Challenging Wallacean and Linnean shortfalls: Ectatosticta spiders (Araneae, Hypochilidae) from China

Ectatosticta spiders from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau were studied. Multilocus molecular and morphological data identified 16 putative species, including seven new species: Ectatosticta wenshu Lin & S. Li sp. nov. , Ectatosticta baima Lin & S. Li sp. nov. , Ectatosticta helii Lin & S. Li sp. nov. , Ectatosticta shaseng Lin & S. Li sp. nov. , Ectatosticta puxian Lin & S. Li sp. nov. , Ectatosticta qingshi Lin & S. Li sp. nov. , and Ectatosticta baixiang Lin & S. Li sp. nov. This increase in the number of Ectatosticta species from a single species in 2008 to 16 in the current study highlights the Linnean shortfall in China. The previously known distribution of Ectatosticta spiders was from one locality in Shaanxi and is now expanded to the east and south of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.