On the spider genus Amaurobius (Araneae, Amaurobiidae) in India and Nepal

Abstract A new species, Amaurobius koponeni sp. n., is described from Himachal Pradesh on the basis of a male specimen. A key to all five genera of Amaurobiidae that occur in Asia is provided. Four species from India and Nepal incorrectly assigned to Amaurobius are transferred to three genera of Titanoecidae: Anuvinda milloti (Hubert, 1973), comb. n., Pandava andhraca (Patel & Reddy, 1990), comb. n., Pandava nathabhaii (Patel & Patel, 1975), comb. n., and Titanoeca sharmai (Bastawade, 2008), comb. n.


Introduction
Amaurobius C.L. Koch, 1837, is a rather large genus with 68 valid species names (Platnick 2011). It has a primarily Holarctic distribution. Only six species of this genus have been recorded outside of this region: A. andhracus Patel & Reddy, 1990, A. nathabhaii Patel & Patel, 1975 sharmai Bastawade, 2008 (all in India), A. thoracicus Mello-Leitão, 1945 (Argentina), A. tristis L. Koch, 1875 (Eritrea) and A. yanoianus Nakatsudi, 1943 (Micronesia). Only the first two of these are known from both sexes. The other species are known either from female or by juvenile (A. thoracicus) specimens and appear to have been incorrectly assigned to the genus and even possibly to the family.
Recently, we found a specimen belonging to Amaurobius from northern India and whilst trying to identified it, we checked all species (descriptions) known from India and Nepal. The study of these descriptions revealed that all the so-called amaurobiid species were misplaced and actually belong to Titanoecidae, and at least Amaurobius sharmai is likely to belong to Titanoeca Thorell, 1870. Another Amaurobius, A. milloti Hubert, 1973, known from Nepal also seems to have been misplaced and belongs to the titanoecid genus Anuvinda Lehtinen, 1967.
The aims of this paper are to describe a new species of Amaurobius, to provide a key to the amaurobiid genera that occur in Asia, and to transfer the misplaced species to Titanoecidae.

Material and methods
Microphotographs were made with an Olympus Camedia E-520 camera attached to an Olympus SZX16 stereomicroscope at the Zoological Museum, University of Turku. Digital images were montaged using "CombineZP" image stacking software. Photographs were taken in paraffin-based dishes using different sized holes to keep the samples in the required position. The holotype of the new species is preserved in the collections of the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Verona, Italy (MSNV). Comparative specimens illustrated are from Russia, Kunashir Island (Cybaeopsis and Callobius) and Magadan Area (Arctobius) and from Finland (female of Amaurobius fenestralis).
All measurements are in millimetres.

taxonomic survey
To date, five genera of amaurobiid spiders have been recorded from Asia east of the Caucasus: Amaurobius C.L. Koch, 1837 (India), Arctobius Lehtinen, 1967 (the whole of Siberia south to Mongolia), Callobius Chamberlin, 1947 (Far East), Cybaeopsis Strand, 1907 (Far East) and Taira Lehtinen, 1967 (Far East and South East). All genera except Arctobius (subfamily Arctobiinae) belong to the nominative subfamily Amaurobiinae. Arctobius differs distinctly from all other amaurobiids by colour, markings and eye arrangement. Amaurobiinae genera can be relatively easily distinguished by the structure of the palp in males and the epigyne in females. Taira has a reduced or absent retrolateral tibial apophysis (cf. Zhang et al. 2008;Wang et al. 2010). Callobius and Cybaeopsis differ from other genera by possessing a strong and long dorsal tibial apophysis, and in having the epigyne divided into two lobes. In Callobius the epigyne has a median lobe which is absent in Cybaeopsis (Ubick 2005). Amaurobius has a dorsal tibial apophysis without long extensions and the epigyne is transverse and undivided.

Key to the genera of Amaurobiidae found in Asia
Females of Amaurobius and Taira have no distinct morphological differences (cf. Zhang et al. 2008) 1 Anterior median eyes equidistant from each other and anterior lateral eyes; abdomen with dark median band (Mb, Fig. 9), male palpal tibia without dorsal apophysis (Fig. 11), epigyne with strongly sclerotized median part of median plate (Fig. 10 Etymology. The species is named after our friend and colleague Seppo Koponen (Turku, Finland).
Diagnosis. The new species differs distinctly from other congeners by the shape of the tibial apophysis and the median apophysis.
Description. Total length 9.8. Carapace length 4.95, width 3.4. Habitus as in Fig.  1. Carapace light brown with dorsal darker radiating strips, fovea and eye region dark brown. Chelicerae dark, swollen in front with four posterior and five anterior teeth.
Length of leg segments: Leg spination: Sternum without pattern, same colour as carapace. Abdomen dark grey with dorsal and ventral pattern, cribellum clearly visible.
Palp as in Figs 2-8, tibia with large square-shaped retrolateral tibial apophysis (Ra) originating near the base of the tibia and almost as long as the tibia In ventral view the tibia and Ra have a V-shape; dorsal tibial apophysis (Da) large and massive, its length almost twice as long as the diameter of the tibia; intermediate apophysis not developed (or fused with Da). Retrobasal part of cymbium with long fold of about ½ of the cymbium. Median apophysis (Ma) massive, located in the center of the tegulum, basal half of it horizontal and terminal part almost vertical; conductor wide, as wide as basal half of Ma; embolus (Em) sharply pointed.
Distribution. The new species is known from the type locality only, the area near the city of Kaimganj in Uttar Pradesh, India.

Notes on species misplaced in Amaurobius
As mentioned above, three species of Amaurobius (A. andhracus Patel & Reddy, 1990, A. nathabhaii Patel & Patel, 1975and A. sharmai Bastawade, 2008 have been recorded from India (Platnick 2011) and one more species is known from Nepal (A. milloti Hubert, 1973). All these species were misplaced in Amaurobiidae and actually belong in Titanoecidae. It is worth mentioning that recently one more species, A. indicus Bastawade, 2002 was described in the genus. Again, this was misplaced and it actually belongs in Corinnidae. It would appear that the Indian authors have an incorrect concept of the genus and of the family in general.

Almeida
Comments. This species is perfectly described from central and eastern Nepal (Fig. 17). Judging from the structure of the male palp, and particularly the modified patella, it undoubtedly belongs to Anuvinda Lehntinen, 1967, the type species of which, A. es- cheri (Reimoser, 1934) was recently well redescribed on the basis of both sexes by Almeida-Silva et al. (2009). Judging from the diagnosis and figures of the copulatory organs of A. escheri (Reimoser, 1934), it is very likely that the two names should be synonymized. An additional argument which supports their probable synonymy is the distribution of both species. A. escheri is known from central India (type locality), Thailand, Laos and southern China (Yunnan) and A. milloti has been recorded from several localities in central and eastern Nepal. metatarsal spines on the legs in males and the structure of the palp, leaves no doubt that the species belongs in Titanoecidae. Although there are three titanoecid genera in India, judging from the locality, high elevation, and the unmodified male palpal patella, A. sharmai must be placed in Titanoeca. It is worth mentioning that this species may be a junior synonym of T. intermedia Caporiacco, 1934 (species incorrectly synonymized with T. flavicoma L. Koch, 1872), which was described from territories now belonging to northeastern Pakistan and from northern India (Jammu & Kashmir).