Loxosceles bergeri Strand, 1906

Lotz, L. N., 2012, Present status of Sicariidae (Arachnida: Araneae) in the Afrotropical region, Zootaxa 3522, pp. 1-41 : 15-16

Loxosceles bergeri Strand, 1906

( Figs. 9A, 10A, 11A)

Loxosceles bergeri Strand, 1906b: 26 ; Newlands 1986: 64, f. 34–36.

Loxosceles spinulosa, Newlands, 1975: 144 , f. 2–5, 8, 10–13 (syn.).

Types: ♀ holotype from Namibia: Gibeon, Rietmond, [2434'S, 1811'E], C. Berger [not found, possibly lost during World War II] .

Note: Newlands (1986) looked at specimens from the type locality and suggested revalidating the species. Specimens from the same area were examined and I agree with Newlands’ (1986) findings and his revalidation is here confirmed.

Diagnosis: Male palp cymbium and tibia short, similar to L. pilosa , L. simillima , L. smithi and L. spinulosa ; differing from L. pilosa and L. simillima in the palp cymbium being twice as long as the patella; differing from L. smithi in the palp femur length being equal to the patella+tibia length; differing from L. spinulosa in the structure of the embolus ( Fig. 9A). Female spermathecae consist of a large medial round sac and a smaller lateral sac, connected with a short copulatory tube and the two pairs of spermathecae are separated medially; L. bergeri differ from all other species in this respect, the closest being L. pilosa where the spermathecae pairs are medially close together ( Fig. 10A).

Female: (SMN 35438): TL = 10.4; CL = 3.9; CW = 3.1; CLL = 0.5. AME-LE 0.1; Eye diameter 0.2.

Leg measurements:

I II III IV Palp Femur 8.3 8.7 7.7 8.8 1.05 Patella 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 0.50 Tibia 8.7 8.8 6.7 8.0 0.75 Metatarsus 8.0 8.5 7.8 9.4 – Tarsus 1.6 1.6 1.4 1.6 1.40 Total 27.9 28.9 24.9 29.1 3.70

Male: (SMN 46279): TL = 4.4; CL = 3.1; CW = 1.9; CLL = 0.3. AME-LE 0.05; Eye diameter 0.15.

Leg measurements:

I II III IV Palp Femur 7.3 7.6 6.4 7.3 0.75 Patella 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.30 Tibia 7.4 7.8 5.7 6.8 0.45 Metatarsus 7.2 7.7 6.5 8.2 – Tarsus 1.7 1.6 1.3 1.6 0.60 Total 24.4 25.5 20.7 24.7 2.10

Distribution: Loxosceles bergeri is distributed from east-central Namibia to north-central South Africa ( Fig. 11A).