"O Check List sissies “ore ang £, aa ae oreo} be, hs . NOTES ON GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION Check List 15 (6): 1071-1075 » https://doi.org/10.15560/15.6.1071 PENSUFT. New records of Cladomelea from South Africa, including the first records of C. longipes (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1877) (Araneae, Araneidae) outside its type locality Anna Sophia Dippenaar-Schoeman'”, Stefan Hendrik Foord? 1 Plant Health and Protection, Agricultural Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa, 0106. 2 Department of Zoology and Centre for Invasion Biology, School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences, University of Venda, Thohoyandou, Limpopo, South Africa, 0950. Corresponding author: stefan.foord@univen.ac.za Abstract We present the first records of the bolas spider, Cladomelea longipes (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1877), beyond its type locality, resulting in a considerable extension of its geographic range in Africa. We compare C. /ongipes with the two other species of Cladomelea known from South Africa, C. akermani Hewitt, 1923 and C. debeeri Roff & Dippenaar- Schoeman, 2004. Images of live specimens and a distribution map are provided. Cladomelea longipes is very rare locally but has a relatively large geographical distribution in the Afrotropical Region. Keywords Cladomelea akermani, Cladomelea debeeri, geographical distribution, Zimbabwe, Cameroon. Academic editor: Alireza Zamani | Received 12 September 2019 | Accepted 9 October 2019 | Published 6 December 2019 Citation: Dippenaar-Schoeman AS, Foord SH (2019) New records of Cladomelea from South Africa, including the first records of C. /ongipes (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1877) (Araneae, Araneidae) outside its type locality. Check List 15 (6): 1071-1075. https://do1.org/10.15560/15.6.1071 Introduction Mastophorinae, Cladomelea spp. construct a highly modified orb web (Akerman 1923; Stowe et al. 1987; The African bolas spiders belong to the genus Cladome- Scharff and Coddington 1997; Leroy et al. 1998) con- lea Simon, 1895 (Araneidae). It is a small genus with four sisting of a short silk thread, the bolas line, with one species, all endemic to the African continent. The type to several sticky globules (or “bolas”) fixed to the free species, Cladomelea longipes (O. Pickard-Cambridge, — end (Eberhard 1980). The bolas line is rotated, catching 1877), was described based on a single female. The sec- _ prey, usually moths, from the air (Eberhard 1977; Pekar ond species, C. ornata Hirst, 1907, is only known from _ et al. 2012). Some bolas spiders lure their prey with a the female holotype collected in the Democratic Repub- — substance emitted from glands on the front legs, mim- lic of the Congo. The female of the third species, C. aker- _icking the sex attractant of female moths (Lopez 1987; mani Hewitt, 1923, was described from South Africaand Yeargan 1994). the description of the male was later provided by Leroy This study aims to provide geographic records for C. et al. (1998). The fourth species, C. debeeri Roff & Dip- —_Jongipes outside of its type locality. As new localities penaar-Schoeman, 2004 is only known from the female also include first records for South Africa, the species holotype collected in South Africa. morphology is compared with the two species C. aker- Members of Cladomelea are known as bolas spi- mani and C. debeeri, which are also known from South ders. Like most other representatives in the subfamily Africa. Copyright Dippenaar-Schoeman and Foord. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. 1072 Methods During the South African National Survey of Arachnida (SANSA), requests were made for photographs for the SANSA Virtual Museum and images of three species of Cladomelea were received. As part of this study, mate- rials of three Cladomelea species were received on loan from ZMUC (Zoological Museum, University of Copen- hagen, Denmark), MRAC (Koninklyk Museum voor Midden-Afrika, Tervuren, Belgium), NCA (National Collection of Arachnida, Pretoria, South Africa), and NMSA (KwaZulu-Natal Museum, South Africa). Results Araneae Clerck, 1757 Araneidae Clerck, 1757 Cladomelea Simon, 1895 Cladomelea longipes (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1877) Cyrtarachne longipes O. Pickard-Cambridge 1877: 559, pl. 56 (@). (Holotype 9: banks of the river Coanza, West Africa, Mr Henry Rogers, 1873, Oxford University Museum (OUMNH)—not ex- amined). Cladomelea longipes: Simon 1895: 883, figs 949, 950 (@). New records. Material examined. CAMEROON ° | 9; 12.3547°N, 007.3697°E; ZMUC 00001445. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO * | 9; Rutshuru; 01.183333°S, 029.45°E; 11.1937; J. Ghesquiere,;, MRAC 57333 « 1 9; Kisantu; 04.615°S, 015.1044°E; R. Vanderyst; MRAC 24356. Photographs. ZIMBABWE * | Q; Harare; 17.8167°S, 031.083°E; M. Cumming; 11.v1.2012. SourH AFRICA ¢ 1 9; Limpopo; Klaserie; 24.55°S, 031.02°E; 15.v.2013; K. Wiesler. Identification. According to Levi (2003) the three genera in the bolas spider group, Mastophora Holmberg, 1876, Ordgarius Keyserling, 1886 and Cladomelea share out- growths or projections on the carapace. Based on Leroy et al. (1998), Cladomelea is characterized by the lack of a row of strong spines on the anterior legs of the females; instead, they possess a dense layer of thin, long setae. A double row of teeth is present on the prolateral cheliceral margin with denticles scattered in between. These small to medium-sized spiders vary in colour and are recog- nizable by the strong erect tubercles arranged in a row on the carapace. Some species are decorated with tubercles and strong setae and the shape and colour of the abdo- men vary. The front legs are longer than the rest. The Cladomelea bolas spiders are nocturnal spiders that construct a modified orb-web that has been reduced to a strand of silk that terminates in one to three sticky droplets, and is referred to as “bolas”. The silk thread is held by one of the second pair of legs, while the spider hangs from a trapeze line constructed in foliage using the fourth pair of legs. They swing the bolas rapidly until it contacts flying moths, which are then rapidly drawn in towards the spider as it reels in the thread (Akerman Check List 15 (6) 1923; Leroy et al. 1998). The spiders usually rest in a retreat in foliage close to the trapeze line. The egg sacs are round, brown, and attached to twigs close to the tra- peze line. Each egg sac contains between 150—200 eggs. Considering the current data, three species are known from South Africa: C. akermani (Leroy et al. 1998), C. debeeri (Roff and Dippenaar-Schoeman, 2004) and C. longipes (current data) (Fig 1). The female C. /ongipes was described in 1877 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This species differs from its congeners in the colour of the body and shape of the abdomen and copulatory organs. The carapace is greyish-pink and covered in dense setae, giving it a woolly appearance. The carapace is broad, rounded pos- teriorly, and narrowed anteriorly. The ocular tubercle is high and bears a row of three strong erect spines medi- ally. The colour of the base of the spines is similar to that of carapace but are apically dark, with the middle spine being the longest (Fig. 2B). The medial area of the ocular region is protruding and has four small median eyes while the lateral eyes are positioned close together near the carapace edge (Fig. 2H). The posterior lateral eyes are the largest. The sternum is pink, heart-shaped with a posterior tip extending between the posterior legs (Fig. 2D). The abdomen is triangular, dorsally pink, and infused with a grey guanophore and silky hair, giving it a woolly appearance (Fig. 2E). Two large, yellow, and round tubercles are present on the antero-lateral corners of abdomen and four smaller white round tubercles are arranged in rows in between (Fig. 2C, H). Similar small white tubercles decorate the abdomen posteriorly. Ven- trally, the abdomen 1s pink and has a woolly appearance. The legs are slender with the formula 1243. The coxae, trochanters, and femora of all legs are pink. The AVE O°E 40°E 60°E Figure 1. Afrotropical distribution of Cladomelea species known from South Africa: C. longipes (blue squares), C. akermani (green triangle) and C. debeeri (red circle). Dippenaar-Schoeman and Foord | Type species of the bolas spider genus Cladomelea across Africa > ” , > 9 | / « 1g To eaitesateg is - 1073 Figure 2. Cladomelea longipes, female habitus and epigyne. A. Dorsal view of abdomen (Harare). B. Dorsal