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Four new species of Liphistius belonging to the birmanicus species group are described from Myanmar based on both sexes: L. kalaw Zhan & Xu, sp. nov. (♂♀), L. kanpetlet Zhan & Xu, sp. nov. (♂♀), L. nawngau Zhan & Xu, sp. nov. (♂♀) and L. rostratus Zhan & Xu, sp. nov. (♂♀). Currently, Myanmar stands as the westernmost country where Liphistius is distributed, with the new species L. kanpetlet sp. nov. being found in the westernmost region of Myanmar.

Seven new species of the primitive segmented spider genus Liphistius are described and assigned to species groups based on characters of the male palp and vulva plate. The bristowei group includes L. dawei Sivayyapram & Warrit, sp. nov. (♂♀) from southeastern Myanmar, L. choosaki Sivayyapram & Warrit, sp. nov. (♀) from northwestern Thailand, and L. lansak Sivayyapram & Warrit, sp. nov. (♀) from western Thailand; the trang group (Complex A) contains L. kaengkhoi Sivayyapram & Warrit, sp. nov. (♂♀), L. hintung Sivayyapram & Warrit, sp. nov. (♂♀), L. buyphradi Sivayyapram & Warrit, sp. nov. (♂♀), and L. champakpheaw Sivayyapram & Warrit, sp. nov. (♂♀) from central Thailand.

Three new species of the primitively segmented spider genus Songthela Ono, 2000 are identified and described from Hunan Province, China, based on morphological characters of males and females: S. anhua Zhang & Xu, sp. nov. (♂♀), S. longhui Zhang & Xu, sp. nov. (♂♀), and S. zhongpo Zhang & Xu, sp. nov. (♂♀). All the new Songthela species belong to the multidentata-group according to male palp and female genital morphology.

We diagnose and describe three new species of the primitively segmented spider genus Liphistius from Thailand, based on male palp and female genital morphology: L. hatyai Zhan & Xu, sp. nov. (♂♀), L. keeratikiati Zhan & Xu, sp. nov. (♂♀), and L. inthanon Zhan & Xu, sp. nov. (♂♀). The classification of the three new species of Liphistius is discussed: L. hatyai sp. nov. and L. keeratikiati sp. nov. are assigned to the trang-group, and L. inthanon sp. nov. is placed in the bristowei-group according to male palp and female genital morphology.

We diagnose and describe four new species of Portia Karsch, 1878 and describe for the first time the male of P. zhaoi Peng, Li & Chen, 2003 from China based on morphological characters. The females of Portia bawang sp. nov. have the narrowest epigyne orifice. The males of Portia erlangping sp. nov. have the shortest embolus among all the species. The females of Portia fajing sp. nov. can be distinguished from other species by the anterior orifice margin, which is nearly parallel to the posterior orifice margin. The males of Portia xishan sp. nov. can be identified by the tegular furrow which extends to form a membrane and by the tegular apophysis which is obscured; the females of Portia xishan sp. nov. can be diagnosed by the slit-like epigynal orifice. The males of P. zhaoi have the longest embolus among all the species, and females can be diagnosed by the circular epigyne orifice and the longest copulatory ducts. To facilitate future identification, we also provide the GenBank accession codes of the DNA barcode gene, Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), for all the type specimens.

We diagnose and describe three new species of the primitively segmented spider genus Songthela from Guizhou Province, China, based on morphological characters and molecular data: S. liui sp. nov. (♂♀), S. tianzhu sp. nov. (♂♀), and S. yuping sp. nov. (♂♀). We provide the genetic distances within and among the three new species based on the DNA barcode gene, cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) to support our descriptions. We also provide the COI GenBank accession codes for the three new species for future identification.

Five Liphistius Schiödte, 1849 species of the primitively segmented spider family Liphistiidae are currently known from Myanmar. Here, we described a new species, Liphistius pyinoolwin sp. nov. (♂♀), which was collected from Pyin Oo Lwin, Mandalay Region, Myanmar, diagnosed based on its genital morphology. The specimens (2♂♂, 5♀♀) collected by Walter C. Sedgwick from Pyin Oo Lwin in 1982 were misidentified as L. birmanicus Thorell, 1897 and are treated here as the newly described species. Accordingly, we described the males of L. birmanicus for the first time, redescribed its female, using newly collected specimens from Yadò, Than Taung and Kalekho Atet townships, Kayin State. We also provided information on the variation in genital morphology of both species, and their relationships within the birmanicus-group of species.

