Tanasevitch A.V. 2020. The genus Oedothorax Bertkau, 1883 in the Himalayas, with descriptions of four new species from Nepal (Aranei: Linyphiidae) // Arthropoda Selecta. Vol.29. No.2: 283–291 [in English].
A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky prospekt 33, Moscow 119071, Russia. E-mail: tanasevitch@gmail.com
doi: 10.15298/arthsel.29.2.15
ABSTRACT. The Himalayas are the second largest centre of Oedothorax Bertkau, 1883 diversity, currently with at least 31 species involved. The largest centre is located in eastern Africa. Although this Afrotropical centre is formally composed not so much of Oedothorax species proper, but of those that are listed today in the genera Callitrichia Fage, 1936 and Toschia Caporiacco, 1949. However, most of them unquestionably belong to Oedothorax. As the Himalayan fauna of Oedothorax is restricted to low or middle elevations (270–2900 m a.s.l.), it seems to be Oriental in origin. The Himalayan, Oriental and Afrotropical species of Oedothorax (including Callitrichia and Toschia) are distinctly closer to each other than to the Palaearctic forms, but they are distinguished in some better expressed characters at the species level only. Four new species, Oedothorax cruciferoides sp.n., O. kathmandu sp.n., O. mangsima sp.n., and O. triceps sp.n., are described from Nepal. Data on the regional and altitudinal distributions of Oedothorax species in the Himalayan Mountains are presented.
KEY WORDS: taxonomy, spiders, Erigoninae, mountain fauna, vertical distribution.