Four new genera of Heteropodinae Thorell, 1873 from Malaysia, Brunei and Papua New Guinea (Araneae: Sparassidae).

When examining material of Sparassidae Bertkau, 1872 four new genera were identified as new to science, all belonging to the subfamily Heteropodinae Thorell, 1873. Three new genera from Malaysia and Brunei, and one new genus from Papua New Guinea are described in this paper: Borniella gen. nov. with its type species Borniella parva spec. nov. from Malaysia: Sarawak and Brunei (male, female); Menarik gen. nov. with its type species Menarik kecil spec. nov. from Malaysia: Sarawak (male, female); Micropoda gen. nov. with its type species Micropoda daviesae spec. nov. from Papua New Guinea: New Britain (male, female); Tiomaniella gen. nov. with its type species Tiomaniella ladam spec. nov. from Malaysia: Tioman Island (male, female). All are diagnosed by their copulatory organs, which partly exhibit extraordinary character states. Most females of Menarik kecil spec. nov. exhibited scars at their epigynes that might be connected to the special apophyses in the male palp.

Forty-seven new species of Sinopoda from Asia with a considerable extension of the distribution range to the South and description of a new species group (Sparassidae: Heteropodinae).

Up to current knowledge, the spider genus Sinopoda Jäger, 1999 is distributed in South-, East- and Southeast-Asia. New material treated in this paper include new records from Brunei, India, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Forty-seven new Sinopoda species are described: S. aenyk spec. nov. (female; Laos), S. arboricola spec. nov. (male, female; Malaysia), S. assamensis spec. nov. (female; India), S. bifurca spec. nov. (male, female; China), S. bispina spec. nov. (male; Myanmar), S. caeca spec. nov. (female; Laos), S. chiangmaiensis spec. nov. (male, female; Thailand), S. cornuta spec. nov. (male, female; Indonesia), S. deminutiva spec. nov. (male; Laos), S. emei spec. nov. (female; China), S. empat spec. nov. (male; Malaysia), S. flexura spec. nov. (female; Indochina), S. hainan spec. nov. (male; China), S. hanya spec. nov. (male; Malaysia), S. incisura spec. nov. (female; China), S. inthanon spec. nov. (male; Thailand), S. kalaw spec. nov. (female; Myanmar), S. kambaiti spec. nov. (male; Myanmar), S. kamouk spec. nov. (female; Laos), S. kieo spec. nov. (female; Laos), S. kinabalu spec. nov. (male; Malaysia), S. konglor spec. nov. (female; Laos), S. kyee spec. nov. (female; Myanmar), S. lebar spec. nov. (female; Indonesia), S. longicymbialis spec. nov. (male, female; Thailand), S. lot spec. nov. (female; Thailand), S. maculata spec. nov. (female; Malaysia), S. mat spec. nov. (female; Vietnam), S. matang spec. nov. (male, female; Malaysia), S. nanphagu spec. nov. (female; Myanmar), S. parva spec. nov. (male; Malaysia), S. phathai spec. nov. (female; Thailand), S. phiset spec. nov. (female; Thailand), S. phom spec. nov. (male, female; Thailand), S. reinholdae spec. nov. (female; Malaysia), S. rotunda spec. nov. (female; China), S. ruam spec. nov. (female; Thailand), S. silvicola spec. nov. (male, female; China), S. sulawesia spec. nov. (male, female; Indonesia), S. tawau spec. nov. (female; Malaysia), S. thieu spec. nov. (female; Vietnam), S. tibang spec. nov. (female; Indonesia), S. tilmanni spec. nov. (male, female; Malaysia), S. tralinh spec. nov. (female; Vietnam), S. tuber spec. nov. (female; Malaysia), S. unicolor spec. nov. (female; Thailand) and S. wayala spec. nov. (female; China). The female of S. exspectata Jäger Ono, 2001 and the males of S. scurion Jäger, 2012 and S. steineri Jäger, 2012 are described for the first time. Males of S. tengchongensis Fu Zhu, 2008 and S. triangula Liu et al., 2008 and females of S. crassa Liu et al., 2008 and S. licenti (Schenkel, 1953) are redescribed. In addition to the okinawana-group, a second species-group is diagnosed, the chiangmaiensis-group, which includes S. chiangmaiensis spec. nov., S. lot spec. nov. and S. phathai spec. nov. All three species occur in north-western Thailand. Twenty new species are described from caves, some of which have distinct cave adaptations: S. caeca spec. nov. is the second known eyeless huntsman spider, S. kamouk spec. nov. has two remnants of eyes without pigments, S. empat spec. nov. has four remnants of eyes without pigmentation and S. tralinh spec. nov. has all eight eyes but without pigments. All other new species herein described have eight functional eyes.

Four new species of the spider genus Nesticella Lehtinen & Saaristo, 1980 from Laos, Thailand and Myanmar and the first description of the male of Nesticella yui Wunderlich & Song, 1995 with a proposed new diagnostic character for the family Nesticidae Simon, 1894 (Arachnida, Araneae).

During various expeditions to Laos between 2003 and 2012 and one expedition to Myanmar in 2014, spiders of the family Nesticidae were collected inside and outside of caves. This was the first time this family was encountered in Laos. All specimens belong to the genus Nesticella Lehtinen & Saaristo, 1980. Four species have been recognized as being new to science, which are described in this paper: Nesticella beccus n. sp. (male, female; LAOS: Bolikhamsay Province, Luang Prabang Province, Huaphan Province, Khammouan Province, THAILAND: Mae Hong Son Province), Nesticella laotica n. sp. (male, female; LAOS: Vientiane Province, Huaphan Province, Luang Prabang Province, Bolikhamsay Province), Nesticella foelixi n. sp. (male; LAOS: Bolikhamsay Province) and Nesticella michaliki n. sp. (male, female; MYANMAR: Chin State). The male of Nesticella yui Wunderlich & Song, 1995 is described for the first time and it is the first record for Laos. Results from a first micro-computed tomography analysis of a female copulatory organ for this genus are provided. This analysis proves that female Nesticella exhibit a complex functional receptaculum, which is highly complex within the genus. The presence of a special type of leg setae (pipette setae) in males is proposed as diagnostic for the family Nesticidae.