Fecenia travancoria Pocock, 1899

Bayer, Steffen, 2011, Revision of the pseudo-orbweavers of the genus Fecenia Simon, 1887 (Araneae, Psechridae), with emphasis on their pre-epigyne, ZooKeys 153, pp. 1-56 : 20-21

Fecenia travancoria Pocock, 1899 Figs 71 –78111– 113

Fecenia travancoria Pocock, 1899: 750 (Description of ♀), [Holotype ♀ (SB 403) from INDIA: Kerala Prov.: Madatory; H. Ferguson leg. III.1896; NHM 99·1·17·36, examined]; Kulczyński 1908: 570; Reimoser 1936: 406; Lehtinen 1967: 234 (Synonymy with Fecenia macilenta ); Murphy 1986: 65 (Removed from synonymy with Fecenia macilenta ); Jose and Sebastian 2001: 304; Sebastian and Peter 2009: 277 (Description of ♀).

Fecenia macilenta - Levi 1982: 136, figs 83-87, ad part, figs 83, 86-87 misidentified (fig 86: Illustration of ♀).

Additional material examined.

(3 ♀♀, 2 s.a. ♀♀, 2 juvenile specimens). INDIA:Kerala Prov.: Ernakulam; K. S. Jose leg. 23.III.2001; 1 ♀ (SB 863, checked via photo of entire specimen, ventral view, kindly provided by K. S. Jose), SJPC. SRI LANKA:Sabaragamuwa Prov.: Ratnapura, peak wilderness area; W. Sedgwick leg. 11.VIII.1979; 1 juv. (SB 481), MCZ 82528. Pitadeniya, Sinharaja Nature Reserve, 6°21'40.2"N, 80°29'03.6"E, ca. 300 m, primary forest, in palm, 1.5 m above ground; V. Hartmann leg. 16.I.2011 as immature, raised in laboratory, adult 05.IV.2011; 1 ♀ (SB 982, from this specimen the exuviae of the subadult instar, thus its pre-epigyne, was kept and preserved), SMF. THAILAND:Kanchanaburi Prov.: Erawan Waterfall in Erawan N.P., evergreen rainforest; C.L. & P.R. Deeleman leg. 15.III.1986; 1 ♀ (SB 118), 1 s.a. ♀ (SB 119), 2 juvs (SB 903-904), Deeleman Coll. in RMNH.

Diagnosis.

Females distinguished from other Fecenia species except Fecenia protensa by having anterior margins of lateral lobes (AML) anteriorly more or less converging and surrounding epigynal pit partly and the anterior part of median septum (AS) comprising a longitudinal, anteriorly pointed folding (Fig. 76); moreover, by having a notched transversal edge (TR) of median septum. Females are distinguished from Fecenia protensa by the almost longitudinal borderline (BL) between strongly sclerotised section (SSI) and the transparent section of internal duct system (TSI) in vulva (Fig. 77).

Description.

MALE: unknown.

