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The Southeast Asian Pholcus halabala species group is revised and re-delimited, based mainly on field observations (life color pattern, web design, position of egg-sac when carried by female, microhabitat) and ultrastructure (silk spigots, modifications of male cheliceral apophyses). The core group includes six leafdwelling species that have distinctive color patterns in life specimens (black and white or yellowish abdominal marks, dark pattern on posterior half of carapace) and build round to oval silk platforms on the undersides of leaves. Seven further species are tentatively assigned to the group pending further study. Several species originally assigned to the Pholcus halabala group are transferred to three newly proposed species groups, the Ph. krabi, Ph. buatong, and Ph. andulau groups. Nine species are newly described, four in the Ph. halabala group (Ph. khaolek Huber, sp. nov.; Ph. kuhapimuk Huber, sp. nov.; Ph. lintang Huber, sp. nov.; Ph. ubin Huber, sp. nov.); three in the Ph. krabi group (Ph. kipungit Huber, sp. nov.; Ph. krabi Huber, sp. nov.; Ph. narathiwat Huber, sp. nov.); one in the Ph. buatong group (Ph. buatong Huber, sp. nov.); and one in the Ph. andulau group (Ph. lambir Huber, sp. nov.). The females of Ph. satun Huber, 2011 and Ph. schwendingeri Huber, 2011 (both members of the buatong group) are newly described.
New leaf- and litter-dwelling species of the genus Pholcus from Southeast Asia (Araneae, Pholcidae)
(2016)
We describe eight new species of the genus Pholcus, and document their microhabitats. Four species are assigned to the previously described Pholcus ethagala group: P. tanahrata Huber sp. nov., P. uludong Huber sp. nov., and P. bukittimah Huber sp. nov. from the Malay Peninsula, and P. barisan Huber sp. nov. from Sumatra. These species are all litter-dwellers that build domed sheet webs on the undersides of large dead leaves on the ground. The other four species are assigned to newly created species groups: the P. tambunan group with two species from northern Borneo: P. tambunan Huber sp. nov. and P. bario Huber sp. nov.; and the P. domingo group with two species from the Philippines, Mindanao: P. domingo Huber sp. nov. and P. matutum Huber sp. nov. These latter four species are leafdwellers that build barely visible silk platforms tightly attached to the undersides of live leaves. The main rationale for this paper is to provide part of the taxonomic and natural history background for upcoming phylogenetic and evolutionary (microhabitat shifts) analyses.
