Drassodes luridus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1874 )

Sankaran, Pradeep M. & Caleb, John T. D., 2021, On the taxonomic validity of Indian ground spiders: V. Genera Megamyrmaekion Reuss, 1834, Sosticus Chamberlin, 1922 and Gaviphosa gen. nov. (Araneae: Gnaphosidae), Zootaxa 5040 (4), pp. 539-564 : 548

Drassodes luridus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1874)

Figs 38–43

Drassus luridus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1874: 396 , plate 52, fig. 21 (♂ ♀).

Scopodes maitraiae Tikader & Gajbe, 1977: 14 , fig. 1A–E (♂ ♀).

Drassodes luridus Tikader, 1982: 409 , figs 260–263 (♂ ♀) (for complete list of references, see World Spider Catalog (2021)). Megamyrmecion kajalae Biswas & Biswas, 1992: 430 , figs 39–41 (♀) (lapsus). New synonymy

Type material of M. kajalae . Holotype ♀ from INDIA : West Bengal: North 24 Parganas: Palta : Santi Nagar (22°46’57.51’’N, 88°22’50.46’’E), 12 m alt., Bijan Biswas leg., 11.VIII.1987, NZC-ZSI, Kolkata (5408/18), examined . Paratype 1 ♀, same data as holotype except 5409/18, examined .

Justification of the transfer and synonymy. This species possesses diagnostic features of Drassodes : trochanters notched, epigyne with curved lateral margins and vulva consists of primary and secondary spermathecae (compare Figs 40–42 with Platnick & Shadab 1976: figs 31–32, 35–36). Study of the types of M. kajalae revealed that it well fits to the diagnostic characters of D. luridus : inverted pyriform epigynal plate with antero-laterally thickened rims and small, sclerotised, horizontally oriented primary spermathecae with large, hyaline, inflated balloon-like secondary spermathecae (compare Figs 40–42 with Tikader 1982: figs 261–262 and Caleb et al. 2014: fig. 1e–f). Based on these observations, we propose to consider M. kajalae as a junior synonym of D. luridus .

Remarks. The ZSI collection has two glass tubes with ‘ M. kajalae ’. There is a common label for both these tubes that mentions as ‘ holotype and paratype’ with registration numbers ‘5408/18’ and ‘5409/18’ respectively. A tube contains one female specimen in good condition. The same tube has a micro-vial containing the dissected epigyne. The other tube contains one female specimen in good condition, with intact epigyne.

Figures

FIGURES 38–43. Drassodes luridus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1874), types of Megamyrmaekion kajalae Biswas & Biswas, 1992. 38 holotype female habitus, dorsal view; 39 paratype female habitus, dorsal view; 40–41 genitalia of holotype female (40 epigyne, ventral view, 41 vulva, dorsal view); 42 epigyne of paratype female, ventral view; 43 label from type tube. Abbreviations: PS, primary spermatheca; SS, secondary spermatheca. Scale bars: 38–39, 2 mm; 40–42, 0.2 mm.