A checklist of spiders from Yongxing Island, South China Sea, with taxonomic notes on four species of goblin spiders

BACKGROUND: Yongxing Island (about 1.85 km(2)) isthe largest island of the Xisha Islands. It is located in the Western South China Sea and belongs to the tropical ocean monsoon climate zone. Yongxing Island is quite rich in biological resources, for example, plants and birds which have been well documented. However, there are limited reports on spider resources in Yongxing Island. NEW INFORMATION: A preliminary checklist of spiders of the Yongxing Island is provided, based on a short-term study undertaken in January 2008. A total of 23 species, belonging to 21 genera and 11 families, were recorded from the area, which forms baseline information of spiders of the Yongxing Island. Amongst these, Oonopidae, Pholcidae, Araneidae and Salticidae were found to have more species in the area. Brignolia parumpunctata (Simon, 1893), Opopaea apicalis (Simon, 1893), Opopaea deserticola Simon, 1891 and Xyphinus baehrae Kranz-Baltensperger, 2014 were firstly reported from China, for which we provide taxonomic description in this paper.