Ligdus Thorell, 1895

Caleb, John T. D., Shree, A. Divya, Kumar, Lohith & Abhijith, A. P. C., 2024, Reviving Ligdus Thorell, 1895: Description of a new species from India, 129 years since the establishment of the genus (Araneae: Salticidae: Ballini), Zootaxa 5448 (3), pp. 446-450 : 446-447

Genus Ligdus Thorell, 1895

Ligdus Thorell, 1895: 336 ; Simon, 1901: 474–476; Prószyński, 1984: 75. Type species: Ligdus chelifer Thorell, 1895 (by monotypy).

Diagnosis. Ligdus is most similar to Copocrossa Simon, 1901 and Mantisatta Warburton, 1900 in having flattened carapace, narrow abdomen and robust, raptorial leg I; metatarsus of leg I with a ventrally oriented bend near its base ( Thorell 1895; Maddison et al. 2020). It can be separated from Copocrossa based on the following characters: PME placed almost midway between ALE and PLE (PME placed much closer to ALE in Copocrossa ); palpal patella longer than tibia and cymbium (patella longer than tibia but shorter than cymbium in Copocrossa ); palpal tibia almost as long as cymbium (less than half of cymbium in Copocrossa ) ( Figs 1 , 11 , 14–17 vs. illustrations on p. 75 in Prószyński (1984) with figs 548, 553 in Simon (1901)). It can be distinguished from Mantisatta by the lack of tailed abdomen and presence of fovea (whereas, abdomen is tailed and fovea is absent in Mantisatta ) ( Cutler & Wanless 1973).

Remarks. Simon (1901) included Ligdus in Copocrosseae along with Copocrossa and Mantisatta . However, Cutler & Wanless (1973) compared it with Asemonea O. P.-Cambridge, 1869 and Lyssomanes Hentz, 1845 based on their interpretation of the eye arrangement as the ALEs are placed further behind the AME row. The new species has all characters of the tribe Ballini as defined by Azarkina & Haddad (2020): the tegulum and salticid radix separated by a cleft; plane of the spiral embolic division almost perpendicular to the axis of the palp; sperm duct with a basal loop in the tegulum ( Figs 14, 16 ). Therefore, Ligdus is clearly a member of Ballini .

Figures

FIGURES 1–6. General appearance of Ligdus garvale Caleb, sp. nov., holotype male. 1, 2 dorsal view; 3 left leg I; 4 lateral view; 5 front view; 6 spider in its retreat built on a leaf. Photo credits: 1–5, A.P.C. Abhijith; 6, Divya Shree.

FIGURES 7–13. Somatic morphology of Ligdus garvale Caleb, sp. nov., holotype male. 7 habitus, dorsal view; 8 same, ventral view; 9 same, lateral view; 10 left leg I showing segments from tibia to tarsus; 11 carapace, dorsal view; 12 front view; 13 carapace, lateral view. Scale bars: 1 mm (7–9); 0.5 mm (10–13).

FIGURES 14–17. Male palp of Ligdus garvale Caleb, sp. nov., holotype male. 14, 16 left palp, ventral view; 15, 17 same, retrolateral view. Scale bars: 0.2 mm (14–17).