We report three new species of the segmented trapdoor spider genus Qiongthela Xu & Kuntner, 2015 collected from Hainan Island, China based on morphological characters: Q. dongfang sp. nov. (♂♀), Q. nankai sp. nov. (♂♀), Q. yalin sp. nov. (♂♀). We also provide the GenBank accession codes of the DNA barcode gene, cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), of the type specimens of all three new species to aid future identification.

This study reports two new species of the primitively segmented spider genus Songthela from Hunan Province, China, based on morphological characters: S. huangyang sp. nov. (♂♀), S. xiangnan sp. nov. (♂♀). Additional material also facilitates a more accurate description of S. goulouensis (Yin, 2001) with the first description of the male. Nucleotide data for the barcoding gene, cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), is also provided for these three species.

The primitively segmented spider genus Qiongthela Xu & Kuntner, 2015 consists of seven species that are distributed in Hainan Island, China and southern Vietnam. Of the seven species, five are known from Hainan Island. In this study, four more Qiongthela species collected from Hainan Island are diagnosed and described as new to science based on morphological characters: Q. baoting sp. nov. (♂♀), Q. qiongzhong sp. nov. (♂♀), Q. sanya sp. nov. (♂♀), Q. yinggezui sp. nov. (♂♀). To facilitate future identification, the GenBank accession codes of the DNA barcode gene, cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), for all the type specimens are also provided.

Among the eight extant genera of primitively segmented spiders, family Liphistiidae, two are confined to East Asian islands, Heptathela Kishida, 1923 and Ryuthela Haupt, 1983. In this paper, a taxonomic revision of the genus Heptathela (Heptathelinae) from Kyushu and Ryukyu archipelago, Japan is provided. This study follows a multi-tier species delimitation strategy within an integrative taxonomic framework that is presented in a parallel paper, in which diagnosable lineages are considered as valid species. There, the initial hypothesis of species diversity (19) based on classical morphological diagnoses is tested with multiple species delimitation methods aimed at resolving conflict in data. This revision follows those analyses that converge on the species diversity of 20, which includes a pair of cryptic species that would have been undetected with morphology alone. After this revision, eight previously described species remain valid, two junior synonyms are proposed, and 12 new Heptathela species are described based on diagnostic evidence. To ease identification and to hint at putative evolutionary units, Heptathela is divided into three groups. The Kyushu group contains H. higoensis Haupt, 1983, H. kikuyai Ono, 1998, H. kimurai (Kishida, 1920), and H. yakushimaensis Ono, 1998; the Amami group contains H. amamiensis Haupt, 1983, H. kanenoi Ono, 1996, H. kojima sp. nov., H. sumiyo sp. nov., and H. uken sp. nov.; and the Okinawa group contains H. yanbaruensis Haupt, 1983, H. aha sp. nov., H. gayozan sp. nov., H. kubayama sp. nov., H. mae sp. nov., H. otoha sp. nov., H. shuri sp. nov., H. tokashiki sp. nov., H. unten sp. nov., and H. crypta sp. nov. Heptathela helios Tanikawa & Miyashita, 2014 is not assigned to a species group. A combination of diagnostic tools augments the morphological diagnoses that, in isolation, would be prone to error in morphologically challenging groups of organisms.

Two Liphistius species of the primitively segmented spider family Liphistiidae, collected from Loikaw (Kayah State) and Pinlaung (Shan State), Myanmar, are diagnosed and described as new to science based on their genital morphology: Liphistius hpruso sp. nov. (♀), Liphistius pinlaung sp. nov. (♂♀).

Herein four species of the trapdoor spider genus Conothele Thorell, 1878 collected from China are described as new to science based on the female genital morphology: C. baisha sp. n. (Hainan Province), C. baoting sp. n. (Hainan Province), C. linzhi sp. n. (Tibet), and C. jinggangshan sp. n. (Jiangxi Province). For two Hainan species, C. baisha sp. n. and C. baoting sp. n., between which it is difficult to distinguish solely based on female genital morphology, additional diagnoses derived from species-specific nucleotide substitution information and genetic distances using the mitochondrial gene, cytochrome c oxidase subunit I are provided.

Two species of the purse-web spider genus Atypus Latreille, 1804 collected from Hainan Island, China, are diagnosed and described as new to science based on genital morphology, A. baotingensis sp. n. (♂♀) and A. jianfengensis sp. n. (♀). The DNA barcodes of the two species are also provided for future use.

Seven new species of the primitive segmented spider genus Liphistius are described and assigned to species groups based on characters of the male palp and vulva plate. The bristowei group includes L. dawei Sivayyapram & Warrit, sp. nov. (♂♀) from southeastern Myanmar, L. choosaki Sivayyapram & Warrit, sp. nov. (♀) from northwestern Thailand, and L. lansak Sivayyapram & Warrit, sp. nov. (♀) from western Thailand; the trang group (Complex A) contains L. kaengkhoi Sivayyapram & Warrit, sp. nov. (♂♀), L. hintung Sivayyapram & Warrit, sp. nov. (♂♀), L. buyphradi Sivayyapram & Warrit, sp. nov. (♂♀), and L. champakpheaw Sivayyapram & Warrit, sp. nov. (♂♀) from central Thailand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four species of the primitive segmented spider genus Qiongthela Xu & Kuntner, 2015 collected from Hainan Island, China are diagnosed and described as new to science based on their genital morphology: Q. bawang sp. n. (♀), Q. jianfeng sp. n. (♂♀), Q. yini sp. n. (♀), Q. wuzhi sp. n. (♂♀). Together with the type species of Qiongthela, Q. baishensis Xu, 2015, five species are found and described from Hainan, China, and seven species are now known in the genus.

A species of the genus Cyclocosmia Ausserer, 1871 collected from Guizhou Province, China is diagnosed and described as new to science: C. liui Xu, Xu & Li, sp. n. (♀). New records of C. latusicosta Zhu, Zhang & Zhang, 2006 (♀) from China (Yunnan Province) and Vietnam (Vinh Phuc Province, Ninh Binh Province), and C. ricketti (Pocock, 1901) collected from Jiangxi Province, China are also reported in this study.

Here for the first time the presence of the trapdoor spider genus Conothele Thorell, 1878 (Araneae: Ctenizidae) is reported from mainland China and Laos. Four Conothele species collected from the regions are described as new to science, based on the female genital morphology: C. baiyunensis Xu, Xu & Liu, sp. n. (Guangdong Province), C. daxinensis Xu, Xu & Li, sp. n. (Guangxi Province), C. sidiechongensis Xu, Xu & Liu, sp. n. (Yunnan Province, China and Vietnam), C. yundingensis Xu, Xu & Li, sp. n. (Yunnan Province).

The spider suborder Mesothelae, containing a single extant family Liphistiidae, represents a species-poor and ancient lineage. These are conspicuous spiders that primitively retain a segmented abdomen and appendage-like spinnerets. While their classification history is nearly devoid of phylogenetic hypotheses, we here revise liphistiid genus level taxonomy based on original sampling throughout their Asian range, and on the evidence from a novel molecular phylogeny. By combining morphological and natural history evidence with phylogenetic relationships in the companion paper, we provide strong support for the monophyly of Liphistiidae, and the two subfamilies Liphistiinae and Heptathelinae. While the former only contains Liphistius Schiödte, 1849, a genus distributed in Indonesia (Sumatra), Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, we recognize and diagnose seven heptatheline genera, all but three removed from the synonymy of Heptathela: i) Ganthela Xu & Kuntner, gen. n. with the type species G. yundingensis Xu, sp. n. is known from Fujian and Jiangxi, China; ii) a rediagnosed Heptathela Kishida, 1923 is confined to the Japanese islands (Kyushu and Okinawa); iii) Qiongthela Xu & Kuntner, gen. n. with the type species Q. baishensis Xu, sp. n. is distributed disjunctly in Hainan, China and Vietnam; iv) Ryuthela Haupt, 1983 is confined to the Ryukyu archipelago (Japan); v) Sinothela Haupt, 2003 inhabits Chinese areas north of Yangtze; vi) Songthela Ono, 2000 inhabits southwest China and northern Vietnam; and vii) Vinathela Ono, 2000 (Abcathela Ono, 2000, syn. n.; Nanthela Haupt, 2003, syn. n.) is known from southeast China and Vietnam.

