Pterotricha strandi Spassky, 1936

Zamani, Alireza, Seiedy, Marjan, Saboori, Alireza & Marusik, Yuri M., 2018, The spider genus Pterotricha in Iran, with the description of a new genus (Araneae, Gnaphosidae), ZooKeys 777, pp. 17-41 : 17

Pterotricha strandi Spassky, 1936 Figs 6, 7, 8, 9, 15c, 16

Pterotricha strandi Spassky, 1936: 37, f. 1-3 (♂); Marusik 2016: 279, f. 1-13 (♂).

Bobineus löffleri Roewer, 1955: 774, f. 23 a–g (♂). Syn. n.

Pterotricha tikaderi Gajbe, 1983: 95, f. 1 A–H (♂). Syn. n.

Pterotricha loeffleri : Marusik et al. 2013: 349, f. 1-7, 11-16 (♂♀); Zamani 2015: 13; 2016: 225.

Type.

Holotype of Pterotricha tikaderi (Figs 6 c–f): INDIA: ♂ (ZSI), Gujarat State: Dwarki Dist. Jamnagar, 16.02.1975 (V.F. Srivastava).

Other material examined.

IRAN: 1♂ (ZUCT), Isfahan Province: Shahreza County, March 2015 (A. Zamani); 2♂1♀ (ZUCT), Hormozgan Province: Hormuz Island, January 2014 (A. Zamani); 1♀ 1 juv. (ZUCT), Hormozgan Province: Parsian, January 2016 (A. Zamani); 1♂1♀ (ZUCT), Kerman Province: Baft, Jafriz cave, 14.10.2016 (M.J. Malek Hosseini); 1♀ (EMSUM), Kohgiluyeh & Boyer-Ahmad Province: Shadegan, 30°56'24"N, 50°91'99"E, April 2017 (A. Hosseinpour); 1♂ (EMSUMS), same locality and collector, May 2017; 1♂ (EMSUMS), Kohgiluyeh & Boyer-Ahmad Province: Pasheh Kaan, 30°31'80"N, 50°81'60"E, April 2017 (A. Hosseinpour); TURKMENISTAN: 14♂ (ZMMU), SW Kopetdagh Mts, 12 km W of Kara-Kala, valley of Su River, 38°24'N, 56°07'E, mountain slope, 24.04.1991 (V.V. Dubatolov).

Diagnosis.

Males of this species can be diagnosed from congeners by the square tibial apophysis with sharp corners and strongly erect spines on the palpal tibia (Figs 6 c–f, 7a, b, 8 a–c). Females of P. strandi have massive, unknot looped receptacles and long, sticklike glands that differ from most of congeners (Figure 8d, e).

Description.

Well described by Marusik et al. (2013) and Marusik (2016). The male of this species has very long and widely spaced anterior lateral spinnerets, 8 × longer than wide, spaced by 2.5 diameters of a single ALS.

Comments.

Pterotricha loeffleri was first described in Bobineus Roewer, 1955 ( Cithaeronidae ) based on the holotype male collected in Tehran Province, and later transferred to Pterotricha by Platnick (1991). Marusik et al. (2013) studied the type material and one female specimen collected in Bushehr Province and provisionally considered them conspecific due to the similarities in size and eye pattern and the similarities of the epigyne with the closely related P. strandi . Considering that the latter species is poorly illustrated and that the type material was not located, the authors mentioned the probability of the synonymy of the two names ( Marusik et al. 2013). Because we were able to collect both sexes of this species from the same localities, we can now confirm that the male and female specimens studied by Marusik et al. (2013) are conspecific. As a result of our survey, we found that this species has a rather broad distribution. Despite differences between Iranian and Turkmenian populations, we consider these as merely variations and therefore, consider P. loeffleri a junior synonym of P. strandi . Although we were unable to borrow the type material for P. tikaderi Gajbe, 1983 (India), based on photographs of the palp (Figure 6 c–f) and habitus figures provided to us, we conclude that P. tikaderi is also a junior synonym of P. strandi .

Ecology.

This is a nocturnal spider, mostly hiding beneath rocks and inside crevices during the day and hunting at night. According to our observations, this species doesn’t make silken retreats. It is widespread on the Iranian Plateau, occurring in mountainous areas and sand dunes and sometimes near human dwellings, and two specimens were collected in a cave near the entrance. Mature females can probably be found throughout the year, while adult males can mostly be found from mid-autumn to late spring ( Zamani 2016).

Records in Iran.

Bushehr, Fars, Hormozgan, Kohgiluyeh & Boyer-Ahmad, Tehran. New records: Isfahan and Kerman (Figure 16).

Distribution.

Turkmenistan, Iran, and western India.