Savignia naniplopi, Bosselaers, Jan & Henderickx, Hans, 2002

Bosselaers, Jan & Henderickx, Hans, 2002, A new Savignia from Cretan caves (Araneae: Linyphiidae), Zootaxa 109, pp. 1-8 : 3-5

Savignia naniplopi sp. nov. ( Figs. 1-12 )

Type material. Holotype male, GREECE: Crete, Iraklion, Marathos, Arkalospiliara cave , 560 m, N 35° 20.276' E 24° 57.884', 18 Dec 2000, H. Henderickx leg. ( RBINS). Paratypes: three females, same locality, 25 May 2001, H. Henderickx and V. Vets leg. ( RBINS) .

Additional material. GREECE: Crete, Iraklion, Marathos, Doxa cave , 500 m, N 35° 20.767' E 24° 59.975', three females, 26 March 1997, H. Henderickx and G. Verkerk leg. ( CHH) , one female, 17 Dec 2000, H. Henderickx leg. ( CHH) , one female, 24 May 2001, H. Henderickx and V. Vets leg. ( CHH) , one female, 25 May 2001, H. Henderickx and V. Vets leg. ( CJB) .

Diagnosis. The new species is similar to Savignia frontata , Savignia fronticomis , Savignia harmsi and Savignia producta through the posession of a long male cephalic snout, but it differs from these species through the shape of the palpal tibial apophysis, details of the male palpal structure, especially the wide, spathulate terminal part, and the fact that the male cephalic snout bears the PME instead of the AME. The epigyne is very similar to the epigyne of Savignia fronticornis (compare Wunderlich 1995: 653, fig. 25) but has the spermathecae closer to each other.

Etymology. The species is named after the gnome (Latin ”nanus”) Plop, a popular character from children’s stories whose cap is similar in shape to the male cephalic snout of the present species.

Description.

Male. Total length 1.58. Carapace length: 0.71; width: 0.58. Carapace orange-yellow, with a long cephalic snout carrying the PME ( Figs. 5-7 ). Clypeus slanting backwards ( Fig. 5 ), vertical width: 0.13. AME very small, dark, touching each other. ALE small, pearly white, widely separated from medians and touching PLE ( Fig. 6 ). Posterior eyes pearly white, small, PME on sides of cephalic snout, halfway from tip ( Fig. 5 ). AER slightly recurved from front as well as from above. PER strongly procurved from front, strongly recurved from above ( Fig. 7 ). Chelicerae orange-yellow, with clearly visible stridulating ridges on sides. Promarginal cheliceral rim with four teeth, the smallest one closest to fang base, the largest one third from fang base. Retromarginal cheliceral rim with three small teeth close to fang base. Sternum orange yellow, shield-shaped, length: 0.47; width: 0.45. Abdomen orange-brown, fading to greyish white in alcohol, without pattern, covered with thin, pointed grey hairs.

Legs orange-yellow, patella I-IV with one terminal dorsal spine, tibia I-II with one basal and one apical dorsal spine, tibia III-IV with one basal dorsal spine. One trichobothrium on metatarsus I-III, none on metatarsus IV.

Leg measurements:

Male palp as illustrated ( Figs. 1-4 ), tibia with dorsal, curved palpal tibial apophysis ( Fig. 4 ), bulbus with four sclerotised appendages, a thin, pointed one ( Fig. 3: a ), a tapering one with a hook-shaped tip ( Fig. 3: b ), a curved one ( Fig. 3: c ) and a large, broad, spathulate terminal one ( Fig. 3: d ). Although it is tempting to interpret appendage b ( Fig. 3 ) as the embolic division with the embolus (compare Millidge 1977: fig. 1, fig. 127), careful observation under a compound microscope showed that this structure is solid and has no duct. On the other hand, the large spathulate terminal sclerite d ( Fig. 3 ), when viewed under a compound microscope, can be seen to incorporate a thin duct running along one of the borders its flattened stalk; it probably is the embolus. However, because the opening of the duct could not be seen and because it was preferred not to dissect the single male holotype specimen for this purpose, the palpal sclerites could not be identified with certainty.

Female. Total length 1.66. Carapace length: 0.68; width: 0.55. Carapace orange-yellow, with rounded front ( Fig. 12 ). Clypeus slightly slanting backwards, vertical width: 0.11. AME very small, dark, touching each other. ALE small, pearly white, widely separated from medians and touching PLE ( Fig. 12 ). Posterior eyes pearly white, small, equidistant. AER slightly recurved from front as well as from above. PER slightly procurved from front, straight from above. Chelicerae orange-yellow, with clearly visible stridulating ridges on sides. Promarginal cheliceral rim with four teeth, the smallest one closest to fang base, the largest one third from fang base. Retromarginal cheliceral rim with three small teeth close to fang base. Sternum orange yellow, shield-shaped, length: 0.42; width: 0.42.

Abdomen orange-brown ( Fig. 12 ), fading to greyish white in alcohol, without pattern, covered with thin, pointed grey hairs.

Legs orange-yellow, patella I-IV with one terminal dorsal spine, tibia I-II with one basal and one apical dorsal spine, tibia III-IV with one basal dorsal spine. One trichobothrium on metatarsus I-III, none on metatarsus IV.

Leg measurements:

Epigyne as illustrated ( Figs. 8-10 ), with longitudinal median fissure. Vulva ( Fig. 11 ) with globular, thick-walled, almost adjacent spermathecae.

Distribution. Only known from two caves in the vicinity of Marathos, Crete.

Discussion

The shape of the male carapace and the genitalic morphology of Savignia naniplopi allow the placement of the new taxon in the Savignia species group as defined by Millidge (1977). The new species seems to be closest to Savignia fronticornis . To date specimens have only been collected from the Doxa and Arkalospiliara caves, two limestone caves in the vicinity of Marathos, Crete. The entrances to these caves are situated at opposite sides of a hill, separated from each other by a distance of about 4 km. The enigmatic pseudoscorpion Neobisium schawalleri Henderickx , 2000 has also been collected from these caves only (Henderickx 2000). It is likely that both caves are connected throug a network of subterranean cracks and fissures which constitute a special biotope, accomodating a number of endemic troglophilous life forms with restricted distributions.