DEAR EDITOR, Three new genera and 46 new species of phrurolithid spiders (Araneae, Phrurolithidae) are described from Jiangxi Province, southern China. These results support our hypothesis that a large percentage of China’s species remain unknown (Li, 2020). Some 250 years after Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus devised a formal system for classifying the diversity of nature, more than two million accepted species have been listed in the recent Catalogue of Life (COL) (Costello et al., 2022). However, 86% of the Earth’s species are yet to be fully described (Mora et al., 2011), indicating that less than 15% of extant species are catalogued. For example, 146 154 fungal species have been recorded (COL, 2022), but an estimated 2.2–5.1 million species remain undescribed (Hawksworth & Lücking, 2017; O’Brien et al., 2005). Furthermore, within the animal kingdom, 1.5 million species have been described in 40 phyla (Zhang, 2013), but an estimated 7.8 million terrestrial species and 2.2 million oceanic species remain undiscovered (Mora et al., 2011). In China, approximately 250000 species have been catalogued, including 164182 species of animals, 8610 species of bacteria, 1970 species of Chromista, 27900 species of fungi, 38394 species of plants, 2897 species of protozoa, and 2800 species of viruses (Figure 1; Supplementary Material I), with an average increase of 6500 species per year over the last 20 years. According to the unknown species percentage determined by Mora et al. (2011), there are likely to be 1.4 million unknown species in China. This high prediction of unknown species is supported by previous research on spiders within a 11 km2 peninsular area in Xishuangbanna, China, where 782 spider species were described (Li, 2020), with at least 200 more awaiting description. Of note, only 66 spider species were known from the same area in 2006. Figure 1 Species scape in China, where the size of individual organisms approximately corresponds to the number of species described in the higher taxon they represent (For data sources, please see Supplementary Material I) Our current study on the spider family Phrurolithidae Banks, 1892 from Jiangxi provides additional support for the high percentage of unknown species in China. The spider family Phrurolithidae includes 261 species in 15 genera (Li, 2020), with 124 species reported from Asia in the last 20 years alone. An extensive survey of phrurolithid spiders from October 2020 to May 2021 in south Jiangxi yielded 46 new species. For detailed morphological descriptions, diagnoses, and illustrations of the new species, please see Supplementary Material II. NOMENCLATURAL ACTS REGISTRATION The type material in this paper is housed in the Animal Specimen Museum, College of Life Science, Jinggangshan University (ASM-JGSU). The electronic version of this article in portable document format represents a published work according to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), and hence the new names contained in the electronic version are effectively published under the Code from the electronic edition alone (see Articles 8.5–8.6 of the Code). This published work and the nomenclatural acts it contains have been registered in ZooBank, the online registration system for the ICZN. The ZooBank LSIDs (Life Science Identifiers) can be resolved, and the associated information can be viewed through any standard web browser by appending the LSID to the prefix http://zoobank.org/. Publication LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub: FDF4A17E-410B-478E-BAC7-7D45CB8B7374 Acrolithus Liu & S. Li gen. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:43333E35-08EC-44CB-B0A9-B53BA0FE4DCF Aculithus Liu & S. Li gen. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:E791258D-471C-4BE2-ADDE-866B052D1AFA Grandilithus Liu & S. Li gen. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:E86C1445-8C13-4B70-A37F-34953D16482D Acrolithus jiulong Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:9E5DB0F8-2D82-41D4-9C8C-C0C8E3A5E630 Acrolithus lingyun Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:EFEA7456-4732-41BF-8EDD-7C7EBA5C3845 Acrolithus ruyii Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:4F47F1BD-A7A5-4EEB-9242-76E6BF04F448 Acrolithus shijiao Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org :act:5B044830-29BB-403B-A983-4DA52D6A14F7 Acrolithus xiajing Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:B6FE4180-1714-4F2E-9E88-25D657F67BBC Acrolithus xiaojing Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:2BBBD95C-2384-4592-B6D3-A0999F1890B5 Acrolithus yeniu Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:A4D84817-08EE-47E0-AD74-98B83DBDD626 Aculithus chongyi Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:541F820C-4F09-46C0-A304-20177345984A