A new species of the trapdoor spider genus Conothele Thorell,1878(Araneae:Halonoproctidae)from Western Ghats,Kerala,India

A new species of Halonoproctid spider Conothele chinnarensis sp.nov.is described from Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary in Western Ghats of Kerala,India based on morphological characters.The new species C.chinnarensis sp.nov.resembles C.varvarti,C.birmanica and C.vali but can be distinguished from C.varvarti by the long stalk of the apical lobe which is not distally twisted,whereas in C.varvarti,the stalk is twisted distally and the burrow in C.chinnarensis sp.nov.is straight without any other chamber,while in C.varvarti,on the inner end of the burrow a second D-shaped hinged trapdoor exists,which opens into another chamber(Siliwal et al.,2009);it differs from C.birmanica by the presence of curved spines on tibiaeⅢwhich are absent in C.birmanica.