view, showing carapace setae and legs (Harare). C. In action (Harare). D. Ventral view (Harare). E. Abdomen, dorsal view (Klaserie). F. Showing the silky hair on legs (Klaserie); G. Abdomen, dorsal view, preserved material (Cameroon). H. Carapace and eye pattern, dorsal view (Cameroon); I. Epigyne, ventral view (Democratic Republic of the Congo). Scale bar = 0.5 mm. rest of the leg segments are yellow with darker bands. Metatarsi and tarsi I are covered with a dense layer of thin, long silky hair (Fig. 2C, F). The summed length of patella and tibia I is slightly shorter than the summed length of metatarsus and tarsus I. The epigyne lacks a scape, is wider than long with a posterior edge that is sclerotized (Fig. 21). The male is unknown. Comparative material examined. Cladomelea akermani Hewitt, 1923 Cladomelea akermani Hewitt 1923: 63, figs 4, 5 (Q). Cladomelea akermani: Leroy et al. 1998: 1, figs 1-7 (69). Cladomelea akermani: Levi 2003: 378, figs 434, 444 (9). The female of this species is distinct in having three long, sharp-tipped projections on the carapace, with the posterior projection the longest and the anterior one the shortest in the holotype female, but length varies between different specimens. Legs are long and densely covered with long, thin setae. The abdomen is cream coloured, heart-shaped, widest in middle and decorated with numerous small rounded tubercles (Fig. 3A, B). For male description see Leroy et al. (1998). Known only from South Africa (Fig. 1). Material examined. SouTH AFRICA. KwaZulu-Natal ¢ holotype 9; Pietermaritzburg; 29.60°S, 030.38°E, vil. 1915; C. Akerman; NM 7017; * 19; Howick, Umgeni Valley Reserve; 29.47°S, 030.20°E, 11.2007; K. Ducasse; NCA 2007/2608; * 19; same locality; 1.1999; A. Leroy; NCA 2010/1990; * 12; same locality; 11.2010; night col- lecting; J. Leroy; NCA 2010/1990. Photographs. SouTH AFRICA. KwaZulu-Natal * 2° with egg sacs; Hilton; 29.56°S, 030.30°E; J. Roff; SANSA 2013/286. Cladomelea debeeri Roff & Dippenaar-Schoeman, 2004 Cladomelea debeeri Roff and Dippenaar-Schoeman 2004: 3, figs 1-5 (9). 1074 Check List 15 (6) Figure 3. Habitus Cladomelea akermani and C. debeeri. A, B. Dorsal view, C. akermani, photos by J. Roff. C, D. C. debeeri, photos by J. Roff. E. Lateral view of C. debeeri with bolas. Photo by Len de Beer. Cladomelea debeeri differs from C. akermani and C. longipes in the shape of the projections on the cara- pace (Fig. 3C, D). The abdomen is triangular (Fig 3C). The antero-lateral corners are studded with five promi- nent tubercles; each tubercle bearing a tuft of long white setae; posterior end with six tubercles, each bearing hair tufts. The male is unknown. Known only from South Africa (Fig 1). Material examined. SouTH AFRICA. KwaZulu-Natal holotype 2; 45 Milliken Road, Pietermaritzburg; 29.38°S, 30.38°E, Pietermaritzburg; ca 600 m above sea level; 12.v.2000; J. Roff; NCA 2003/1657. Discussion This contribution represents the first published records of C. Jongipes outside of its type locality. Although the type locality in the World Spider Catalog (2019) is listed as Congo, Pickard-Cambridge (1877) gave the type local- ity as the banks of the river Coanza, West Africa. This could be a misspelling of the river Quanza, an important river in Angola. New records suggest that the species 1s much more widely distributed than previously thought, with records in both southern and west Africa. Included here are also the first images of live specimens and the epigyne. Although locally rare, this study points to a species that is widely distributed and, therefore, most probably not specialized on hunting specific moth species. Acknowledgements The manuscript benefited greatly from comments by Ali- reza Zamani, Charles Haddad, and Rudy Jocqué. This study was made possible by the financial support from Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and the National Research Foundation of South Africa. Authors want to thank to Mrs Meg Cumming of Harare, Zimbabwe and Karin Wiesler of Klaserie and John Roff of Hilton for images of the spiders and Robin Lyle (ARC) for photo of the epigyne and the curators of the Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen and the Royal Museum for Central Africa for the loan of specimens. 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