Spariolenus kabandha, Moradmand & Wesal & Kulkarni, 2023

Moradmand, Majid, Wesal, Mohammad Wasil & Kulkarni, Siddharth, 2023, Taxonomic revision of the troglophile Spariolenus spiders (Araneae: Sparassidae) in South and West Asia, Zootaxa 5380 (1), pp. 77-95 : 84

Spariolenus kabandha sp. n.

Figs 5A, B , 9G

Type material: Holotype: female, India: Uttar Pradesh: Kanpur , 26.47 N, 80.35 E, [label: 1♀ + 1 imm., Heteropodinae , N. India, Cawnpore, July 1904 ( NHM 1906.6.22.1-2)].

Etymology. In the cultural history of Bharat ( India), Kabandha is the name of a giant demon who lived in the forests, noun in apposition.

Diagnosis. This species can be distinguished from other species by the unique combination of CO and MEP characters ( Fig. 5A ) in which MEP is not continuously connected to CO (vs. continuedly connected in all others), and subsequently the spirally coiled structure of CO is visible as a bubble-shape ( Fig. 5B ) in dorsal view (vs. not visible in others).

Female: Measurements. TL 17.4, PL 9.1, PW 8.5, AW 4.2, OL 8.3, OW 6.0. Eyes. AME 0.36, ALE 0.61, PME 0.42, PLE 0.58, AME-AME 0.12, AME-ALE 0.09, PME-PME 0.35, PME-PLE 0.71, AME-PME 0.15, ALE-PLE 0.40, clypeus-AME 1.1, clypeus-ALE 0.76. Chelicerae with 3 promarginal and 5 retromarginal teeth, cheliceral furrow with 10 denticles. Measurements of palp and legs. Palp 14.2 [4.2, 2.1, 3.2, 4.7], I 50.9 [14.2, 4.5, 15.2, 13.5, 3.5], II 55.5 [15.8, 5.2, 16.6, 14.3, 3.6], III [13.5, 4.5, 13.7, 13.6, missing], IV [missing]. Spination. Palp 131, 101, 2121, 1013; Legs (leg IV missing): Femur I–III 323; Patella I–III 101; Tibia I–II 404(10), III 2028; Metatarsus I–III 1014.

Colouration (preserved specimens in ethanol). Reddish to yellowish brown with darker spots on legs ( Fig. 9G ).

Female copulatory organ. As in diagnosis, with EF as long as wide, AB present, LL shortened but robust, two ridges anterior to each CO, CO widened laterad ( Fig. 5A ); vulva with FC and SC of the same length, FD extended laterad slightly beyond SC ( Fig. 5B ).

Male: Unknown.

Remarks. The single female of S. kabandha sp. n. was sampled around 100 years ago (1904) from Kanpur in the northern Indian Peninsula. This locality is far enough from other extant species locality points to encounter with a new species. According to current knowledge and experience on Spariolenus species, the longest distance within species distribution ranges hardly exceeds 500 km. Our new species was found ( Fig. 13 ) more than 900 km away from S. buxa ( Saha et al. 1995) , a species known only by male.

Distribution and habitat preferences. Known from the type locality in northern India ( Fig. 13 ).

Figures

FIGURES 5A, B. Spariolenus kabandha sp. n., female, India (NHM). A epigyne, ventral; B vulva, dorsal; arrow: diagnostic dorsal projection (bubble-shaped) of copulatory opening.

FIGURES 9A–G. Spariolenus spp. A–D, G frontal view of prosoma; E chelicerae and labium, ventral; F cheliceral dentition, ventral. A Spariolenus omidvarbrothers sp. n., male holotype; B Spariolenus lindbergi (Roewer, 1962) comb. nov., male; C Spariolenus baluchistanicus sp. n., female holotype; D–F Spariolenus bakasura sp. n., female paratype; G Spariolenus kabandha sp. n.

FIGURE 13. The distribution records map of all known Spariolenus species (studied here and revised to date) in South and West Asia. Localities for all new species described in this study are marked with a star.