Aculithus taishan Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:801ACFBB-C2A7-4657-8295-CD8BFB4C37C4 Aculithus xunwu Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:5EB848C6-D27A-403A-A617-0B1148C16784 Grandilithus anyuan Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:3F35FA25-844B-416A-BC32-7D947252E86F Grandilithus aobei Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C91717AE-ADFF-4894-88C0-E7E626C88E08 Grandilithus dingnan Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:9E15E878-06CF-4BA9-879C-DB4419F394D6 Grandilithus dongguling Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:D5655AB0-95CA-484B-BF9E-3B5F838DB72B Grandilithus fengshan Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:D9FF99FC-7D1D-4341-B598-2BDE5FDC6102 Grandilithus jiangshan Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:083E1A03-4A12-4AD2-93EA-0DEB3FEC5B85 Grandilithus jingshi Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:B3B2171F-0AA6-4172-850E-5B9E0341C643 Grandilithus longjiatang Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:6F5A724F-6D8F-49C9-82F7-23D27E3C531B Grandilithus nanan Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:EEBECB78-3AEF-4E38-814E-22BEC413F691 Grandilithus ningdu Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:CE18E532-6185-4D2D-848C-CFAC8C727D06 Grandilithus taihe Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:A0BF9FB0-C4EC-4E33-A347-4669EE860CBF Grandilithus tianyushan Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C9EC8668-6E4C-4976-8C25-092A34F61EE1 Grandilithus tupingao Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:2EB90110-6063-409D-98C6-613655A7199B Grandilithus wanzili Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:62CFB297-E10A-4AC4-910B-03DF6C3ED822 Grandilithus yunyin Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:BA594D13-A3FF-408F-9808-55778C107513 Otacilia aotou Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:DDB54867-36D2-4A10-9780-BCE53AF214F1 Otacilia dawushan Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:698815B9-B3E8-4BF6-BBD9-A3AA6A4EE448 Otacilia dongshang Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:2FF3CC04-4D47-4A39-9D0A-0A306083912D Otacilia fuxi Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:A9351E35-67B1-4DA0-B29F-179833767D9A Otacilia guizhumao Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:B58AD573-1BFD-48E7-A542-D1D680D03F9A Otacilia hushandong Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C7579EDC-5D08-4FD8-B3B4-BB6560E7E738 Otacilia jiulianshan Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:F858B48D-991B-461A-81E9-C7D6563861B0 Otacilia linghua Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:BB9E76DB-903E-47EE-9E22-37BDAF49E20A Otacilia longbu Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:547645BE-2DE7-4927-8153-A4F2DE6F5D5C Otacilia ping Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:24A98906-BB03-4D5C-B0E9-322A74F2D90D Otacilia qingyuan Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:50F996CE-26AE-4C4C-8209-4384BE350EFC Otacilia sanbai Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:688B93D9-8D33-4E70-AE01-F43B89D898F2 Otacilia shuijiang Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:EEBED5E6-4D33-48F4-B4FF-CD4EAD65D653 Otacilia tianhua Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:11A8B3A3-8FA4-4EA1-9597-A0404167FA8C Otacilia wanshi Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:D9634EA4-3DAF-43F1-9003-B0466DE9888B Otacilia wuzhifeng Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:AA1BCEB4-5C00-432E-83E8-287AB14CCE89 Otacilia xiangshan Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:2058E95E-BA8F-4F84-AAC4-492669E22D60 Otacilia xiaobu Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:61FCAF83-4856-4B2A-ACE1-4A8BBD27DB16 Otacilia xingguo Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C6FEE5F8-FBBC-48FD-8C64-CBDC2A0ABD97 Otacilia yangming Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:5C558155-19B1-4A05-B7FD-68CEDCCB14DE Otacilia zhonglong Liu & S. Li sp. nov. LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:7B0EB34B-68E6-43FC-A05D-5B2EA4FDEA54 SCIENTIFIC FIELD SURVEY PERMISSION INFORMATION Permission for field surveys in Jiangxi was granted by the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Forestry, Nanchang, China. SUPPLEMENTARY DATA Supplementary data to this article can be found online. Click here for additional data file. COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare that they have no competing interests. AUTHORS’ CONTRIBUTIONS Y.H.X. and S.Q.L. designed the study. K.K.L., Y.H.Y., Z.Y.M., M.H.F., W.H.L., and X.X. contributed to fieldwork and performed morphological species identification. K.K.L., S.Q.L., and X.Q.Z. drafted and revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
