Tmeticus brevipalpus, BANKS, 1901

Lin, Shou-Wang, Lopardo, Lara & Uhl, Gabriele, 2022, Evolution of nuptial-gift-related male prosomal structures: taxonomic revision and cladistic analysis of the genus Oedothorax (Araneae: Linyphiidae: Erigoninae), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 195, pp. 417-584 : 536-537

TMETICUS BREVIPALPUS BANKS, 1901

Tmeticus brevipalpus Banks, 1901: 580 , pl. 33, fig. 14 (Dm).

Gongylidium brevipalpus Banks, 1910: 29 . Oedothorax brevipalpus Petrunkevitch, 1911: 261 .

Oedothorax brevipalpatus Roewer, 1942: 645 (unnecessary replacement name; see discussion in Buckle et al., 2001: 134).

Type material: No type designated by Banks, 1901.

Diagnosis:

Males: The only reference for discerning this species is figure 14 in plate 33 in Banks (1901), which gives a rough image of its palpal tibial apophyses and the shape of the copulatory bulb, in which the complete structure of the embolic division cannot be recognized. Nevertheless, it shows no embolic division typical of Oedothorax and related taxa (Clade 13). In the latter taxa, the embolus has a membranous connection to a radix with an anterior radical process and a tailpiece.

Females: Unknown.

Distribution: USA, New Hampshire.

Remarks: According to the palpal structure shown in Banks (1901), this species does not belong to Oedothorax s.s.. Therefore, we propose its transfer back to Tmeticus , the genus to which this species was originally assigned. Its taxonomic position within Erigoninae remains unknown.