A review of the genus Raveniola (Araneae, Nemesiidae) in China, with notes on allied genera and description of four new species from Yunnan

Abstract. The Chinese representatives of Raveniola Zonstein, 1987 are currently recognized to comprise seven species. Four new species – Raveniola montana sp. n. (♂♀), Raveniola shangrila sp. n. (♂), Raveniola songi sp. n. (♂) and Raveniola yunnanensis sp. n. (♂) – are described from the highlands of Yunnan Province, China. According to some characters (shape of the palpus, palpal tibia and tibia I in males) they can be placed together with Raveniola hebeinica Zhu, Zhang & Zhang, 1999 and with Raveniola guangxi (Raven & Schwendinger, 1995), comb. n., transferred here from Sinopesa Raven & Schwendinger, 1995. The current generic position of Raveniola xizangensis (Hu & Li, 1987) is confirmed. Other Chinese nemesiids referred previously to Raveniola are transferred to Sinopesa: Sinopesa chinensis (Kulczyński, 1901), comb. n., Sinopesa sinensis (Zhu & Mao, 1983), comb. n. and Sinopesa chengbuensis (Xu & Yun, 2002), comb. n. The relationships between these Asian genera and their relations to Afrotropical nemesiids are discussed.