Zelotes pediculatus Marinaro, 1967

Levy, Gershom, 2009, New ground-spider genera and species with annexed checklist of the Gnaphosidae (Araneae) of Israel, Zootaxa 2066, pp. 1-49 : 29-30

Zelotes pediculatus Marinaro, 1967

Figs 65, 66

Zelotes pediculatus Marinaro, 1967: 691 , figs 8a, 8b, Ψ ( epigynum ), Algeria; Di Franco, 1992: 220, fig. 9, Ψ (spermathecae), Morocco.

Note. Adult males have not yet been collected in Israel. The drawings of the peculiar genitalia of the female cited above render certainty of the identification.

Description. Colouration deep brown. Large eyes. Chelicerae with 3–4 pro- and 0–1 retromarginal teeth.

Female. Measurements (4 ΨΨ): total length 3.6–4.9; carapace length 1.7–2.2, width 1.2–1.7, index 1.23–1.41; labial index 1.4–1.6; clypeal index 1.25–1.75; MOQ index 9.54–11.17; legs length: I 3.9–4.7, II 3.0–4.4, III 3.0–4.0, IV 4.5–6.5; patella-tibia index 0.77–0.88.

Epigynum . Epigynal plate longitudinaly furrowed by fine, narrow indentation extending almost to discerning globular spermathecae ( Fig. 65 ); tightly coiled delicate ducts of spermathecae are deeply embeded in amorphous whitish mass ( Fig. 66 ; mass cleared on one side).

Diagnosis. The epigynal plate of the female with the fine median indentation and the spiriferous spermathecal ducts are all characters clearly separating Z. pediculatus from all other Zelotes species. Distribution. Algeria, Morocco, Israel - new record. Records. Israel: Adullam , Lakhish .

Figures

FIGURES 65, 66. Zelotes pediculatus Mariano, 1967, Ψ. 65. Epigynum, ventral view. 66. Spermathecae, dorsal (inner) view.