Research Journal of Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sciences ___________________________ ISSN 2320 – 6535   Vol. 2(5), 6-9, May (2014) Res. J. Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sci. International Science Congress Association      
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First record of Plesiophrictus millardi Pocock, 1899 (Araneae: Theraphosidae) from Gujarat, IndiaParmar Bharat N., Patel Harshil, Thumar Ramesh, Tank Shantilal K. and Dholakia Arun H.Department of Zoology, B.P. Baria Science Institute, Navsari, Gujarat, INDIA Department of Biosciences, Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, Surat, Gujarat, INDIA Department of Zoology, Sir P.T. Sarvajanik Collage of Science, Surat, Gujarat, INDIA Available online at: 
www.isca.in, www.isca.me
Received 19th April 2014, revised 12th May 2014, accepted 23rd May 2014 AbstractPlesiophrictus millardi is reported for the first time from Gujarat, based on one male specimens collected from Kevadi, Vansda, Navsari District, Gujarat, India. This new record extends the distribution range of the species for about 400 km in north from the nearest known locality. Keywords: Plesiophrictus millardi, Theraphosidae, Gujarat Introduction The theraphosid spider genus Plesiophrictus Pocock, 1899 is represented in India by at least 8 species considering the recent revalidation of the genus Heterophrictus and the description of Neoheterophrictus1,2. Pocock established the genus Plesiophrictus to embody Plesiophrictus millardi Pocock, 1899, and after that many new species of this genus were described from India4,5,6. Recently Siliwal et al described a new species from Western Ghats, India. In Western Ghats, the genusPlesiophrictus appears to be distributed from Maharashtra to Kerala. B.H.Patel reported the genus Plesiophrictus from Gujarat for the first time, without mentioning the species.  In March 2012, during a field visit at Kevadi, near Vansda, Navsari district, Gujarat; we collected a male specimen of a species belonging to the genus Plesiophrictus. It was later identified as Plesiophrictus millardi with the help of a key provided by Raven, Smith10,11, and Guadanucci. This makes a new locality record of the species as well as a new species record for Gujarat state. Material and Methods The specimen was collected during a night trail at around 22:30 hours and preserved in 80% alcohol. The measurements were taken with dial callipers (to the nearest 0.02 mm). All measurements are in mm. Specimen examination was done by a Leica S4E stereomicroscope. Photographs were produced using an Olympus trinocular stereomicroscope attached with a camera. Results and Discussion Systematics: Class: ARACHNIDA, Order: ARANEAE, Suborder: OPISTHOTHELAE, Infraorder: MYGALOMORPHAE, Family: THERAPHOSIDAE Thorell, 1869. Genus: Plesiophrictus Pocock, 1899, Plesiophrictus millardi Pocock, 1899Colouration in life: Overall blackish, Carapace covered with a mat of golden hair. Metatarsus of leg-I snow white. Sternum and leg coaxe brownish red; abdomen blackish brown and ventrally pale in colour. Description: Carapace 6.62 mm long and 5.36 mm wide, Carapace overall black, covered with a dense mat of golden hair. Abdomen 6.66 mm long and 3.82 mm wide. Chelicerae 3.38 mm in size, chelicera lyra absent. Promarginal teeth 9; 12 basosomal teeth present on chelicera. Sternum 2.64 long and 2.04 wide, oval, high in center, sloping gradually, covered with long, dense, black hair. Two pairs of spinnerets, with brown hairs. Posterior median spinneret 0.44 mm long and 0.14 mm in diameter. Eight eyes, arranged in a group, on anterior tubercle. Anterior lateral eyes clearly larger than the rest, posterior lateral eyes slightly larger than anterior median eyes, and posterior median eyes clearly smaller than the rest. Maxillary lyra absent on maxillae.Labium 0.48 mm long and 0.64 mm wide; the size of labial and maxillary cuspules is the same. Four pairs of legs, divided into femur, patella, tibia, metatarsus and tarsus. Length of leg-I: 13.32 mm, leg-II: 10.42 mm and leg-III: 9.76 mm. Fourth pair of legs was damaged during capturing the specimen so it was not possible to take measurement of leg-IV. Pedipalp 7.16 mm long. Paired claws, without any dentition, present on each leg. One bare claw is present on palp. P. millardi has been recorded from Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), Matheran, Karnala Bird Sanctuary, Phansad Wildlife Sanctuary, Uran (Raighad District), and Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary (Pune District) in Western Maharashtra4,10,12. This present study considerably extends the range of the species. The present locality is situated on the border of Vansda National Park (VNP) in Navsari district, which is about 400 km north 
