Expanding the horizon: Discovery of two new spider species of the Pholcus phungiformes species group (Araneae, Pholcidae) from Inner Mongolia, China, with a new western record for the group

The spiders of the Pholcus phungiformes species group are primarily distributed across five mountain ranges in East Asia: the Lüliang Mountains and the Yanshan-Taihang Mountains in North China, the transitional uplands between the Yanshan-Taihang and Changbai Mountains, the Changbai Mountains straddling the China-North Korea border, and the Taebaek-Sobaek Mountains on the Korean Peninsula. In this study, we report the first records of this group from Inner Mongolia, northern China, describing two new species: Pholcus alashan Wang & Yao, sp. nov.

(♂ ♀, from Alashan Zuoqi) and P. chifeng Yan & Yao, sp. nov. (♂ ♀, from Chifeng). The discovery of P. alashan sp. nov. extends the group’s western distribution limit by 5.2 ° longitude (from c. 111.0°E to 105.8°E), representing a significant zoogeographic range expansion.