Rishikesh Tripathi

• Masters Biodiversity
• Ph.D scholar at Christ College, Irinjalakuda

Two new species of Indothele Coyle, 1995 are described from the Western Ghats of India: I. amboli Kadam, Tripathi & Sherwood sp. nov. (♂♀) from Amboli in Maharashtra, and I. silentvalley Tripathi, Kadam & Sherwood sp. nov. (♂♀) from Silent Valley National Park in Kerala. Images of the type material of I. dumicola (Pocock, 1900), the type species, a...

A new species of trapdoor spider, Conothele mussoorie sp. nov., is described from the foothills of the Himalayas, marking the first record of this genus from the northernmost part of India. Detailed descriptions and illustrations of the female are provided.

Habrocestum mookambikaense Sudhin, Sen, Caleb & Hegde, 2022 was originally described based on the female holotype from Karnataka. Here, a description of the male is provided for the first time, along with a female redescription based on fresh collections from Northern Western Ghats (Satara and Sindhudurg district, Maharashtra). The new locality lie...

The genus Trichothyse Tucker, 1923 is presently represented by four southern African species, T. africana (Tucker, 1923), T. hortensis Tucker, 1923 and T. subtropica Lawrence, 1927, known only from their females, and T. fontensis Lawrence, 1928, known only from the male. In this paper, the genus is reviewed and the latter three species are redescri...

Notes on four species of the jumping spider genus Stenaelurillus Simon, 1886 from India are presented. Stenaelurillus jagannathae Das, Malik & Vidhel, 2015 syn. nov. is recognized as a junior synonym of S. arambagensis (B. Biswas & K. Biswas, 1992). The mismatched sexes of S. tettu Logunov, 2020 and S. indicus Logunov, 2020 are corrected. The femal...

A new jumping spider species belonging to the genus Okinawicius Prószyński, 2016 is described from India: O. tekdi Tripathi & Kulkarni sp. n. (♂♀), collected from the Deccan Plateau in Maharashtra, India. Detailed morphological descriptions and illustrations of the male palp and female genitalia are presented.

Sherwood (2019) synonymised the Indian species Poecilotheria chaojii Mirza, Sanap & Bhosale, 2014 with P. tigrinawesseli Smith, 2006 based on the morphology of the ventral leg markings (VLM) and the taxonomic insignificance of differences in the number of maxillary tubercles. She also stated: “Further photographs (requested) of the P. chaojii holot...

Anomalies in the right-hand eyes and left-hand legs of a subadult female of the genus Thomisus Walckenaer, 1805 collected from the Thar Desert, India are detailed, along with photomicrographs

Steriphopus Simon, 1887 is a poorly studied palpimanid genus, currently includes four nominal species distributed in India, Myanmar, Seychelles and Sri Lanka (WSC 2024). Zonstein & Marusik (2023) reviewed and rediagnosed the genus, and recorded it from India for the first time, with the description of a new species from Himachal Pradesh. Simon (189...

The jumping spider genus Iranattus Prószyński, 1992, distributed from Africa to southwestern Asia, has been placed within the Harmochirina because of their male palp structures and elongated third legs. Here, we present phylogenomic evidence that it belongs instead to the subtribe Plexippina, further supported by the presence of two coupling pocket...

Medmassa Simon, 1887 is recorded for the first time from India, including the description of two new species: M. sagax Tripathi, Kadam & Sankaran sp. nov. (♂ ♀) and M. postica Kadam, Tripathi & Sankaran sp. nov. (♀). The discovery of Medmassa increases the number of known corinnid genera in India to eight. Detailed descriptions and illustrations of...

Four new species of the jumping spider genus Stenaelurillus Simon, 1886 are described from India: Stenaelurillus feral Tripathi, Kuni & Kadam sp. nov. (♂, from the Eastern Coastline), S. naldurg Kuni, Kadam & Tripathi sp. nov. (♂♀, from the Deccan Plateau), S. judithbleisterae Kadam, Tripathi & Kuni sp. nov. (♂♀, from the Western Ghats) and S. sola...

A new species of jumping spiders (Araneae, Salticidae), Afraflacilla goaensis Gawas & Tripathi sp. nov., is described, diagnosed and illustrated based on a single male specimen collected from a mangrove in Goa, India. Considering this finding, the genus Afraflacilla previously known from the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Gujarat, and Rajasth...

A new species of the jumping spider genus Indopadilla Caleb & Sankaran, 2019 is described from the Kanniyakumari district, Tamil Nadu state, India. Detailed diagnosis, description, and illustration are provided. In addition, a new locality record of Indopadilla darjeeling Caleb & Sankaran, 2019 is presented.

We describe a new species of Oecobius Lucas, 1846 from the Thar Desert ecoregion in India, based on both sexes: Oecobius thar sp. nov.. We also provide photographs of the new species in vivo and the general habitat of its type locality.

In this paper, we record Hongkongia from India for the firsttime and describe a new species from the Western Ghats in the southern Indian state of Kerala.

Two new species of Afraflacilla Berland et Millot, 1941 are described from the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, India: A. adavathurensis sp. n. and A. kerala sp. n. Detailed descriptions, diagnostic features, and illustrations are given. A map showing the distribution of all the known Indian Afraflacilla species is also provided.

Sparbambus was erected by Zhang, Woon & Li in 2006, and its generic name ‘Spar-bambus’ reflects that it belongs to the subfamily Spartaeinae and the specimens were collected from a bamboo habitat. The monotypic genus originally reported from Malaysia was recently described from China (Wang et al. 2022). In this paper, we record Sparbambus for the...

