Mesiotelus grancanariensis

Wunderlich, Joerg, 2011, On European Spiders Of The Nominal Families Liocranidae, Miturgidae And Zoridae (Araneae), With Descriptions Of New Taxa, Beiträge zur Araneologie 6 (1), pp. 108-120 : 111-112

Mesiotelus grancanariensis WUNDERLICH 1992 (figs. 1-12) photo 88

Material: (1) Portugal, N-Algarve, 1 km N Bordeira, way at a brook and the margin of a mixed forest, between almost vertical cracks of earth , JW leg. a subadult male mid VIII 2008 and a subad. female JW leg. mid VIII 2009 , adult 6. X. 2008 and end of XII 2009; both were fed with Drosophila and Zygentoma, CJW; (2) Gran Canaria ( Canary Islands ) ♂ ♀ P. NABAVI leg., CJW .

Diagnosis: Tibiae and metatarsi l-ll ventrally with two irregular rows of bristle-shaped hairs ( fig. 5 ), tibiae l-ll bear 2 pairs of ventral bristles, metatarsi l-ll only a single pair, ♂ -pedipalpus: Figs. 9-12 ; ♀: The median spinnerets are weakly depressed; epigyne/ vulva: See WUNDERLICH (1992: 602: 756-756a).

Description (♂ from Portugal; ♀ see photo 88, and WUNDERLICH (1992: 480-481)): Measurements (in mm): Body length 4.1, prosoma: Length 1.8, width 1.5; leg I: Femur 2.0, patella 1.0, tibia 2.0, metatarsus 1.65, tarsus 1.0, tibia I11.7, tibia III 1.3, tibia IV 2.0; length of a basal cheliceral article 0.9; pedipalpus: Patella 0.5, tibia 0.45.

Colour: Prosoma light to medium grey or yellow grey (margin not or weakly darkened), legs light grey, opisthosoma dark grey, ventrally lighter.

Prosoma ( figs. 1-3 ) 1.16 times longer than wide, densely covered with short depressed hairs, thorax not raised, thoracal fissure short, eyes of medium size, posterior row slightly recurved, posterior median eyes spaced by more than their diameter, basal cheliceral articles long and slender, anteriorly with long hairs, anterior margin of its furrow with 3 teeth, posterior margin with 2 teeth which are widely spaced, fangs long and bent in a right angle in the basal half, labium slightly longer than wide, gnathocoxae distinctly longer than wide, praecoxal triangles present but weakly developed on l-ll, coxae IV spaced by less than their radius. - Legs ( figs. 4-6 ) fairly long and slender, bearing numerous feathery hairs. Bristles on legs l-ll: Femora dorsally 1/ 1I additionally with a single prodistal one, tibiae ventrally 2 pairs, metatarsi with a long ventral pair in the basal half. Trochanters not notched. Scopulae absent but tibiae and metatarsi l-ll bear ventrally two rows of bristle-shaped hairs except basally (apparently modified scopulae), metatarsi with two long trichobothria, tarsi with several long trichobothria and a weak pseudoscopula (thin hairs), claw tufts practically absent (very few thin hairs), tarsal claws with long as well as short teeth (3/3 on IV). Position of the tiny tarsal organ in the middle of the length of the article. - Opisthosoma ( figs. 7-8 ) 1.7 times longer than wide, covered with short hairs (anteriorly with longer hairs), genital area wider than long, sclerotized anteriorly, epiandrous gland spigots apparently absent. Spinnerets fairly short and close together, the medians not flattened. - ♂ -pedipalpus ( figs. 9-12 ): Patella almost twice as long, with a dorsal bristle in the distal half, tibia twice as long as wide, dorsally with several long bristles, with at least 6 trichobothria, ventrally with numerous long bristles, cymbium with a long prodistal bristle, retrolaterally not widened.

Relationships: As already pointed out by BARRIENTOS & URONES (1985: 354-355) the genera Liocranum L. KOCH 1866 and Mesiotelus SIMON 1897 are closely related, and a revision is urgently needed. - Ventral bristle-shaped hairs of tibiae and metatarsi l-ll ( fig. 5 ): These hairs were not mentioned by me in the original description of M. grancanariensis (most hairs were rubbed off); they exist in related species, too. - In M. tenuissimus L. KOCH 1866) the position of the median apophysis is more distally than in grancanariensis .

Distribution: Originally described from the Canary Island Gran Canaria (and regarded as a Canarian endemic), recently discovered by the present author on the European mainland, close to the west coast of Portugal.

Figures

Figs. 1 - 12: Mesiotelus grancanariensis WUNDERLICH 1992, ♂ from Portugal; 1) Dorsal aspect of the prosoma. Only small fields of the long cheliceral and the dense prosomal hairs are drawn; 2) ventral aspect of the mouth parts. Only few hairs are drawn; 3) retroventral aspect of the left fang which is strongly bent in the basal half; 4) feathery (branched) hair of the left coxa I; 5) prolateral aspect of the right leg I. The tarsal