Jiang Tongyao

Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Relative to its size, tropical Asia is likely to be the richest region in terms of biodiversity. However, the factors of species diversity formation and maintenance in Southeast (SE) Asia and neighboring regions remain poorly understood. Here we infer the evolutionary relationships within psilodercid spiders by incorporating fossil information into...

Background: Venom glands play a key role in the predation and defense strategies of almost all spider groups. However, the spider family Uloboridae lacks venom glands and has evolved an adaptive strategy: They excessively wrap their prey directly with spider silk instead of paralyzing it first with toxins. This shift of survival strategy is very fa...

Twenty new species of extinct spiders belonging to 11 genera in five families from Late Cretaceous Kachin amber are reported. One new genus, Triangulum Jiang & Li, gen. nov., of the family Theridiidae Sundevall, 1833 was established with T. thutai Jiang & Li, sp. nov. as the type species. The remaining 19 new species are: Retrooecobius lwini Jiang...

Three new species belonging to genera Burmorchestina Wunderlich, 2008 (2 species) and Orchestina Simon, 1882 (1 species) of the spider family Oonopidae Simon, 1890 are described from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber: Burmorchestina bo Jiang and Li sp. nov., B. gong Jiang and Li sp. nov., and Orchestina qiu Jiang and Li sp. nov. In addition, males of Bu...

Three new species of the extinct spider genus †Furcembolus Wunderlich, 2008 from Late Cretaceous Burmese amber are described: Furcembolus chuandiani Jiang & Li spec. nov., F. fengzheni Jiang & Li spec. nov. and F. martensi Jiang & Li spec. nov. All types are deposited in the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China.

Two new spider families from Late Cretaceous Kachin amber (Myanmar), †Pilosarachnidae Jiang & Li, fam. nov. and †Gigarachnidae Jiang & Li, fam. nov., are described: Pilosarachne ju Jiang & Li, gen. & sp. nov. and Gigarachne bian Jiang & Li, gen. & sp. nov. Type specimens are deposited in the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beij...

Sixteen new species of Pseudopoda Jäger, 2000 (Sparassidae, Heteropodinae) are described. Among them, eight species were collected from China: P.chayuensis Zhao & Li, sp. n. (♂), P.conaensis Zhao & Li, sp. n. (♂), P.medogensis Zhao & Li, sp. n. (♂), P.nyingchiensis Zhao & Li, sp. n. (♂), P.shacunensis Zhao & Li, sp. n. (♂), P.shuo Zhao & Li, sp. n....