Xyphinus karschi

Xyphinus karschi (Bösenberg & Strand, 1906) Fig. 3 Gamasomorpha karschi B̂senberg & Strand, 1906: p.117, pl. 16, fig. 455, male and female syntypes from Saga, Japan; not examined. See the World Spider Catalog (2023) for the complete taxonomic list. Materials examined. Okinawa Is. (Okinawa Pref.): 1 male (NSMT-Ar 21909), Sueyoshi Park, Shuri-sueyoshi Town, Naha City, 28-III-2022, H. Unami leg.; 1 female (NSMT-Ar 21910), Sueyoshi Park, Shuri-sueyoshi Town, Naha City, 17-XI-2015, K. Ogata leg. Kumamoto Pref.: 2 males 2 females, Sugawara Shrine (32°48’40.6”N, 130°44’38.2”E), Hotakubohonmachi, Higashi-ku, Kumamoto City, 9-II-2022, R. Hidaka leg. Diagnosis. Females of X. karschi are closely similar to those of X. hwangi Tong & Li, 2014 described in Taiwan, but can be distinguished by the shape of the protuberance on the epigastric region. The anterior side of the epigastric region is surrounded by sclerotized arch in the former species, while it is large and nose-shaped in the latter counterpart (Fig. 5J, 7D in Tong & Li 2014). Males of X. karschi can be easily distinguished from those of X. hwangi, which has a slender and strongly curved shaped ventral apophysis (Fig. 6F in Tong & Li 2014). Description. See Kranz-Baltensperger (2014) and Ono (2009) for details of description. Distribution. China, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan (Honshu, Kyushu and the Nansei Islands). See also Fig. 11 and Table 2 for details of distribution in the Nansei Islands. Habitat. In Okinawa Island, this species was collected in woods at an urban park. In Kumamoto, it was collected at dried and artificially disturbed area in a shrine. Spiders were found under peeled barks and dead leave layers of Cinnamomum camphora (L.) J. Presl, (1825) tree. Remarks. This species was originally described in Japan based on specimens collected from Saga Prefecture (B̂senberg & Strand 1906). Although several additional records from Japan have been reported (Uyemura 1937; Fukasawa 1940; Kikuya 1985), none provided information on voucher specimens. Furthermore, Uyemura (1937) erroneously captioned an illustration of G. cataphracta as X. karschi (Fig. 8 in Uyemura 1937). Therefore, this constitutes the second record of X. karschi from Japan with voucher specimens.Published as part of Suzuki, Yuya, Hidaka, Ryota & Tatsuta, Haruki, 2023, Revision of goblin spiders (Araneae: Oonopidae) in the Nansei Islands, Southwest Japan, with description of a new species, pp. 216-242 in Zootaxa 5323 (2) on pages 223-224, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5323.2.3, http://zenodo.org/record/820418