title: A survey of the spider family Nesticidae (Arachnida, Araneae) in Asia and Madagascar, with the description of forty-three new species.
abstract: Forty-three new species of Nesticidae are described from China, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Madagascar, and two new junior synonyms are suggested. A new genus,Speleoticusgen. n., is described withNesticus navicellatusLiu & Li, 2013 as the type species, and four species are transferfed fromNesticus, i.e.,Speleoticus globosus(Liu & Li, 2013),comb. n.,Speleoticus libo(Chen & Zhu, 2005),comb. n.,Speleoticus navicellatus(Liu & Li, 2015),comb. n.andSpeleoticus uenoi(Yaginuma, 1972),comb. n.The new species described in this paper belong to four genera and are:Hamus cornutussp. n.(♂♀),Hamus kangdingensissp. n.(♂),Hamus luzonsp. n.(♀),Hamus mangunensissp. n.(♂),Nescina kohisp. n.(♂♀),Nesticella baiseensissp. n.(♂♀),Nesticella baobabsp. n.(♂),Nesticella caecasp. n.(♂♀),Nesticella chongqingsp. n.(♀),Nesticella dazhuangensissp. n.(♂♀),Nesticella fuliangensissp. n.(♂♀),Nesticella gazuidasp. n.(♀),Nesticella gongshanensissp. n.(♀),Nesticella griswoldisp. n.(♂♀),Nesticella hongheensissp. n.(♂♀),Nesticella huomachongensissp. n.(♂♀),Nesticella jingposp. n.(♀),Nesticella kaohsiungensissp. n.(♂♀),Nesticella lisusp. n.(♂♀),Nesticella liuzhaiensissp. n.(♀),Nesticella nandanensissp. n.(♂♀),Nesticella phamisp. n.(♂♀),Nesticella potalasp. n.(♀),Nesticella qiaoqiensissp. n.(♀),Nesticella qiongensissp. n.(♂♀),Nesticella robustasp. n.(♂♀),Nesticella rongtangensissp. n.(♂),Nesticella sanchaheensissp. n.(♂♀),Nesticella sulawesisp. n.(♀),Nesticella sumatranasp. n.(♂),Nesticella tibetanasp. n.(♂♀),Nesticella vanlangsp. n.(♀),Nesticella wanzaiensissp. n.(♂♀),Nesticella xiongmaosp. n.(♂♀),Nesticella xixiasp. n.(♂♀),Nesticella yanbeiensissp. n.(♂♀),Nesticella yaosp. n.(♀),Nesticella zhiyuanisp. n.(♂♀),Pseudonesticus dafangensissp. n.(♂♀),Pseudonesticus miaosp. n.(♂♀),Pseudonesticus spinosussp. n.(♂♀),Pseudonesticus wumengensissp. n.(♀),Pseudonesticus ziyunensissp. n.(♂♀).Nesticella inthanoni(Lehtinen & Saaristo, 1980),syn. n.is synonymised withNesticella mollicula(Thorell, 1898);Nesticella taiwanTso & Yoshida, 2000,syn. n.is synonymised withNesticella odonta(Chen, 1984). The female ofNesticella connectensWunderlich, 1995, so far unknown, is described and recorded from Thailand. Nesticidae are reported from Madagascar for the first time.Nesticella nepalensis(Hubert, 1973) is recorded for the first time from China. Types ofNesticella odonta(Chen, 1984),Nesticella songiChen & Zhu, 2004 andNesticella yuiWunderlich & Song, 1995 are re-examined and photographed. The entire genusNesticellais reviewed, and four species groups are recognised. DNA barcodes of the new species are obtained to confirm their correct identifications.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Bio-resources and College of Eco-environment (Ministry of Education), College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610064, China; Southeast Asia Biodiversity Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, China.
authors.forename: Yucheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ballarin
authors.affiliation: Southeast Asia Biodiversity Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, China; Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Shuqiang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: Nesticids; cave; leaf litter; new taxa; taxonomy