Notes on the spider genus Oedothorax Bertkau, 1883 with description of eleven new species from India (Linyphiidae: Erigoninae)

Eleven new species of Oedothorax Bertkau in Förster & Bertkau, 1883, are described from several parts of India: West Bengal (Himalayas): Oedothorax cornutus sp. nov. (♂ & ♀), O. falciferoides sp. nov. (♂), O. lopchu sp. nov. (♂) and O. villosus sp. nov. (♂ & ♀); Meghalaya: O. meghalaya sp. nov. (♂) and O. uncus sp. nov. (♂ & ♀); Madras (currently Tamil Nadu): O. cunur sp. nov. (♂ & ♀), O. kodaikanal sp. nov. (♂ & ♀), O. paracymbialis sp. nov. (♂) and O. rusticus sp. nov. (♂ & ♀); Kerala: O. stylus sp. nov. (♂ & ♀). Based on the new finds, the Oedothorax fauna of the Himalayas is known to comprise no less than 27 species, and is thus richer than the remaining Palaearctic (22 species). This shows that the Himalayas represent a significant centre of Oedothorax speciation, its species apparently being most closely related to those of the Oriental realm. It is the Himalayas that seem to have supplied faunal elements to the Oriental region.