On Indian Palpimanidae Thorell, 1870, with the first record of the genus Boagrius Simon, 1893 from South Asia (Arachnida: Araneae)

ABSTRACT

The genus Boagrius Simon, 1893, previously known only from Southeast Asia is recorded for the first time from the Western Ghats of India, thus extending its distribution to South Asia. Detailed descriptions and illustrations of both male and female of Boagrius tenuisus sp. nov. are provided. The record of Sarascelis raffrayi Simon, 1893 in India is found incorrect and confirmed its current distribution only in Singapore. Based on generic similarities, a provisional transfer of the species Palpimanus namratae (Pillai, 2006) to Sarascelis Simon, 1887 is proposed.

http://urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:E3B8D04D-88B2-4431-AF75-1CAB7B077275

KEYWORDS:

• Bark-dwelling
• Chediminae
• new species
• transfer
• Western Ghats

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Rev. Fr. Prasanth Palackappillil CMI, former Principal, Sacred Heart College, Thevara, Cochin for providing all facilities for completing this work. I thank Dr John T. D. Caleb (Division of Biodiversity, Entomology Research Institute, Loyola College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu) for the information about the types of O. namratae. I extend my heartfelt thanks to Drs Yuri Marusik (Institute for Biological Problems of the North RAS, Magadan, Russia) for his constructive comments on an earlier version of the manuscript and Andrew Polaszek (Natural History Museum, London) for his editorial efforts. I especially acknowledge the Chief Conservator of Forests, Kerala State Forest Division for the collecting permit and the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB)-DST, New Delhi for providing funding support under the Major Research Project No. EMR/2015/002518.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB)-DST, New Delhi under the Major Research Project No. EMR/2015/002518.