Crossopriza khayyami, Huber, 2022

Huber, Bernhard A., 2022, Revisions of Holocnemus and Crossopriza: the spotted-leg clade of Smeringopinae (Araneae, Pholcidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 795 (1), pp. 1-241 : 144-149

Crossopriza khayyami sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:5EF0299D-0FBC-49BF-AFAA-F62087037056

Figs 352 , 555–573

Diagnosis

Distinguished from named congeners with only one pair of apophyses laterally on male chelicerae ( Fig. 562 ) by details of male palp ( Figs 561, 564 ; procursus with ventral sclerite accompanied by strong flat sclerite; genital bulb distal sclerite strongly protruding ventrally, with distinctive set of prolateral apophyses); females differ from very similar species ( C. sahtan sp. nov., C. ibnsinai sp. nov.) by details of epigynum and internal genitalia ( Figs 567 , 573 ; anterior epigynal margin evenly curved; distance between epigynal pockets). A very similar unnamed species is known from Iran, Kerman (see Remark below).

Remark

The CBSU has a very similar species from Iran (only 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀; Kerman: Jiroft, 28.519° N, 58.171° E; Jefriz, 29.492° N, 50.470° E) that shares the general distinctive shape of the bulbal process but is distinguished by a different configuration of the apophyses on this process and by several further minor details: presence of distinct prolateral sclerite on procursus tip; cheliceral apophyses more strongly bent inwards; and epigynal pockets rounder. A single male in SMF is probably conspecific with the specimens from Kerman, but the label information is dubious and possibly erroneous (“Anotalia: Taurus”, no further data).

Etymology

The name honors Omar Khayyam (1048–1131), a Persian polymath, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and poet.

Type material

Holotype IRAN – Fars • ♂; Izad Khast ; 31.52° N, 52.15° E (on accuracy of Senglet’s label coordinates see Remarks under C. parsa sp. nov.); 16 Aug. 1973; A. Senglet leg.; MHNG.

Other material examined

IRAN – Fars • 7 ♂♂, 11 ♀♀; same collection data as for holotype; MHNG • 2 ♂♂; Ghader-Abad [Qaderabad]; 30.35° N, 53.32° E [or rather 30.28° N, 53.27° E?]; 17 Aug. 1973; A. Senglet leg.; MHNG • 1 ♂, 5 ♀♀; Bishapour ; 29.78° N, 51.58° E; 28 May 1974; A. Senglet leg.; MHNG • 2 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀; W of Dasht-e-Arjan [ Dascht-e Aržan ]; 29.68° N, 51.85° E; 3 Sep. 1975; A. Senglet leg.; MHNG • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; Shiraz ; 29.62° N, 52.38° E; 2 Jun. 1974; A. Senglet leg.; MHNG • 1 ♂, 1 juv.; 35 km S of Shiraz, “ Bahakisecula ”; 29.34° N, 52.63° E; date unknown; Bilek leg.; NHMW 29568 • 2 ♂♂, 7 ♀♀ (2 vials); Firouzabad ; 28.87° N, 52.53° E; 6 Jun. 1974; A. Senglet leg.; MHNG. – Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad • 4 ♂♂, 8 ♀♀; [S of] Yasudj [Yasudsch]; 30.60° N, 51.60° E; 26 May 1974; A. Senglet leg.; MHNG • 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀; “route de Yasudj”; 30.47° N, 51.50° E (the label says “ Kohkiluyeh ” but the coordinates indicate a point slightly outside of the province); 25 May 1974; A. Senglet leg.; MHNG • 1 ♂; Charam [Choram]; 30.73° N, 50.73° E; 23 May 1974; A. Senglet leg.; MHNG • 1 ♂, 4 ♀♀; “route de Charam ”; 30.47° N, 50.83° E; 22 May 1974; A. Senglet leg.; MHNG • 1 ♀; Basht ; 30.33° N, 51.25° E [or rather 30.36° N, 51.16° E?, the coordinates on the label indicate a point slightly outside of Kohkliluyeh]; 25 May 1974; A. Senglet leg.; MHNG. – Bakhtiyari • 2 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀; Kuhrang [Koohrang]; 32.47° N, 50.13° E; 19 Jun. 1974; A. Senglet leg.; MHNG . – Lorestan • 6 ♂♂, 9 ♀♀; Ma’amulan [Mamulan]; 33.33° N, 47.90° E [or rather 33.38° N, 47.96° E?]; 6 Aug. 1973; A. Senglet leg.; MHNG • 2 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀; Pol-e-Dokhtar [Pol-e Dochtar]; 33.17° N, 47.73° E; 17 May 1974; A. Senglet leg.; MHNG • 1 ♂, 3 ♀♀; near Jelowgir ; 32.95° N, 47.85° E; 17 May 1974; A. Senglet leg.; MHNG . – Hamedan • 7 ♂♂, 8 ♀♀; Hamedan ; 34.77° N, 48.45° E; 29 Jul. 1973; A. Senglet leg.; MHNG • 1 ♀; Ganznameh / Hamedan [Ganjameh]; 34.73° N, 48.50° E [or rather 34.76° N, 48.44° E?]; 2100 m a.s.l.; 4 Jul. 1974; A. Senglet leg.; MHNG . – Kordestan • 3 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀; N of Sanandajd [ Sanandadsch ]; 35.47° N, 47.02° E; 22 Jun. 1975; A. Senglet leg.; MHNG • 4 ♂♂, 1 ♀; “Kal’eh Dju” [ Qellacê ]; 35.35° N, 46.28° E; 15 Sep. 1975; A. Senglet leg.; MHNG .