Two new species of Palpimanus Dufour, 1820 are described from India: P. godawan Tripathi & Sankaran sp. nov. (♂♀), collected from the Thar Desert in Rajasthan, and P. maldhok Kuni, Tripathi & Sankaran sp. nov. (♂♀), collected from Maharashtra. Images of the endogyne and male palp of the holotype and paratype of P. narsinhmehtai Parajapati, Hun & Ra...

A new species of the jumping spider genus Hasarius Simon, 1871 — H. mumbai Joshi et Tripathi, 2023 sp. n. is described from a few remaining green plots in Mumbai, India. A detailed morphological description, diagnosis and illustrations of the copulatory organs of both sexes are provided.

Anarrhotus Simon, 1902 (A. fossulatus Simon, 1902) and Gelotia Thorell, 1890 (G. lanka Wijesinghe, 1991), two fairly uncommon jumping spider genera and species, are reported for the first time from India. For both species, general appearance of male copulatory organs and a genus distribution map are provided.

First record of cobweb spider (Steatoda erigoniformis) from India

The thomisid genus Bassaniodes Pocock, 1903 is recorded for the first time from India. The species Bassaniodes tristrami (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872) is redescribed based on specimens collected from the Thar desert, India and information on the species' natural history is presented.

Three new species of jumping spider from northeastern India are described, all in the genus Habrocestum Simon 1876: H. emanasakgrensis Kadam & Tripathi 2023 (♂ only), H. imilchang Kadam & Tripathi 2023 (♂ only), and H. togansangmai Kadam & Tripathi 2023 (♂ only). Current distribution records for all three species are mapped.

The ascalaphid, Bubopsis zarudnyi Martynova, 1926 is recorded for the first time from India. Bubopsis rubrapunctata Ghosh, 1981 was the only owlfly species previously described from India from the genera. The two species are revised from a taxonomic point of view and Bubopsis zarudnyi is redescribed. The habitat and flight activity of the species i...

The salticid species Myrmarachne spissa (G. W. Peckham & E. G. Peckham, 1892) is reported for the first time from India, and the unknown female of Myrmarachne uniseriata Narayan, 1915 is described and illustrated. Both species are redescribed using fresh specimens.

The genus Steatoda Sundevall, 1833 exhibits cosmopolitan distribution (WSC 2021). Globally, it comprises 121 species, of which Steatoda alboclathrata (Simon 1897), S. cingulata (Thorell 1890), and S. rufoannulata (Simon 1899) have been reported from India (WSC 2021). During an arachnofaunal assessment in Desert National Park Wildlife Sanctuary, Raj...

Three species of the spider family Sparassidae are reported from India. Olios kiranae Sethi & Tikader, 1988 is first recorded from Rajasthan and removed from the status of nomen dubium. The male is described for the first time; the female is redescribed. Gnathopalystes flavidus Simon, 1897 comb. nov. is transferred from the genus Palystes L. Koch,...

The selenopid genus Siamspinops Dankittipakul & Corronca, 2009 is recorded for the first time from India. Siamspinops garoensis Kadam, Tripathi & Sankaran, 2022 sp. nov., based on male and female specimens, is described and illustrated in detail. The unknown female of Makdiops shevaroyensis (Gravely, 1931) is described and illustrated for the first...

Two new species of jumping spiders, Afraflacilla miajlarensis sp. n. and Afraflacilla kurichiadensis sp. n. are described from India. Detailed morphological description, diagnostic features and illustration of the species are given. The current distribution records of the genus in India are mapped as well.

The jumping spider Dexippus pengi Wang & Li, 2020, previously only known from its type locality in Yunnan, China, is reported for the first time from India. A detailed description and updated distribution map for this species is provided.

The type materials of seven Indian Rhene species available at the Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, have been studied. R. mus (Simon, 1889) is illustrated for the first time in 132 years since its first description. Eleven new synonyms and five new combinations are proposed: Zeuxippus Thorell, 1891 syn. n. with Rhene Thorell, 1869; R. biembolusa...

The jumping spider species Plexippus minor Wesołowska & van Harten, 2010, known from the United Arab Emirates is here reported from India, from the Desert National Park Wildlife Sanctuary in the state of Rajasthan. Detailed redescriptions with high quality illustrations of both Indian and type specimens of P. minor, including 3D models of the type,...

A new species of jumping spider, Pseudomogrus sudhii sp. n. (♂♀) from the Thar Desert, Rajasthan, India is diagnosed and illustrated; the type locality is mapped. The genus Pseudomo-grus Simon, 1937 is reported from India for the first time.

The jumping spider Irura mandarina Simon 1903 is reported for the first time from India (Maharashtra). The south and southeast Asian distribution of the 16 described species assigned to the genus Irura Peckham & Peckham 1901, is also reviewed.

Survival is one of the primary instincts of every living being on earth. During evolutionary phases, many organisms have evolved with better survival strategies. But for biodiversity to thrive, the species' abundance need to be kept in check, which is naturally done by predator.

The jumping spider Menemerus marginatus (Kroneberg, 1875) is reported for the first time from India, from the Desert National Park in Rajasthan. The male and female M. marginatus are redescribed from Indian specimens and the known distribution of this species, in southwestern Asia, is mapped.

The note informs the report of Zapornia pusilla (Pallas, 1776; family Rallidae) Ballion’s Crake or the Marsh crake a water bird from extreme arid Thar Desert of India.

Here we report and describe matriphagy (maternal self-sacrifice) phenomenon in Stegodyphus pacificus Pocock 1900, observed in Thar Desert of Rajasthan, India. All 57 nests observed during the study exhibited matriphagy. Typically, a female laid a cluster of about 100 eggs and spiderlings hatched nearly 33 days after the egg-laying. Around 17 days a...