Plexippus clemens (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872)

Dmitri V. Logunov, 2010, Taxonomic notes on a collection of jumping spiders from Iran (Araneae, Salticidae), Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 15, pp. 85-90 : 87-88

Plexippus clemens (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872) ( Figs. 7–12)

Salticus clemens O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872: 335 (D♀). Plexippus similis Wesołowska & van Harten, 1994: 72, figs. 147–149

(D♀).

Plexippus clemens: Prószyński, 2003: 142 , figs. 592–593. Synonymised

Plexippus similis with P. clemens.

Plexippus tectonicus Prószyński, 2003: 145 , figs. 581–582, 586, 591,

736–737 (Dd ♀).

Plexippus clemens: Wesołowska & van Harten, 2007: 246, figs. 165–

168. Synonymised Plexippus tectonicus with P. clemens.

For a complete set of taxonomic references see Platnick (2010).

Type: Holotype ♀ ( HECO, tube 21, jar n.1821 ; Figs. 11, 12) from Jordan, ‘‘ Attus clemens Cambr ., O.P.- Cambridge coll.’’; according to Pickard-Cambridge (1872: 336), a single adult female ‘‘was found on low plants on the plains of the Jordan’’, with no exact locality being given .

Comments: A poorly known species, recorded to date only from Algeria, the Levant, Yemen and Iran (Prószyn´ski, 2003; Wesołowska & van Harten, 2007; present data); new species record for Iran.

Plexippus clemens has a rather complicated history. It was originally described from Jordan (Pickard- Cambridge, 1872) and then has been recorded/described under di ff erent names from Yemen (Wesołowska & van Harten, 1994: sub. P. similis), Algeria and Israel (Prószyn´ski, 2003: sub. both P. tectonicus and P. clemens). The name P. similis was synonymised with P. clemens by Prószyński (2003: 142), who, in error, also described a new species P. tectonicus from Israel. Recently, Wesołowska & van Harten (2007) discussed the taxonomic status of P. clemens and synonymised P. tectonicus with P. clemens. As I have been able to examine a series of 3d and 3♀ of P. clemens collected together from Iran ( Figs. 7–10) and to compare them to the ♀ holotype of Attus clemens ( Figs. 11–12), I can confirm that the name P. clemens is indeed a senior synonym both of P. similis and of P. tectonicus.

Material: iran: 3d 3♀ ( BMNH), Khuzestan, Shush (Susa) (c. 32.20°N, 48.25°E), on short reeds and in reedclump near marsh stream, 12–14 September 1958, coll.?