﻿Three new species of the Clubionacorticalis group (Araneae, Clubionidae) from China

﻿Abstract Three new species of the Clubionacorticalis group in China are described: Clubionabidactylinasp. nov., C.camelasp. nov., and C.subhuimingsp. nov.

The Clubiona corticalis group, first recognised by Simon (1932), has recently been one of the most frequently reported species groups of the family (Marusik and Omelko 2018;Zhang et al. 2021;Zhong et al. 2022). In China, at least 51 species of the Clubiona corticalis group have been recorded to date, and these are mainly distributed in south China (Table 1). While examining Chinese clubionids, we found three new species belonging to the Clubiona corticalis group, and we describe them in this paper.

Materials and methods
All specimens studied are stored in 75% ethanol and stored in the Museum of Hebei University (MHBU), Baoding, China. We identified these specimens using a Tech XTL-II stereomicroscope, and drew, photographed, and measured them using a Leica M205A stereomicroscope equipped with a drawing tube and a DFC450 CCD camera. Carapace length was measured from the anterior margin to the posterior margin of the carapace medially. Eye sizes were measured as the maximum diameter of the lens in dorsal or frontal view. The leg measurements are shown as total length (femur, patella, tibia, metatarsus, tarsus). The epigyne was cleared in a warm 10% potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution and transferred to 75% ethanol for drawing, photographing, and measuring. All measurements are in millimetres.
Epigyne (Figs 3B,C,5A,B). Epigynal plate as long as wide, obviously sclerotised. Copulatory openings close to each other, located almost centrally. Copulatory ducts curved, connected with bursae at anterior part of epigyne. Bursae pear-shaped, close to each other, 1.6× longer than wide. Spermathecae long, tubular, located on dorsal-inner surface of bursae. Fertilisation ducts thin and short.
Distribution. Presently known only from Yunnan, China. Etymology. The specific name is the combination of the prefix sub-(near) and huiming, referring to its similarity to C. huiming Wang, Zhang & Zhang, 2018. Diagnosis. The male of the new species is similar to C. huiming (Wang et al. 2018: figs 8, 9), but differs from the latter by the presence of 2 patellar apophyses (vs. 0), the smaller conductor width/genital bulb width ratio (0.4 vs. 0.7). The female of the new species is similar to C. subapplanata Wang, Zhang & Zhang, 2018(Wang et al. 2018), but differs from the latter by having 2 separate copulatory openings (vs. conjoined) and coiled copulatory ducts (vs. s-shaped).

Discussion
To date, nearly one-third of Clubiona species in China belong to Clubiona corticalis species group, and more than half of them have been reported for the first time in the last five years. It is likely that this species group is not monotypic, although we follow previous studies (Mikhailov 1995;Deeleman-Reinhold 2001;Zhang et al. 2021) and temporarily place these three new species in the Clubiona corticalis species group. More studies, therefore, are needed to further investigate the species diversity and morphological characteristics of this group of species.