Research Journal of Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sciences ________________________________________ ISSN 2320 – 6535  Vol. 2(5), 6-9, May (2014)   Res. J. Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sci.  International Science Congress Association            
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from the nearest known locality i.e., SGNP. Kevadi and VNP are situated in the geographical region of Dangs. It is a hilly terrain with hills of moderate altitude, an extension of the Sahyadri Range of Western Ghats. The northern Western Ghats has moist deciduous type of forest and Teak is the predominant tree species of the region. Climate of this region is tropical and has three distinct seasons, viz., the monsoon (mid June - October), winter (October - February) and summer (March - mid June). Average rainfall in the hills of northern limits of Western Ghats is 2000 – 3000 mm/year. Humidity during monsoon is very high in this region. Figure-1 Map showing distribution of Plesiophrictus millardi based on previous records (black squares) and present record (red square) 
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Figure-2 Plesiophrictus millardi 1, male dorsal view; 2, male carapace; 3, eyes; 4, sternum, labium, maxillae and chelicerae; 5, male palp; 6, spinnerets 
Research Journal of Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sciences ________________________________________ ISSN 2320 – 6535  Vol. 2(5), 6-9, May (2014)   Res. J. Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sci.  International Science Congress Association            
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ConclusionDocumentation of biodiversity has become a very important aspect for the conservation of that particular ecosystem. The hilly forests of south Gujarat are considered as the northern limits of Western Ghats, which is a global biodiversity hotspot with very high percentage of endemic species. However, when it comes to arachnological studies, only a couple of studies have been done to survey the spider fauna of this region8,13. So the forests of Dangs and south Gujarat are largely unexplored with reference to arachnofauna. Further studies may yield many new species records from Dangs and south Gujarat. Acknowledgement Thankful to Department of Science and Technology (DST) for financial support in the form of INSIPRE fellowship. References 1.Guadanucci J.P.L., The genus Plesiophrictus Pocock and revalidation of Heterophrictus Pocock (Araneae: Theraphosidae), Journal of Arachnology, 39, 523–527(2011)2.Siliwal M., Gupta N. and Raven R., A new genus of the family Theraphosidae (Araneae: Mygalomorphae) with description of three new species from the Western Ghats of Karnataka, India, Journal of Threatened Taxa, 4(14), 3233–3254 (2012)3.Pocock R.I., Diagnosis of some new Indian Arachnida, Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 12, 744–753 (1899)4.Pocock R.I., The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma, Arachnida, Taylor and Francis, London, 279, (1900)5.Gravely F.H., Notes on Indian mygalomorph Spiders, Records of Indian Museum, Calcutta,11, 257–287, (1915)6.Tikader B.K., Studies on some mygalomorph spiders of the families Ctenizidae and Theraphosidae from India, Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 74, 306–319 (1977)7.Siliwal M., Molur S. and Raven R., A new species of the genus Plesiophrictus (Araneae: Theraphosidae: Ischnocolinae) from Western Ghats, India, Zoos’ Print Journal, 22, 2853–2860, (2007)8.Patel, B. H., Fauna of protected areas in India-1: Spiders of Vansda National Park, Gujarat. Zoos’ Print Journal, 18(4), 1079–1083, (2003)9.Raven, R. J., The spider infraorder Mygalomorphae (Araneae): cladistics and systematics. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 182 (1), 1–180, (1985)10.Smith, A. M., The tarantula: classification and identification guide(2nd edition). Fitzgerald Publishing, London, 178, (1987)11.Smith, A. M., Baboon spiders. Tarantulas of Africa and the Middle East. Fitzgerald Publishing, London, 142. (1990)12.Sanap, R. V. and Z. A. Mirza, First description of female Plesiophrictus millardi Pocock, 1899 (Araneae: Theraphosidae). Taprobanica, 5(1), 6–11, (2013)13.Siliwal, M., B. Suresh and B. Pilo, Fauna of protected areas in India-3: Spiders of Purna Wildlife Sanctuary, Dangs, Gujarat. Zoos’ Print Journal, 18(11), 1259–1263, (2003)