Tip of the iceberg: species diversity of <i>Pholcus</i> spiders (Araneae, Pholcidae) in the Changbai Mountains, Northeast China
Zhiyuan Yao, 沈阳师范大学生命科学学院，辽宁 沈阳110034，中国, Xiang Wang, Shuqiang Li, 中国科学院动物研究所，北京100101，中国, 辽宁省生物进化与生物多样性重点实验室，辽宁 沈阳110034，中国, 辽宁省高校生物系统进化与农业生态重点实验室，辽宁 沈阳110034，中国
Abstract
Despite 250 years of taxonomic classification and over 1.2 million species already catalogued, known species diversity is only a small part of true species diversity on Earth, and thus, the known species are only the tip of iceberg. Here, we investigated the genus <i>Pholcus</i> <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bWalckenaer1805">Walckenaer, 1805</xref> of the family Pholcidae C. L. <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bKoch1850">Koch, 1850</xref> in the Changbai Mountains, Northeast China, which provides an excellent case of high species diversity. Previously, only 14 endemic <i>Pholcus</i> spiders, all belonging to the <i>P. phungiformes</i> species group, and two introduced species <i>P. manueli</i> <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bGertsch1937">Gertsch, 1937</xref> and <i>P. zichyi</i> <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bKulczyński1901">Kulczyński, 1901</xref> from the <i>P. crypticolens</i> species group, have been recorded from this area. Our study confirmed 11 new species of the <i>P. phungiformes</i> species group based on morphology and three methods of molecular species delimitation: <i>P. gaizhou</i> Yao & Li, <b>sp. nov.</b> , <i>P. guanshui</i> Yao & Li, <b>sp. nov.</b> , <i>P. jiguanshan</i> Yao & Li, <b>sp. nov.</b> , <i>P. longxigu</i> Yao & Li, <b>sp. nov.</b> , <i>P. luoquanbei</i> Yao & Li, <b>sp. nov.</b> , <i>P. shenshi</i> Yao & Li, <b>sp. nov.</b> , <i>P. tianmenshan</i> Yao & Li, <b>sp. nov.</b> , <i>P. wangjiang</i> Yao & Li, <b>sp. nov.</b> , <i>P. xingqi</i> Yao & Li, <b>sp. nov.</b> , <i>P. yaoshan</i> Yao & Li, <b>sp. nov.</b> , and <i>P. yuhuangshan</i> Yao & Li, <b>sp. nov.</b> This study brings the fauna of the <i>P. phungiformes</i> species group from the Changbai Mountains to 25 species, approximately two times more than previously known, which could indicate that species diversity in the area is underestimated for all arthropod fauna.