FEMALE(measurements of holotype first, those of other females in parentheses): Body and eye measurements. Carapace length 5.9 (4.4-5.2), carapace width 4.0 (3.0-3.3), anterior width of carapace 2.9 (2.2-2.5), opisthosoma length 7.8 (7.2-12.3), opisthosoma width 4.3 (4.0-5.4). Eyes: AME 0.36 (0.23-0.28), ALE 0.20 (0.12-0.18), PME 0.24 (0.14-0.21), PLE 0.23 (0.14-0.20), AME–AME 0.37 (0.22-0.31), AME–ALE 0.15 (0.09-0.13), PME–PME 0.47 (0.26-0.39), PME–PLE 0.48 (0.39-0.43), AME–PME 0.37 (0.22-0.30), ALE–PLE 0.26 (0.21-0.24), clypeus height at AME 0.43 (0.36-0.40), at ALE 0.39 (0.32-0.34). Measurements of palp and legs. Palp 6.2 (4.5-5.7) [2.1 (1.5-1.9), 1.1 (0.8-1.0), 1.1 (0.8-1.0), 1.9 (1.4-1.8)], I 33.3 (24.4-29.7) [8.8 (6.4-7.9), 2.4 (1.9-2.1), 9.0 (7.1-8.0), 9.2 (6.2-8.1), 3.9 (2.8-3.6)], II 21.3 (15.0-18.9) [5.9 (4.0-5.1), 2.0 (1.5-1.9), 5.7 (4.1-5.0), 5.2 (3.5-4.6), 2.5 (1.9-2.3)], III 13.1 (9.8-11.8) [3.9 (2.8-3.4), 1.6 (1.3-1.5), 3.1 (2.4-2.8), 2.9 (2.1-2.7), 1.6 (1.2-1.4)], IV 19.8 (14.5-17.9) [5.5 (4.0-4.9), 2.0 (1.5-1.7), 5.2 (4.1-4.8), 4.8 (3.3-4.5), 2.3 (1.6-2.0)]. Leg formula: 1243. Palpal claw with 9 (9-10) teeth. Spination (holotype from Madatory, India). Palp: 110, 000, 0000, 0000; legs: femur I 412, II 312, III 113, IV 011; patella I–IV 000; tibia I 2006, II 3004, III 0013, IV 0013; metatarsus I–II 2015, III 1015, IV 1014. Colouration: As described for the genus Fecenia . Sebastian and Peter (2009, plate 94) show a photo of female habitus. Copulatory organ: In epigyne AS clearly broader than PS (Figs 76, 111). AML strongly sclerotised. Epigynal muscle sigilla (EM) integrated in epigynal field. Female holotype with four slit sense organs (SO) on each side outside the epigynal field (EF) (Fig. 76), ♀ SB 982 from Sri Lanka with three SO on each side, all in EF and ♀ SB 118 from Thailand with one on each side outside EF (Fig. 71). In contrast to Fecenia protensa , folding of AS may be extending further anteriorly than AML (Figs 76, 111), but not always. Vulva with short (shorter than in all Fecenia species but Fecenia macilenta ) an d broad TSI (Fig. 77). SSI may be darker than in Fecenia protensa and with ca. 2 curves (Figs 78, 112). Primordial copulatory organ: Pre-epigyne: Very similar to Fecenia protensa , but lateral prongs of the “crown” narrower (Fig. 74, in Fig. 113 hard to recognise). Pre-vulva: Very similar to Fecenia protensa in having bulbous/spherical pre-receptacula (Figs 59, 67-68, 75), with centres of the latter being rather far away (more than three times the diameter of one pre-receptaculum). Fecenia travancoria is hard to distinguish from Fecenia protensa by the characters of the pre-vulva. In Fecenia travancoria the receptacula are rather oval in shape (Fig. 75), in Fecenia protensa round. Variation of copulatory organs: In ♀ SB 118 (Fig. 71) from Erawan, Thailand the distance between AS and AML is shorter than in holotype. In ♀ SB 118 (Fig. 71) and in ♀ SB 982 from Sri Lanka the folding of AS extending not as far anteriorly than in holotype (Fig. 76). The vulvae of the ♀♀ examined as well as the primordial copulatory organs of the s.a. ♀♀ showed no significant variation.

Remarks.

This species is very similar to Fecenia protensa . There are only fine differences in characters of the vulva (see diagnosis). Up to now, no intermediate forms concerning the shape of vulva have been found. Though it cannot be fully excluded, it seems rather unlikely that Fecenia travancoria is a junior synonym of Fecenia protensa . Generally, in Fecenia species the vulva shows less intraspecific variation than the epigyne. By now I consider Fecenia travancoria as valid species. But with more material from the southern Provinces of India, especially males, it may be possible to clarify this 'difficult taxonomic case'.

Disribution.

India [Kerala Prov.], Sri Lanka, Thailand.