Sankaran Pradeep M, Caleb John T D, Joseph Mathew M, Sebastian Pothalil A
Division of Arachnology, Department of Zoology, Sacred Heart College, Thevara, Cochin, Kerala 682 013, India..
Zootaxa. 2020 Jun 4;4786(4):zootaxa.4786.4.11. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.4786.4.11.
The golden orb-weaving spider genus Nephila Leach, 1815 currently has four representatives in India: Nephila dirangensis Biswas Biswas, 2006, Nephila kuhlii (Doleschall, 1859), Nephila pilipes (Fabricius, 1793) and Nephila robusta Tikader, 1962 (World Spider Catalog 2020). While N. kuhlii has its type locality in Java (Doleschall 1859) and that of N. pilipes in Australasia (Fabricius 1781), N. dirangensis and N. robusta are both confined to India (World Spider Catalog 2020). Tikader (1962) described the species N. robusta based on a single female specimen collected in West Bengal. The original genitalic illustrations of this species, however, show close resemblance to that of N. pilipes, indicating its possible synonymy with the latter. To confirm the novelty of N. robusta, we examined its type specimen and the result is presented below. Additionally, we discuss the occurrence of colour morphs in the Indian populations of N. pilipes.
金圆蛛属（Nephila Leach，1815）目前在印度有四个代表物种：迪让金圆蛛（Nephila dirangensis Biswas Biswas，2006）、库氏金圆蛛（Nephila kuhlii (Doleschall，1859)）、横纹金圆蛛（Nephila pilipes (Fabricius，1793)）和粗壮金圆蛛（Nephila robusta Tikader，1962）（《世界蜘蛛名录》2020）。虽然库氏金圆蛛的模式产地在爪哇（Doleschall，1859），横纹金圆蛛的模式产地在澳大拉西亚（Fabricius，1781），但迪让金圆蛛和粗壮金圆蛛都仅分布于印度（《世界蜘蛛名录》2020）。蒂卡德（1962）根据在西孟加拉邦采集的一个雌性标本描述了粗壮金圆蛛这一物种。然而，该物种最初的生殖器插图显示与横纹金圆蛛的插图非常相似，表明它可能是横纹金圆蛛的同物异名。为了确定粗壮金圆蛛的独特性，我们检查了它的模式标本，结果如下。此外，我们还讨论了横纹金圆蛛印度种群中颜色变体的出现情况。