TURKEY • 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀, 1 juv.; “on bank of rv. Zaps, Hakari-Baskale, 50K, Van”; 37.71° N, 44.05° E (these estimated coordinates are in Hakkari Province because the Great Zab river does not enter Van); 30 Aug. 1956; collector unknown; HECO .

Assigned tentatively (see Variation below)

IRAN – Yazd • 1 ♀; Shaddad; 32.294° N, 54.411° E; 2015; M.S. Tahami leg.; CBSU .

IRAQ • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; Amarah (“Amara, Mesopot.”); 31.83° N, 47.15° E; date and collector unknown; NHMW .

AFGHANISTAN • 10 ♂♂, 20 ♀♀; Herat; 34.33° N, 62.22° E; 15 Aug. 1975; A. Senglet leg.; MHNG .

Description

Male (holotype)

MEASUREMENTS. Total length 4.1, carapace width 1.4. Distance PME–PME 90 µm; diameter PME 90 × 110 µm; distance PME–ALE 30 µm; diameter AME 85 µm; distance AME–AME 20 µm. Leg 1: 34.2 (10.1 + 0.6 + 9.3 + 11.9 + 2.3), tibia 2: 6.6, tibia 3: 5.1, tibia 4: 6.0; tibia 1 L/d: 64; femora 1–4 diameters: 0.23, 0.19, 0.18, 0.18.

COLOR (in ethanol). Carapace ochre-yellow, anteriorly in median pit light brown; sternum light brown with darker brown radial marks; legs ochre-yellow, without darker rings, with indistinct black lines on femora and (few) on tibiae (cf. Figs 558–559 ); abdomen pale gray, with whitish internal marks, without dark dorsal marks; ventrally with broken dark band, with indistinct parallel longitudinal marks behind gonopore.

BODY. Habitus similar to C. sahtan sp. nov. (cf. Fig. 391 ). Ocular area slightly raised. Deep thoracic pit and pair of furrows diverging from pit toward posterior margin. Clypeus unmodified, rim apparently as in female. Sternum wider than long (1.05/0.65), unmodified. Abdomen slightly elongated, dorsoposteriorly angular to conical.

CHELICERAE. As in Figs 562–563 , laterally much darker than frontally, with one pair of apophyses distally, each with one large modified hair at tip; distance between tips of modified hairs: 255 µm; lateral stridulatory ridges fine but visible in dissecting microscope.

PALPS. As in Figs 555–557 ; coxa with rounded retrolateral hump; trochanter barely modified; femur distally strongly widened, with rounded ventral protrusion, proximally with prolateral stridulatory pick, with retrolateral transversal line, without retrolateral proximal process but retrolateral-ventral ridge with some small sclerotized processes (hair-bases?); femur-patella joints shifted toward prolateral side; tibia-tarsus joints shifted toward retrolateral side; tarsus without macrotrichia; procursus ( Figs 560–561 ) slightly curved towards ventral, strongly narrowing distally, with low prolateral hump proximally set with many hairs, long dorsal hairs mostly straight, only 2–3 hairs weakly curved, procursus tip with ventral sclerite accompanied by strong flat sclerite (prominent in retrolateral view; arrow in Fig. 561 ); genital bulb ( Figs 564–566 ) with simple basal sclerite connected to distal (main) sclerite, sperm duct opening not seen; distal sclerite without retrolateral ridge, with distinctive set of prolateral apophyses, with transparent prolateral structure of unknown function.

LEGS. Femur 1 with single row of ~20 ventral spines; without curved hairs; few vertical hairs; retrolateral trichobothrium of tibia 1 at 3.5%; prolateral trichobothrium absent on tibia 1, present on other leg tibiae; tarsal pseudosegments not seen except 1–2 at tip.

