Aprusia Simon, 1893a

Ranasinghe, U. G. S. L. & Benjamin, Suresh P., 2018, Three new species of Aprusia (Araneae: Oonopidae) from Sri Lanka with a phylogenetic analysis of the genus, Journal of Natural History 52 (11 - 12), pp. 713-738 : 715-716

Genus Aprusia Simon, 1893a

Aprusia Simon, 1893a: 295 . Type species by original designation A. strenuus Simon, 1893a . Not examined, see Grismado et al. (2011) for a description of the types.

Diagnosis

Aprusia differ from related genera Camtoscaphiella and Ischnothyreus by the following characters: presence of smooth male endites, presence of leg spines on the prolateral side on the femur I and presence of procurved ridge of the postepigastric scutum. Further, males are recognized by the pale-coloured, ovoid to fusiform palpal bulb, with short, sclerotized, embolus, sometimes united with the conductor ( Figures 2 (b), 4(b)), cymbium which is completely fused to the bulb ( Figures 2 (a), 4(a)). Females are recognized by a strongly procurved anterior margin in the epigyne area and with anterior receptaculum, which vary in the size and shape among species. See Grismado et al. (2011) for a detailed diagnosis.

Key to adult Aprusia ( A. strenuus known only from juveniles)

1. Males (those of A. veddah unknown)........................................................................................ 2 Females (those of A. kerala unknown) ..................................................................................... 7

2. Conductor present ( Figures 2 (b), 4(b)) ..................................................................................... 3 Conductor absent ( Figures 7 (b), 9(b)) ....................................................................................... 5

3. Conical projection present ( Figure 4 (b), fig. 55 in Grismado et al. 2011)................. 4 Conical projection absent ( Figure 2 (b))............................................ A. koslandensis n. sp.

4. Conductor shorter than embolus ( Figure 4 (b))..................................... A. rawanaellensis n. sp. Conductor about same length as embolus (fig. 55 in Grismado et al. 2011)........ ............................................................................................................................... A. kerala ( India)

5. Embolus nearly straight ( Figure 9 (a)) ........................................................................................ 6 Embolus sinuous ( Figure 7 (a), 7(b)).............................................................. A. vankhedei n. sp.

6. Bulb slender and elongated (fig. 43 in Grismado et al. 2011).................... A. kataragama Bulb stout, tapering apically, with a ventral concavity ( Figure 9 (a), fig. 20 in Grismado et al. 2011).................................................................................................. A. vestigator

7. Anterior receptaculum longer than lateral apodemes ( Figures 4 (c), 7(d), 9(c))...... 8 Anterior receptaculum shorter than lateral apodemes ( Figure 2 (c)) .............. 10

8. Posterior receptaculum present ( Figure 4 (c), fig. 21 in Grismado et al. 2011) ....... 9 Posterior receptaculum absent ( Figure 7 (d)).............................................. A. vankhedei n. sp.

9. Posterior receptaculum rounded (fig. 21 in Grismado et al. 2011)........ A. vestigator Posterior receptaculum undulated ( Figure 4 (c)).............................. A. rawanaellensis n. sp.

10. Procurved ridge of the postepigastric scutum thick and visible as a double line (fig. 42 in Grismado et al. 2011)......................................................................................................... A. veddah Procurved ridge of the postepigastric scutum thin and visible as a single line ( Figure 2 (c), fig. 35 in Grismado et al. 2011) ....................................................................... 11

11. Tip of anterior receptaculum slightly widened (fig. 44 in Grismado et al. 2011)....... ......................................................................................................................................... A. kataragama Tip of anterior receptaculum not widened ( Figure 2 (c)).............. A. koslandensis n. sp.

Figures

Figure 2. Aprusia koslandensis n. sp. from forest between Koslanda and Beragala. Male: (a) left palp, prolateral view; (b) details of the distal part of the bulb. Female: (c) epigastric region, dorsal view. Abbreviations: ar, anterior receptaculum; co, conductor; em, embolus; lap, lateral apodemes. Scale bars = 0.1 mm (a, c), 0.05 mm (b).

Figure 4. Aprusia rawanaellensis n. sp. from Badulla, Rawana Ella. Male: (a) left palp, prolateral view; (b) details of the distal part of the bulb. Female: (c) epigastric region, dorsal view. Abbreviations: ar, anterior receptaculum; co, conductor; cp, conical projection; em, embolus; lap, lateral apodemes; pr, posterior receptaculum; ss, semicircular sclerotization. Scale bars = 0.1 mm (a, c), 0.05 mm (b).

Figure 7. Aprusia vankhedei n. sp. from Udawattakele FR. Male: (a) left palp, prolateral view; (b) details of the distal part of the bulb. Female: (c) epigastric region, ventral view; (d) epigastric region, dorsal view. Abbreviations: ar, anterior receptaculum; cp, conical projection; em, embolus; lap, lateral apodemes; ss, semicircular ridges. Scale bars = 0.2 mm (a), 0.05 mm (b), 0.1 mm (c, d).

Figure 9. Aprusia vestigator (Simon, 1893b) from Ritigala SNR, Kodigala Summit. Male: (a) left palp, prolateral view; (b) details of the distal part of the bulb. Female from Meemure: (c) epigastric region, dorsal view. Abbreviations: ar, anterior receptaculum; em, embolus; lap, lateral apodemes. Scale bars = 0.1 mm (a, c), 0.05 mm (b).