Artema sp. c from Sudan, Iran, Pakistan, and India

Figs 180–200, 207, 214

Material examined

SUDAN: 8 ♂♂, 2 juvs, Khartoum [15.54° N, 32.53° E], 1960–1964, J.S. Cloudsley-Thompson leg. (MRAC 121706, 121718, 169130, 127506); 1 ♂, in pure ethanol, Khartoum, 20 Aug. 2014, M. Siyam leg. (ZFMK Siy 1); 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀, New Halfa [15.32° N, 35.60° E], 450 m a.s.l., Jun. 2013, M. Siyam leg. (ZMB, 3 vials); 1 ♀, in pure ethanol, same locality, 10 Aug. 2014, in house, M. Siyam leg. (ZFMK Siy 2); 2 ♀♀, arrived in NY in engine parts from Sudan, Jun. 1995, K. Devage leg. (AMNH).

IRAN: 1 ♀, Fars Prov., Rafsanjan, Mirza Cave (30.6° N, 56.3° E), 2300 m a.s.l., date not given, S.M. Tahami leg. (ZMSU); 1 ♀, Kerman Prov., Sirjan, Oota Cave (29.6° N, 55.1° E), 1880 m a.s.l., date not given, M.S. Tahami leg. (ZMSU).

PAKISTAN: 2 ♀♀, Baluchistan, Muslim Bagh Village (30.783° N, 67.766° E), 7 Sep. 2005, S.V. Ovchinnikov leg. (ZMMU); 1 ♂, Baluchistan, Quetta Town [30.18° N, 66.99° E], in house, 27 Jul. 2005, S.V. Ovchinnikov leg. (MMU).

INDIA: 1 ♂, in pure ethanol, Rajastan, Durjana (29.00° N, 74.82° E), 181 m, in steppe with sparse vegetation and single trees, at wall, 10 Mar. 2011, P. Jäger leg. (SMF); 1 ♀, Rajastan [25.73° N, 73.34° E], 275 m, hill S Pali, 8 Jan. 1962, Ross and Cavagnaro leg. (CAS) .

Note

These specimens are similar to A. doriae and to A. transcaspica, but females differ by a very inflated and prominent pale median area of the epigynal plate (arrow in Fig. 200); females also tend to have wider epigyna:>1.6 × as wide as long, versus <1.6 in A. doriae and A. transcaspica . Dark median sclerite varies from brown and long (1.0 × length of epigynal plate) to very dark and short (0.5 × length of epigynal plate) to totally absent. Males differ from A. transcaspica (Figs 125–127) by deeper dorsal notch on distal margin of procursus and from A. doriae (Figs 94–96) by shapes of processes a and c. Males also with more distinct and robust ridge above modified hairs in lateral view (Figs 186–189, arrows in Figs 190–191). Preliminary molecular data (16S and CO1 sequences) indicate that specimens from India and Sudan are indeed conspecific (identical sequences in both genes), but clearly different from A. nephilit sp. nov., A. bunkpurugu, A. doriae, and A. atlanta: P-distances to these four species range from 12.8 to 19.0% for CO1 and 14.6 to 20.0% for 16S (J. Eberle, A. Valdez-Mondragón, D. Dimitrov, B.A. