﻿Two new species of Sinopoda from China, with first description of the male of S.horizontalis Zhong, Cao & Liu, 2017 (Araneae, Sparassidae)

﻿Abstract Three species of spider genus Sinopoda Jäger, 1999 are reported from southern China. Two of them are described as new to science: S.guiyang Zhang, Yu & Zhong, sp. nov. and S.xishui Zhang, Yu & Zhong, sp. nov., both from Guizhou Province. The male of S.horizontalis Zhong, Cao & Liu, 2017 is described for the first time based on new material from the type locality, Wuyishan National Nature Reserve, Fujian Province, China. Detailed descriptions, diagnoses, photographs and a distribution map of the three species are provided.


Introduction
Sinopoda Jäger, 1999 is the fourth most species-rich genus of huntsman spider family Sparassidae after Pseudopoda Jäger, 2000 (251 species), Heteropoda Latreille, 1804 (189 species), and Olios Walckenaer, 1837 (166 species) (World Spider Catalog 2023; Zhang et al. 2023), including 139 species so far. Sinopoda is mainly distributed in eastern Asia, with 86 species recorded from East Asia, 50 species reported from Southeast Asia, and a single species described from India (Zhang et al. 2021;Zhong et al. 2022). Currently, a total of 73 Sinopoda species are known from China, representing 52.5% of the global species, making China the country with the most Sinopoda species (Zhang et al. 2021;Zhong et al. 2022;World Spider Catalog 2023). Despite this fact, the diversity of this genus in China is still not fully discovered as several new species have been described in each of the last few years (Zhong et al. 2017(Zhong et al. , 2018(Zhong et al. , 2019(Zhong et al. , 2022Grall and Jäger 2020;Zhu et al. 2020;Wang et al. 2021).
While examining spiders collected from southern China, we have found some Sinopoda specimens that belong to three species: two of them from Guizhou Province, belong to undescribed species new to science; the remaining one from Wuyishan National Nature Reserve of Fujian Province, was identified as Sinopoda horizontalis Zhong, Cao & Liu, 2017 based on comparison with the type specimens (previously described based on a holotype female only). The goal of this paper is to describe the two new species under the names of S. guiyang Zhang, Yu & Zhong, sp. nov. and S. xishui Zhang, Yu & Zhong, sp. nov. and to redescribe S. horizontalis, describing the male for the first time.

Materials and methods
Specimens in this study were collected by hand. The type specimens are deposited in the Museum of Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, China. Specimens were preserved in 75 or 95% alcohol and examined using an Olympus SZX7 stereomicroscope. Left male palps were examined and illustrated after dissection. Epigynes were removed and cleared in a warm 10% potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution. The vulva was imaged after being embedded in Arabic gum. Images were captured with a Canon EOS 70D digital camera (20.2 megapixels) mounted on an Olympus CX41 compound microscope, and assembled using Helicon Focus ver. 6.80 image stacking software. All measurements were obtained using an Olympus SZX7 stereomicroscope and are given in millimetres. Eye diameters were measured at the widest part. The total body length does not include the chelicerae or spinnerets. Leg lengths are given as total length (femur, patella + tibia, metatarsus, tarsus). Numbers of macrosetae are listed for each segment in the following order: prolateral, dorsal, retrolateral and ventral (in femora and patellae ventral spines are absent and fourth digit is omitted in the setation formula). The distribution map was generated with ArcGIS ver. 10.5 (Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc.). The terminology used in the text and figure legends follows Grall and Jäger (2020) and Zhong et al. (2019Zhong et al. ( , 2022, and the abbreviations used in the text or figures are given in Table 1. Male palp C = conductor EA = embolic apophysis Cy = cymbium EB = embolic base RTA = retrolateral tibial apophysis Sp = spermophor dRTA = dorsal branch of RTA St = subtegulum vRTA = ventral branch of RTA T = tegulum E = embolus Epigyne AB = anterior band LL = lateral lobe FD = fertilization duct LS = lobal septum GA = glandular appendage MS = membranous sac ID = internal duct PP = posterior part of spermathecae Ocular area AER = anterior eye row CH = clypeus height ALE = anterior lateral eye PER = posterior eye row AME = anterior median eye PLE = posterior lateral eye AME-ALE = distance between AME and ALE PME = posterior median eye AME-AME = distance between AMEs PME-PLE = distance between PME and PLE AME-PLE = distance between AME and PLE PME-PME = distance between PMEs AME-PME = distance between AME and PME Taxonomy Family Sparassidae Bertkau, 1872 Subfamily Heteropodinae Thorell, 1873 Genus Sinopoda Jäger, 1999 Type species. Sarotes forcipatus Karsch, 1881 from China and Japan. Diagnosis. See Jäger (1999), Liu et al. (2008), Zhang et al. (2015) and Grall and Jäger (2020).
Comments. Sinopoda guiyang sp. nov. possesses several characters associated with the globosa-group (currently comprises six species, see Zhang et al. 2021: 15, fig. 4) and resembles S. ovata and S. triangula (the core species of the globosa-group) for their characteristic genital organs (for a detailed diagnosis, see above), but can be distinguished from all members of the globosa-group by the absence of triangular projection in the embolus. Because the embolus of all S. globosa-group species has a subdistally triangular projection, there remains considerable uncertainty about placing this new species into the globosa-group. Diagnosis. Males of S. horizontalis resemble those of S. hamata (Fox, 1937) and S. liui Zhong, Cao & Liu, 2017 in the general shape of the male palp. The palps of the three species share the similarly shaped conductor and embolus, and the distinctly long, ribbon-shaped dRTA which with lumpy margins, but differ in the following: the vRTA digitiform, distinctly longer than wide, apex blunt in S. horizontalis (vs. laminar, distinctly wider than long in S. hamata, thumb-shaped, apex beak-shaped and relatively sharper in S. liui) (cf. Fig. 4A  ducts (vs. proportionately much shorter, no more than 1/4 length of internal ducts) (cf. Fig. 6C -F andZhong et al. 2019: fig. 33B andZhong et al. 2017: figs 5D, 6D).
Colouration in ethanol (Fig. 5D, E). Prosoma dark yellowish to brown, with yellow submarginal transversal band at posterior part. Median band of prosoma bright yellowish-brown, lateral bands brown and not distinctly delimited to median band. Fovea and radial furrows distinctly marked. Chelicerae dark reddish-brown. Sternum light yellow, margin slightly darker. Endites and labium yellowish, both with distal parts brighter. Legs dark yellowish-brown, covered by short spines. Dorsal opisthosoma brown, with an irregular yellow media band, reaching 2/3 of abdomen length, with five pairs of inconspicuous black dots on each side; ventral opisthosoma yellowish-brown with irregular pattern and two longitudinal yellow lines between epigastric furrow and spinnerets.
Etymology. The species name is derived from the name of the type locality; noun in apposition.
Colour of the living holotype female was uniformly dark except brown femur (Fig. 8A). Colouration in ethanol (Fig. 7D, E): Prosoma dark yellowish to brown, with bright yellow submarginal transversal band at posterior part. Median band of prosoma bright yellowish, anteriorly as wide as PER, gradually narrowing posteriorly; lateral bands brown, distinctly delimited to median band, starting from PLE, reaching dark reddish submarginal transversal band. Fovea and radial furrows distinctly marked. Chelicerae yellowish-brown. Sternum bright yellow, margin slightly darker. Endites and labium yellowish. Legs yellowish-brown, covered by short spines. Dorsal opisthosoma dark brown, anteriorly with a small ')('-shaped yellow pattern, with three pairs of inconspicuous dots on each side; ventral opisthosoma dark, with several transversal folds. Copulatory organ (Fig. 7A-C). Epigynal field wider than long, anterior bands nearly invisible indistinct, slit sensillum absent. Lobal septum wide, anterior part about 1/5 width of epigynal plate, gradually wider to the posterior. Lateral lobes fused, posterior margin slightly bilobed, medially with small incision. Internal ducts running parallel along the middle line. Glandular appendages distinctly inflated, globular; the   two GA widely separated by about 3× diameters. Posterior part of spermathecae more or less bean-shaped, c. 1.9 times longer than wide; the two PP separated by about 2.3 width. Fertilization ducts acicular, membranous, located on posterior surface of spermathecae. Membranous sac between fertilization ducts, nearly trapezoidal.
Comments. The females of S. xishui sp. nov. exhibit typical globosa-group features (internal ducts running parallel along median line, and with ovate posterior parts of spermathecae, as diagnosed in Zhang et al. (2021)), and resembles S. yaanensis (the core species of the globosa-group) (for a detailed diagnosis, see above). However, this species is not readily assignable to the globosa-group due to the lack of an available male specimen.