In order to resolve better the deep relationships among salticid spiders, we compiled and analyzed a molecular dataset of 169 salticid taxa (and 7 outgroups) and 8 gene regions. This dataset adds many new taxa to previous analyses, especially among the non-salticoid salticids, as well as two new genes – wingless and myosin heavy chain. Both of these genes, and especially the better sampled wingless, confirm many of the relationships indicated by other genes. The cocalodines are placed as sister to lapsiines, in a broader clade with the spartaeines. Cocalodines, lapsiines, and spartaeines are each supported as monophyletic, though the first two have no known morphological synapomorphies. The lyssomanines appear to be non-monophyletic, of three separate groups: (1) Lyssomanes plus Chinoscopus, (2) Onomastus, and (3) the remainder of Old World species. Several previously-inferred relationships continue to be supported: hisponines as sister to the Salticoida, Amycoida as sister to the remaining Salticoida, and Saltafresia as monophyletic. The relationship of Salticus with Philaeus and relatives is now considered well enough corroborated to move the latter into the subfamily Salticinae. A new clade consisting of the Plexippoida + Aelurilloida + Leptorchesteae + Salticinae is recognized. Nungia is found to be an astioid, and Echeclus, Gedea and Diplocanthopoda to be hasariines. The euophryines are corroborated as monophyletic. The agoriines Agorius and Synagelides are salticoids, within the sister group to amycoids, but their further placement is problematical, perhaps because of their nuclear ribosomal genes’ high GC bias, as also seen in the similarly problematic Eupoa.

The spider suborder Mesothelae, containing a single extant family Liphistiidae, represents a species-poor and ancient lineage. These are conspicuous spiders that primitively retain a segmented abdomen and appendage-like spinnerets. While their classification history is nearly devoid of phylogenetic hypotheses, we here revise liphistiid genus level taxonomy based on original sampling throughout their Asian range, and on the evidence from a novel molecular phylogeny. By combining morphological and natural history evidence with phylogenetic relationships in the companion paper, we provide strong support for the monophyly of Liphistiidae, and the two subfamilies Liphistiinae and Heptathelinae. While the former only contains Liphistius Schiödte, 1849, a genus distributed in Indonesia (Sumatra), Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, we recognize and diagnose seven heptatheline genera, all but three removed from the synonymy of Heptathela: i) Ganthela Xu & Kuntner, gen. n. with the type species G. yundingensis Xu, sp. n. is known from Fujian and Jiangxi, China; ii) a rediagnosed Heptathela Kishida, 1923 is confined to the Japanese islands (Kyushu and Okinawa); iii) Qiongthela Xu & Kuntner, gen. n. with the type species Q. baishensis Xu, sp. n. is distributed disjunctly in Hainan, China and Vietnam; iv) Ryuthela Haupt, 1983 is confined to the Ryukyu archipelago (Japan); v) Sinothela Haupt, 2003 inhabits Chinese areas north of Yangtze; vi) Songthela Ono, 2000 inhabits southwest China and northern Vietnam; and vii) Vinathela Ono, 2000 (Abcathela Ono, 2000, syn. n.; Nanthela Haupt, 2003, syn. n.) is known from southeast China and Vietnam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to resolve better the deep relationships among salticid spiders, we compiled and analyzed a molecular dataset of 169 salticid taxa (and 7 outgroups) and 8 gene regions. This dataset adds many new taxa to previous analyses, especially among the non-salticoid salticids, as well as two new genes - wingless and myosin heavy chain. Both of these genes, and especially the better sampled wingless, confirm many of the relationships indicated by other genes. The cocalodines are placed as sister to lapsiines, in a broader clade with the spartaeines. Cocalodines, lapsiines, and spartaeines are each supported as monophyletic, though the first two have no known morphological synapomorphies. The lyssomanines appear to be non-monophyletic, of three separate groups: (1) Lyssomanes plus Chinoscopus, (2) Onomastus, and (3) the remainder of Old World species. Several previously-inferred relationships continue to be supported: hisponines as sister to the Salticoida, Amycoida as sister to the remaining Salticoida, and Saltafresia as monophyletic. The relationship of Salticus with Philaeus and relatives is now considered well enough corroborated to move the latter into the subfamily Salticinae. A new clade consisting of the Plexippoida + Aelurilloida + Leptorchesteae + Salticinae is recognized. Nungia is found to be an astioid, and Echeclus, Gedea and Diplocanthopoda to be hasariines. The euophryines are corroborated as monophyletic. The agoriines Agorius and Synagelides are salticoids, within the sister group to amycoids, but their further placement is problematical, perhaps because of their nuclear ribosomal genes' high GC bias, as also seen in the similarly problematic Eupoa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]