Zelotes henderickxi, Bosselaers, Jan, 2012

Bosselaers, Jan, 2012, Two interesting new ground spiders (Araneae) from the Canary Islands and Greece, Serket 13 (1), pp. 83-90 : 84-86

Zelotes henderickxi sp. n.

Figs. 1 , 7-9 , 14 .

Type material. Holotype male, Spain, Canary Islands, Tenerife, Puerta de la Cruz , hand captured, 12 August 1994, H. Henderickx leg. [ CJB1166 ], deposited in RBINS .

Diagnosis

Z. henderickxi is similar to Z. manytchensis (Ponomarev & Tsvetkov, 2006) by the shape of the arched embolar base, the MA and the terminal apophysis ( Senglet, 2011), but differs from it by its larger size, a simpler embolus shape, a shorter do abdominal scutum and an RTA which is shorter than the ti. Z. henderickxi is also close to Z. fuscorufus (Simon, 1878) , but differs from it by its larger size, a larger terminal apophysis, a less vertically oriented embolar base and a simple RTA. Z. henderickxi differs from all other species in the Z. tenuis group by its small PME ( Senglet, 2011: 515).

Description

Male (holotype). Total length 6.25. Carapace length 2.80, w 2.15, yellowish brown with faint brown radiating striae, fovea brown, pronounced, length 0.3, anterior end 1.65 from front end of carapace. MOQ depth 0.26, anterior w 0.22, posterior w 0.24. AER w 0.42, recurved in do view, procurved from front, PER w 0.53, procurved in do view, procurved from front. AME small and dark, other eyes pearl. All eyes ringed with black. AME separated by 2/3 of their diameter, almost touching ALE. Diameter of ALE almost twice that of AME. PME subrectangular, separated from each other and from PLE by the length of their smallest axis. PLE as large as ALE, slightly larger than PME. Clypeus almost twice as wide as diameter of AME. Chilum very small, subtriangular, brown and sclerotised. Chelicerae brown, with four teeth along promarginal cheliceral rim, the two largest ones situated in the middle of the row, retromarginal rim with two small teeth. No shaggy hair in front of fang. Sternum oval to shield-shaped, not rebordered, yellowish brown, darker chestnut at border, length 1.60, w 1.25. Four pairs of PCT, three pairs of ICS, PLB inconspicuous and isolated. Labium brown, longer than wide. Endites about twice as long as wide, with a diagonal notch, an apical hair tuft and a serrula. Dorsal side of abdomen unicolorous yellowish grey, with four orange sigilla, a brown triangular scutum in anterior quarter and a frontal row of curved strong hairs. Ventral side of abdomen pale yellow, epigastric region orange brown and slightly sclerotised. ALS very large, cylindrical, three times as long and as wide as PLS, separated by 1/4 of their length. PMS short, slender, length 1/4 of length ALS. PLS short, subcylindrical, with a short, blunt apical segment. Legs unicolorous brown, trochanters not notched, no retrocoxal hymen present, no feathery hairs. Patellar indentation narrow, 2/3 of pa length.

Leg formula 4123. Metatarsi III and IV with strong vt comb typical for the genus. Tarsi with two toothed claws and without claw tufts or tenent hairs. Leg spination ( Fig. 14 ) fe: palp do 0-1-2; I pl 0-0-1 do 1-1-0; II pl 0-0-1 do 1-1-0; III do 1-3-2; IV do 1-3-2; pa: palp pl 1-0-0 do 0-0-1; III rl 1-0-0 ti: palp do 0-0-1; III pl 1-1-0 do 0-2-0 rl 1-1-0 ve 2-2-2; IV pl 1-1-0 do 0-2-0 rl 1-1-0 ve 2-2-2; mt: II plv 1-1-0 rlv 1-0-0; III pl 0-1-1 do 2-2-2 rl 0-1- 1 ve 2-2-0; IV pl 0-1-1 do 2-2-2 rl 0-1-0 ve 2-2-0; ta: palp pl 0-0-1 do 0-2-0 rl 0-1-0 ve 0- 0-1.

Male palp as illustrated ( Figs. 1 , 8-9 ), with a large, arched embolar base, a large, hookshaped terminal apophysis, a subtriangular MA and a long, simple blunt RTA. Female: unknown.

Etymology

The species is named after Hans Henderickx, who collected the type specimen. Distribution. Only known from the type locality.

Discussion

Z. henderickxi clearly belongs in the Z. tenuis group by its arched embolar base, the shape of its terminal apophysis and its distally oriented embolus ( Senglet, 2011, for terminology of palpal sclerites see Senglet, 2004: fig. 1b and Platnick & Shadab, 1983: fig. 2). Although the spider fauna of the Canary Islands has been extensively studied ( Wunderlich, 1987, 1992), only five species of the large genus Zelotes have been mentioned from them ( Wunderlich, 2011). Only one of these, Z. manzae (Strand, 1908) is considered endemic for the islands ( Platnick, 2012; Wunderlich, 2011). The present new species seems to be the second endemic Zelotes from the Canary Islands.

Figures

Figs. 1 - 6: Line drawings of Zelotes henderickxi sp. n. and Vankeeria catoptronifera sp. n. 1. Zelotes henderickxi male palp ve (left) and rl (right) view. 2 - 6. Vankeeria catoptronifera, female. 2. Habitus, do view. 3. Eyes, dorso-frontal view. 4. Epigyne, ve view. 5. Leg I, pl. 6. Leg II, pl. Scale bars: 1 = 0.5; 3 - 4 = 0.25; 2, 5 - 6 = 1.

Figs. 7 - 13: Colour photographs of Zelotes henderickxi sp. n. and Vankeeria catoptronifera sp. n. 7 - 9. Zelotes henderickxi, male. 7. Habitus, do view. 8. Male palp ve view. 9. Male palp rl view. 10 - 13. Vankeeria catoptronifera, female. 10. Leg II, tarsal tip. 11. Leg I, tarsal tip. 12. Habitus, do view. 13. Epigyne, ve view.

Figs. 14 - 15: Leg spination schemes. Legend in upper right corner. White dots are spines present on one leg and absent on the other. 14. Zelotes henderickxi, male. 15. Vankeeria catoptronifera, female.