Trachyzelotes stubbsi Platnick & Murphy, 1984

Levy, Gershom, 2009, New ground-spider genera and species with annexed checklist of the Gnaphosidae (Araneae) of Israel, Zootaxa 2066, pp. 1-49 : 25-27

Trachyzelotes stubbsi Platnick & Murphy, 1984

Figs 57, 58

Trachyzelotes stubbsi Platnick & Murphy, 1984: 9 , figs 15, 16 ♂, holotype from Cyprus. Levy, 1998: 106, figs 23, 24, ♂ from Israel.

Trachyzelotes adriaticus Chatzaki, Thaler & Mylonas, 2003: 54 , figs 36, 37, ♂ from Antikythira, Greece; not T. adriaticus ( Caporiacco, 1951) .

Note. Batches of both sexes were recently collected by pitfall trapping at various localities in Israel. Consequently, it was possible to complete the data of the single male formerly reported from Israel, along with the description of the matching female.

Description. Carapace brown, legs light brown, opisthosoma almost black with distinct scutum in male. Eyes large except for small AME. Chelicerae armed with one tooth.

Male. Measurements (10ɗɗ): total length 3.6–5.6; carapace length 1.8–2.5, width 1.4–1.9, index 1.20–1.38; labial index 1.15–1.33; clypeal index 1.50–2.33; MOQ index 7.7–9.2; legs length: I 5.1–7.8, II 4.2–5.9, III 3.7–5.5, IV 5.4–8.5; patella-tibia index 1.0–1.2.

Palpus. Levy, 1998, figs 23, 24.

Female. Measurements (10ΨΨ): total length 5.1–6.7; carapace length 2.4–2.9, width 1.7–2.2, index 1.32–1.44; labial index 1.0–1.33; clypeal index 1.44–2.22; MOQ index 8.6–10.0; legs length: I 6.2–7.8, II 5.2–6.3, III 4.5–5.9, IV 7.0–8.7; patella-tibia index 1.0–1.1.

Epigynum . M-shaped keels take up about two-thirds of sunken space extending below anterior arched thick rim ( Fig. 57 ); lateral extensions of keels and arch fuse basally forming raised spherical distensions ( Fig. 57 ). Spermathecal ducts expand laterally into globular bodies ( Fig. 58 ).

Diagnosis. The male palpus with the distal position of the mesal protuberance and the notched tip of the tibial apophysis, and the female epigynum with the spatial position of the median keels and their lateral expansions clearly distinguish T. stubbsi from T. adriaticus and all the other Trachyzelotes species.

Distribution. Cyprus, Greece (Antikythira), Israel. Records. Israel: from the northern Galilee to Be’er Sheva.

Comments. Adults of both sexes were collected from May to August. Trachyzelotes stubbsi was readily separated by Platnick & Murphy (1984) from T. adriaticus and the characteristic features of the latter are once more illustrated by Tuneva & Esyunin (2001). Different populations occur on different islands of Greece ( Chatzaki et al. 2003); the two species may thus occur on different islands. But, unlike the males, apparently no females of T. stubbsi were identified on the Greece islands since those illustrated do not match the females found in Israel where only T. stubbsi occurs. It turns thus, that the right female of T. stubbsi is described here for the first time. Trachyzelotes stubbsi is here reinstated as a separate species and removed from the synonymy with T. adriaticus ( Chatzaki et al. 2003) .

Figures

FIGURES 57, 58. Trachyzelotes stubbsi Platnick & Murphy, 1984, Ψ. 57. Epigynum, ventral view. 58. Spermathecae, dorsal (inner) view.