Male (variation)

Tibia 1 in 35 males from Iran and Turkey: 6.4–9.7 (mean 7.8). Males (and females) from some localities (e.g., Izad Khast, Pol-e Dochtar) seem to be significantly larger than specimens from other localities

(e.g., S of Yasudsch, Mamulan) (small sample sizes). Some males with distinct dark and whitish marks on abdomen; dark lines on leg femora and tibiae variably distinct.

Specimens from Iraq and Afghanistan are assigned tentatively. The single male from Iraq appears identical in shape to the males from Iran but the female differs (see below); the male is also unusually large (tibia 1: 11.1). The males from Afghanistan show tiny but consistent differences in the procursus tip and in the bulbal ventral apophyses (asterisks in Figs 561 and 564 ); they are also considerably larger than the males from Iran and Turkey (tibia 1 in 10 males: 9.6–11.4; mean: 10.9).

Female

In general similar to male but without spines on legs, apparently without stridulatory files on chelicerae, and with stridulatory organ consisting of pair of weakly sclerotized but distinct processes posteriorly on carapace and pair of small but distinct light brown plates anteriorly on abdomen. Tibia 1 in 55 females from Iran and Turkey: 5.3–9.1 (mean 6.7). Epigynum as in Figs 569–570 , main epigynal plate wider than long, weakly protruding, medially posteriorly light, anteriorly with variably distinct brown mark, laterally heavily sclerotized with pair of large pockets (distance ~290 µm); internal sclerotized arcs and simple median structure visible in uncleared specimens; posterior plate light brown, short but wide. Internal genitalia ( Figs 567–568 , 571–573 ) with large elongate pore plates converging anteriorly, dorsal arc strongly widened laterally, ventral arc with small and simple median modification (not pouch or pocket) apparently asymmetric, with counterpart in dorsal arc also asymmetric (apparently not an artifact of preparation).

The single female from Yazd Province is assigned tentatively because the epigynal pockets are slightly closer to the epigynal margin and no male is available from this province. The single female from Iraq (not cleared) seems to have a more prominent median internal structure in the ventral arc; tibia 1: 8.6. In females from Afghanistan the epigynum is slightly longer (length/width: 0.51 vs 0.45 in females from Iran); they are also significantly larger (tibia 1 in 16 females: 8.3–11.2; mean: 9.9).

Distribution

Widely distributed in the Zagros Mountains of western and south-western Iran ( Fig. 352 ). Specimens from Iraq and Afghanistan are assigned tentatively (see above).

Figures

Fig. 352. Distribution of Crossopriza Simon, 1893; autochthonous species part 1 (cf. Fig. 353): species with main cheliceral apophyses in lateral position.

Figs 555–559. Crossopriza khayyami sp. nov., non-type male and female from Iran, Fars, Izad Khast (MHNG). 555–557. Left male palp, prolateral, dorsal, and retrolateral views. 558–559. Female femora 1 and 2, retrolateral views. Scale bars: 555–557 = 0.5 mm; 558–559 = 0.2 mm.

Figs 560–568. Crossopriza khayyami sp. nov., non-type male and female from Iran, Fars, Izad Khast (MHNG). 560–561. Left procursus, prolateral and retrolateral views; asterisk: process that is larger in specimens from Afghanistan; arrow: distinctive sclerite parallel to ventral sclerite. 562–563. Male chelicerae, frontal and lateral views. 564–566. Left genital bulb, prolateral, dorsal, and retrolateral views; asterisk: ridge where specimens from Afghanistan have two additional small apophyses. 567– 568. Cleared female genitalia, ventral and dorsal views; arrows: pockets. Abbreviation: vs = ventral sclerite. Scale bars = 0.3 mm.

Figs 569–573. Crossopriza khayyami sp. nov., female from Iran, Fars, Izad Khast (MHNG). 569– 570. Abdomen and epigynum, ventral views. 571–573. Female internal genitalia, dorsal view (with dorsal arc tilted backwards), ventral view, and regular dorsal view. Abbreviations: da = dorsal arc; va = ventral arc. Scale bars = 0.5 mm.

Figs 391–398. Crossopriza Simon, 1893, live specimens. 391–392. C. sahtan sp. nov., male and female from Oman, Wadi Ghul. 393–395. C. tiwi sp. nov., males and female with egg-sac from Oman, Wadi Tiwi. 396–398. C. dhofar sp. nov., male and female from Oman, Ain Razad, and female from Oman, Wadi Nahiz.