Plexippus fibulatus Dawidowicz & Wesolowska, 2016

Prószyński, Jerzy, 2017, Remarks on the genus Plexippus C. L. Koch, 1846 (Araneae: Salticidae), Ecologica Montenegrina 13, pp. 39-69 : 57-58

Plexippus fibulatus Dawidowicz & Wesolowska, 2016

Figures 2O , 4P

Plexippus fibulatus Dawidowicz & Wesolowska, 2016: 454 , f. 69-70, 107 (Dm). Material. Holotype male and 2 paratypes males from Kenya: Mt Elgon , Suam River, 2100 m. Coll. A. Holm (studied by Dawidowicz & Wesołowska).

Documentation studied. Summary of world's literature provided by "Monograph of Salticidae ( Araneae ) of the World 1995-2016. Part I & 2" by Prószyński (2016 a, b) and current literature.

Diagnosis. Body appearance, proportions and color pattern, does not resemble Plexippus ( Fig. 2O ), general appearance of palp resembles Plexippus but differs significantly in details [ Fig. 4P ] - embolus is fleshy with only tip sclerotized, embolar basis only indistinctly swollen prolaterally, devoid of sclerotized, serrated rim. Tibial apophysis is also different - needle like, sclerotized and bent, set perpendicularly to tibia.

Conclusion. The position of the species seems to be uncertain. Unless confirmed by discovery of a chain of gradual changes to typical features of Plexippus , in numerous new species, the species deserves to be placed in a genus of its own.

Figures

Figure 2a. Color pattern and body shape of species of Plexippus.A-D - Plexippus paykulli (Audouin, 1826) males, E-F - P. paykulli female - dorsal & frontal view, epigyne, G - P. setipes-1, H-I - P. setipes Karsch, 1879, Japan, epigyne (no data), J - P. petersi (Karsch, 1878) Kenya, K-L - P. petersi Queensland female and epigyne.

Figure 4a. Diagnostic characters of species of Plexippus. A - Plexippus paykulli (Audouin, 1826) (palp 1/3 larger than remaining species), B - P. gershomi sp. n., C - P. sp. [devorans?? - unlabeled specimen in O. Pickard-Cambridge collection, from a jar with specimens from Palestine], D - P. bhutani Zabka, 1990, D1 - P. minor Wesolowska & van Harten, 2010, E- P. petersi (Karsch, 1878), F - P. tectonicus Prószyński, 2003, G - Plexippus yinae Peng X., Li S., 2003 = P. tectonicus [?], H - Plexippus strandi Spassky, 1939 - from Turkmenistan, K - P. strandi Spassky, 1939, K1 - P. dushanbinus (Andreeva, 1969), L - P. setipes-1 Karsch, 1879, L1 - "P. setipes-2" Peng & Li, 2003, [another palp, hypothetically matching holotype of P. setipes - see Figs 9R-S], M - P. setipes.