First record of Poltys columnaris Thorell, 1890 (Araneae: Araneidae) from Western Ghats, India

Abstract

First record of Poltys columnaris Thorell, 1890 (Araneae: Araneidae) from Western Ghats, India

Full text





Zoology Department, Yashavantrao Chavan Instute of Science, Satara,
Maharashtra 415001, India
2 Australian Museum, 6 College St, Sydney, New South Wales, 2010, Australia
1 sskspider@gmail.com (corresponding author), helen.smith@austmus.gov.au

ISSN
Online 0974-7907
Print 0974-7893



The genus Poltys C.L. Koch of the family Araneidae is
recognized by the presence of an eye tubercle and the
almost unique arrangement of the lateral eyes separated
widely from each other (Tikader 1982). During the
day, spiders lie moonless with legs kept close to the
cephalothorax and the median eyes on the tubercle
protrude through them (Image 1); at night spiders build
an orb web (Smith 2006).
Poltys was established with the type species P.
illepidus C.L. Koch, 1843. This is an old-world genus
with 43 species worldwide (Platnick 2013). Till date,
six species have been described from India viz. Poltys
bhabanii (Tikader, 1970), Poltys bhavnagarensis Patel,
1988, Poltys godrejii Bastawade & Khandal, 2006, Poltys
nagpurensis Tikader, 1982, Poltys rehmanii Bastawade &
Khandal, 2006 from Indian mainland and Poltys pogonias
Thorell, 1891 from Nicobar Islands.
The specimens were studied under Olympus
stereozoom microscope (MSZ-B). Illustraons were
made using camera lucida and
prepared on Coral draw X4. All
measurements are in mm. Epigynes
were dissected from females and
cleared in clove oil. Specimens are
deposited at Western Regional Staon, Zoological Survey
of India, Pune.
Poltys columnaris

Thorell, 1890: 87; Smith, 2006: 95 gs 223–225.
Type material: (examined by Smith, 2006): Female,
Sumatra, at Oxford university Museum, Oxford, UK.
Material examined: 10.vii.2010, 16083’N & 73053’E,
Vetye, Ratnagiri, India, two females on dried rewood;
15.vi.2011, 2 females on fence. 27.viii.2012, 1 female
on fence, Nerur, Sawantwadi, Sindhudurg, 16002’N &
73061’E, ZSI-WRC-Ar/441.
General: Carapace length range: 3.18–4.12, width:
2.02–2.63 and abdomen length: 8.1–9.24, width: 2.13–
2.63.
Cephalothorax: Carapace yellow in colour, high,
slightly raised, pointed tubercle. Tu-like setae between
and behind posterior median eyes, lateral eyes widely
separated. Base of eye tubercle brown. Thoracic
groove brown and sharp. Labium, maxillae and sternum
brownish. Femora stout, disnctly bulged, I and II with
black dots. Few clavate setae on patella I.
Abdomen: Dark brown, dark grey ventrally with
corrugaons. Abdomen tall, high extended above the
 hp://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3490.4524-6 |urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:E3CDC86C-E489-4567-81F9-35BD31CEC9AD
Manju Siliwal, Wildlife Informaon Liaison Development Society, Coimbatore, India.  26 June 2013 (online & print)
Ms # o3490 | Received 17 January 2013 | Final received 29 April 2013 | Finally accepted 03 June 2013
 Kulkarni, S. & H. Smith (2013). First record of Poltys columnaris Thorell, 1890 (Araneae: Araneidae) from Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened
Taxa 5(10): 4524–4526; hp://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3490.4524-6
 © Kulkarni & Smith 2013. Creave Commons Aribuon 3.0 Unported License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this arcle in any medium, reproducon
and distribuon by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publicaon.
 None.
 None.
Our sincere thanks to Aparna Watve (Biome Conservaon Foundaon, Pune) and John Thorpe-Dixon (Plymouth University, UK) for arranging
the eld tours; Dr. Varad Giri (Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai) for sharing the photographs; Akio Tanikawa for supplying the Japanese literature.
Western Ghats
Special Series
The publicaon of this arcle is supported by the Crical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), a joint iniave of l’Agence Française de Développement, Conservaon
Internaonal, the European Commission, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan, the MacArthur Foundaon and the World Bank.

 | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 June 2013 | 5(10): 4524–4526
Poltys columnaris  

posterior region of carapace, similar to the other species
of the Poltys columnaris group (Smith 2006). Many
shiny maculae present in rows just anterior to spinnerets
on the dorsum (Image 2). Epigyne short, covered with
V-shaped lip ventrally. Spermathecae ear-shaped, slightly
bent outwards, copulatory ducts short (Image 3).
Remark: There is variaon in the abdominal size and
slightly in its shape, so epigynal study is always a must
for species conrmaon.
 The record of this species from Sri Lanka
is an old one (Karsch 1891) and there are no recent
records of this species from the region, although Smith
(2006: 95) suggested that it also occurs in Myanmar.
The species known as P. columnaris in Japan does not



Poltys columnaris - 

Poltys columnaris - 

© Varad Giri
© Varad Giri
© Siddharth Kulkarni


 | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 June 2013 | 5(10): 4524–4526
Poltys columnaris  

appear to be conspecic by judging the illustraons
and photographs given by Tanikawa (2007: gs 289–
294, 754–756). Also, the illustraons of holotype of P.
turriger Simon, 1897 (Smith 2006: gs. 229–231; Ono et.
al. 2012: gs 3–5) depict it to be a possible synonym of
P. columnaris. The taxonomy of the Poltys columnaris
group thus, needs revision.


 Arachniden von Ceylon und von Minikoy gesammelt
von den Herren Doctoren P. und F. Sarasin. Berliner Entomologische
Zeitschri. 36: 267–310.
       Spiders (Arachnida, Araneae)
recorded from Vietnam, 1837–2011. Memoirs of the Naonal
Museum Naonal Science. Tokyo 48: 1–37.
The World Spider Catalog, Version 13.5. American
Museum of Natural History, online at: hp://research.amnh.org/iz/
spiders/catalog; hp://dx.doi.org/10.5531/db.iz.0001
   A revision of the genus Poltys in Australasia
(Arachnida: Araneae). Records of the Australian Museum 58: 43–96
  An Idencaon Guide to the Japanese Spiders
of the Families Araneidae, Nephilidae and Tetragnathidae.
Arachnological Society of Japan, 121pp.
  Studi sui ragni Malesi e Papuani. IV, 1. Annali Del
Museo Civico Di Storia Naturale Genova 28: 1–419.
   The Fauna of India. Spiders: Araneae 2(1).
Zoological Survey of India, 293pp.

Habitat and seasonal distribuon of Odonata (Insecta) of Mula and Mutha river basins, Maharashtra, India
Kulkarni, A.S. & K.A. Subramanian
Journal of Threatened Taxa 5(7): 4084–4095; hp://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3253.4084-95
Date of publicaon: 26 April 2013
(i) Valid name of Coenagrion dyeri is Cercion dyeri (Fraser 1919). This is to be corrected in Table 2, page 4089
and Appendix 2, page 4094.
(ii) The correct spelling of Sympetrum fonscolumbi in Table 2 and Appendix 2 is Sympetrum fonscolombii
Selys, 1840.
(iii)  (Burmeister, 1839) sensu stricto has not yet been reported from India. Fraser
(1936) reported O.c. luzonicum as the subspecies commonly occurring inIndia. The valid name
of O.c. luzonicum Orthetrum luzonicumBrauer, 1868. The entry of in
Table 2 may be corrected asOrthetrum luzonicum and the data pertaining to that may be combined with
that of Orthetrum luzonicumfurther down the list.