The largest fossil of the segmented spider Parvithele muelleri Wunderlich, 2017 (Mesothelae: Parvithelidae) from Cretaceous Burmese amber

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  The largest fossil of the segmented spider Parvithele muelleri Wunderlich, 2017 (Mesothelae: Parvithelidae) from Cretaceous Burmese amber Abstract A new specimen of the fossil spider Parvithele muelleri Wunderlich, 2017 (Araneae: Mesothelae) is described from the mid-Cretaceous (ca. 99 Ma) Burmese amber of Myanmar. Like the original holotype, the new specimen is a mature male, which clearly preserves a series of tibial macrospines, similar to the condition in the extant genus Liphistius Schiødte, 1849. Given that the single extant mesothele family, Liphistiidae, is predicted to have radiated ca. 39–58 million years ago, the occurrence of somewhat modern-looking male pedipalp spination in older fossil mesotheles is of considerable interest. The new specimen also shows spinnerets in a relatively posterior position, although variability observed in extant species suggests that this trait may be of limited systematic value. Of particular note is the presence of a large and well-dev...

Expanding the horizon: Discovery of two new spider species of the Pholcus phungiformes species group (Araneae, Pholcidae) from Inner Mongolia, China, with a new western record for the group

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Expanding the horizon: Discovery of two new spider species of the Pholcus phungiformes species group (Araneae, Pholcidae) from Inner Mongolia, China, with a new western record for the group

Abstract

The spiders of the Pholcus phungiformes species group are primarily distributed across five mountain ranges in East Asia: the Lüliang Mountains and the Yanshan-Taihang Mountains in North China, the transitional uplands between the Yanshan-Taihang and Changbai Mountains, the Changbai Mountains straddling the China-North Korea border, and the Taebaek-Sobaek Mountains on the Korean Peninsula. In this study, we report the first records of this group from Inner Mongolia, northern China, describing two new species: Pholcus alashan Wang & Yao, sp. nov. (♂♀, from Alashan Zuoqi) and P. chifeng Yan & Yao, sp. nov. (♂♀, from Chifeng). The discovery of P. alashan sp. nov. extends the group’s western distribution limit by 5.2° longitude (from c. 111.0°E to 105.8°E), representing a significant zoogeographic range expansion.

Yan M, Liu Y, Wang L, Yao Z (2026) Expanding the horizon: Discovery of two new spider species of the Pholcus phungiformes species group (Araneae, Pholcidae) from Inner Mongolia, China, with a new western record for the group. ZooKeys 1275: 333-343. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1275.186998