Cispius orientalis Yaginuma, 1967.

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.

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 oval-shaped 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.

Shinobius cona sp. nov. and S. orientalis (Yaginuma, 1967).

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.

China (Xizang) and Japan (Fig. 4).

Holotype ♂ (SWUC-T-TR-01-01): China, Xizang, Cona Co., Mama Township, Lebugou; 27°50′59″N, 91°46′39″E, elev. 2280 m; 4.viii.2020; L.Y. Wang, T. Yuan and Y.M. Hou leg.; Paratype: 1♀(SWUC-T-TR-01-02), same data as holotype.

The epithet refers to the type locality.

The new species is similar to S. orientalis (Yaginuma, 1967) (Sierwald 1993: figs 20–22), but differs by having no strong spines on the male palpal tibia and cymbium (vs. present), a median apophysis with one branch (vs. two); a roundly bent and not meandering spermophor (vs. meandering) as well by having the septum of the epigyne wider posteriorly (vs. anteriorly), and slit-like copulatory openings (CO) (vs. round, cf. Fig. 2C and Fig. 4B).

Male holotype (Fig. 1A) total length 5.75. Carapace 2.85 long, 2.37 wide, cephalic part 1.8 times thinner than thoracic; opisthosoma 2.83 long, 2.59 wide. Carapace yellow brown, with distinct pattern: cephalic part behind posterior eye row light brown, anterior part of thoracic part with 2 pairs of light, and submarinal spots, larger anterior and smaller posterior; medially with thin light stripe and 2 thin, and light marginal stripes against coxa III and IV. Cervical groove indistinct, radial furrows distinct. Eye sizes and interdistances: AME 0.12, ALE 0.12, PME 0.18, PLE 0.21; AME–AME 0.13, AME–ALE 0.08, PME–PME 0.14, PME–PLE 0.23, Clypeus height 0.25. Legs yellow brown, with black pigmentation. Tibia I with four pairs of ventral spines; metatarsus I with 3 pairs of ventral spines. Tibia II with 3 pairs of ventral spines; metatarsus II with 3 pairs of ventral spines. Leg measurements: I 10.31 (2.90, 3.52, 2.50, 1.39); II 10.71 (3.03, 3.68, 2.67, 1.33); III 9.14 (2.41, 3.39, 2.21, 1.13); IV 10.84 (2.87, 3.64, 2.93, 1.40). Opisthosoma oval. Dorsum yellow brown, with black brown markings. Venter yellowish-brown.

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.

Palp (Figs 2A, B, 3A–E). Retrolateral tibial edge hood-shaped. Subtegulum large, located on baso-prolateral side of bulb. Tegulum with slanting and meandering thin spermophor. Median apophysis short, medially wide, ventrally with coracoid tip, dorsally with a groove. Conductor digitiform (longer than wide), curving and membranous. Embolus arc-shaped, bent at about right angle, with oval-shaped base (Eb), tip ends in median apophysis groove dorsally.

Figure 2. 

Shinobius cona sp. nov. A, B holotype male C, D paratype female A left male palp, ventral view B same, retrolateral view C epigyne, ventral view D vulva, dorsal view. Abbreviations: Ar = anterior receptacle; CO = copulatory opening; Co = conductor; Em = embolus; FD = fertilization duct; MA = median apophysis; Pr = posterior receptacle; H = hood; Se = septum; St = subtegulum; Te = tegulum.

Figure 3. 

Shinobius cona sp. nov. male holotype (A–E), female paratype (F, G) A left male palp, ventral view B same, retrolateral view C right male palp, bulb, ventral view (overturn) D same, retrolateral view (overturn) E right male palp, median apophysis and embolus, dorsal view (overturn) F epigyne, ventral view G vulva, dorsal view.

Figure 4. 

Shinobius orientalis (Yaginuma, 1967) A female habitus, dorsal view B epigyne, ventral view C vulva, dorsal view. (courtesy of Francesco Ballarin).

Female paratype (Fig. 1B–I) total length 5.78. Carapace 2.98 long, 2.55 wide, cephalic part 1.6 times thinner than maximal width of carapace; opisthosoma 3.03 long, 2.41 wide. Eye sizes and interdistances: AME 0.16, ALE 0.15, PME 0.24, PLE 0.23; AME–AME 0.12, AME–ALE 0.09, PME–PME 0.14, PME–PLE 0.27. Carapace pattern as in male. Clypeus height 0.15. Leg measurements: I 9.55 (2.71, 3.37, 2.29, 1.18); II 9.70 (2.80, 3.34, 2.39, 1.17); III 8.59 (2.50, 2.88, 2.19, 1.02); IV 10.54 (2.92, 3.48, 2.84, 1.30). Sternum yellowish with 3 pairs of dark round submarginal spots (Fig. 3H)

Epigyne (Figs 2C, D, 3F, G). Epigynal plate 1.2 times wider than long; fovea (atrium) almost totally covered with septum, 1.2 times longer than wide, anterior part of plate 2 times thinner than posterior; copulatory openings (CO) slit-like; Endogyne with 2 pairs of receptacles, posterior receptacles (Pr) crooked; anterior receptacles (Ar) cylindrical, with the oval head covered with sparse glandular pores; Fertilization ducts arc-shaped.

Forms a funnel-shaped web on the moss. Female was found with egg-cocoons attached to spinnerets.

Known only from the type locality, Xizang, China (Fig. 5).

Figure 5. 

Distribution records of Shinobius species: S. cona sp. nov. (circle) and S. orientalis (square, type locality pointed, only prefecture records are shown).