWUC).

Taxonomy Family Trechaleidae Simon, 1890
Genus Shinobius Yaginuma, 1991 Type species.Cispius orientalis Yaginuma, 1967.Diagnosis.Shinobius is similar to the South American genera Rhoicinus Simon, 1898 and Barrisca Chamberlin & Ivie, 1936, by the lack of the retrolateral tibial apophysis and having a very large subtegulum composing almost a half of the bulb.However, Shinobius can be separated from Rhoicinus and Barrisca by the cymbial tip shorter than the bulb and a strongly sclerotized posteroretrolateral part of the cymbium (vs.tip of cymbium longer than bulb, basal part of cymbium not modified) and by the presence of a median plate in the epigyne (vs.absent).Shinobius differs from other genera considered in the family by the lack of an extending retrolateral tibial apophysis.
Description.Carapace brown.Eight eyes arranged in two rows, posterior row strongly protruding.Fovea longitudinal.Cervical groove indistinct, radial furrows distinct.Chelicerae yellow brown, with three promarginal and three retromarginal teeth.Endites and labium yellow brown, longer than wide.Sternum yellow brown, shield-shaped, with brown setae.Legs yellow brown, with black pigmentation.Leg formula: 4213.Opisthosoma oval.Dorsum yellow brown, with black brown markings.Venter yellowish-brown.
Male palp: tibia without extending retrolateral apophysis (RTA), but with strongly sclerotized kind of hood; cymbium droplet-shaped, with tip shorter than bulb, spines and claws present or absent; posteroretrolateral part strongly sclerotized (Cs, Fig. 3B).Subtegulum large, almost half of bulb, with anterior margin slanting; median apophysis (Ma) short, located on retrolateral half of bulb; conductor finger-shaped, longer than wide; embolus with ovalshaped base, filamentous, round bent at about right angle, tip located close to tip of median apophysis.
Epigyne: epigynal plate slightly wider than long; with a wide septum in type species and round in S. cona sp.nov.; fovea divided by septum; septum terminates near epigastral fold.
Composition.Shinobius cona sp.nov.and S. orientalis (Yaginuma, 1967).Relationships.Shinobius is the only genus of the family found far away from the rest of the genera which are distributed in the Neotropical Realm.Shinobius lacks a developed tibial apophysis (extending in from the tibia) but has instead a kind of hood with a strongly chitinized anterior margin lacking in other members of the family except for Rhoicinus.Based on this similarity and the shape of the bulb, Sierwald (1993) considered the two genera in a separate subfamily Rhoicinae Simon, 1898.
Natural history.Forms a funnel-shaped web on the moss.Female was found with egg-cocoons attached to spinnerets.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Shinobius cona sp.nov.male holotype (A), female paratype (B-I) A male habitus, dorsal view B female habitus, dorsal view C tibia I, ventral view D eyes, dorsal view E eyes and chelicerae, front view F chelicerae, ventral view G chelicerae, endites and labium, ventral view H sternum, ventral view I spinneret, ventral view.