The taxonomic status of Pseudopoda aureola (He & Hu, 2000) is revised based on the re-examination of the type specimen and fresh material collected from the type locality. The cheliceral dentition, with a large denticle field between two anterior and three posterior teeth, the male palps with simple RTA arising distally, narrow, not filiform embolus and sheet-like membranous conductor, and the female epigyne with a visible median septum indicate that the species does not belong to Pseudopoda or to the originally assigned genus, Heteropoda. Based on these characters, the species is here transferred to Gnathopalystes. The male is redescribed and the female is described and illustrated for the first time.

Biodiversity, Hainan, huntsman spiders, taxonomy

Heteropoda aureola was first described in the genus Heteropoda Latreille, 1804, based on male specimens from Jianfengling Mountain, Hainan Province, China by He and Hu (2000). Jäger (2014) transferred it to Pseudopoda Jäger, 2000 based on the original description and illustrations, which showed an RTA with a bifid apex arising medially from the tibia. However, the author pointed out that a definite characterization would only be possible with the examination of type material or material from the type locality.

Recently, the authors examined material from Jianfengling Mountain (type locality of P. aureola) and found specimens which, when compared to the holotype, were confirmed as P. aureola. However, the presence of male palps with simple RTA, arising distally (medially or basally in Pseudopoda), narrow, not filiform embolus (broadened and flattened in Pseudopoda, filiform in Herteropoda), sheet-like membranous conductor (sheath-like in Herteropoda) and female epigyne with visible median septum (inconspicuous in Pseudopoda) indicated that this species did not belong to either Heteropoda or Pseudopoda. When comparing this material to that of other species recorded from China, the authors noted a strong similarity between P. aureola and Gnathopalystes taiwanensis Zhu & Tso, 2006 (described from Taiwan and recorded in China) which suggested that the species might actually belong to Gnathopalystes.

Rainbow (1899) established Gnathopalystes to include G. ferox Rainbow, 1899. Simon (1903) synonymized it with Palystes L. Koch, 1875, and this decision was generally accepted until Croeser (1996) revised Palystes and revalidated Gnathopalystes to accommodate the non-African species of the genus. Nevertheless, he diagnosed the genus using only habitus characters, such as eye arrangement and cheliceral dentition, because the type species, G. ferox, was known solely from an immature female. From that time on, most authors considered Gnathopalystes a valid genus and several new species were described (Jäger 1998; Zhu and Tso 2006; Saha and Raychaudhuri 2007; Jäger 2014). Currently, the genus includes nine species, most of which are distributed in Vanuatu, Solomon Is., Papua New Guinea, New Guinea, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

Although Gnathopalystes has not been revised, and most species are poorly described and illustrated, we decided to remove P. aureola from Pseudopoda and transfer it to Gnathopalystes based on characters provided by Croeser (1996) and Jäger (1998). Gnathopalystes aureolus comb. n. has a straight posterior eye row, wider than the recurved anterior eye row, with AME smaller than ALE, PLE equal or slightly larger than PME (PLE significantly larger than PME in Heteropoda and Pseudopoda). It also shows a large denticle field between the anterior and posterior teeth, which extends from the proximal teeth to the margin of the non-sclerotized arthrodial membrane (often close to the three anterior teeth in Heteropoda and Pseudopoda). In addition to the transfer, we provide a redescription of the male of G. aureolus comb. n. and describe the female for the first time.

Specimens were examined with an Olympus SZX16 stereomicroscope; details were further investigated with an Olympus BX51 compound microscope. All illustrations were made using an Olympus drawing tube. Epigynes were examined and illustrated after dissection from the spider bodies. Photos were made with a Canon G10 digital camera (14.7 megapixels) mounted on an Olympus SZX16 stereomicroscope. The digital images depicting the habitus and genital morphology are a composite of multiple images taken at different focal planes along the Z-axis and assembled using the software package Helicon Focus 3.10. Left palps are depicted unless otherwise stated. The illustration of schematic course of internal duct system follows Jäger (2000). Most hairs and macrosetae are usually not depicted in the palp and epigyne drawings. Positions of tegular appendages are given according to clock positions, based on the left male palp in ventral view. Measurements are given in millimeters.

Leg measurements are shown as: total length (femur, patella, tibia, metatarsus, tarsus). Number of spines is listed for each segment in the following order: prolateral, dorsal, retrolateral, ventral (in femora and patellae ventral spines are absent and fourth digit is omitted in the spination formula). Abbreviations follow Zhong et al. (2017, 2018):

ALE anterior lateral eyes;

AME anterior median eyes;

AW anterior width of prosoma;

CH clypeus height;

FE femur;

Mt metatarsus;

OL opisthosoma length;

OW opisthosoma width;

Pa patella;

PH prosoma height;

PL prosoma length;

PLE posterior lateral eyes;

PME posterior median eyes;

Pp palpus;

PW prosoma width;

Ta tarsus;

Ti tibia. I, II, III, IV–legs I to IV.

Abbreviations for the collection depositories:

HBUHubei University, Wuhan, China;

MTJ Museum of Tianjing, Tianjing, China

We thank Mr Fengxiang Liu (School of Life Sciences, Hubei University) for providing the Sparassidae specimens. The manuscript greatly benefited from comments by Dr Peter Jäger (Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut, Germany), Dr Cristina Rheims (Instituto Butantan, Sao Paulo, Brazil), Dr Daniele Polotow (University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil) and Dr Majid Moradmand (University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran). This study was financially supported by the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (NSFC- 31572236/31272268/31772420).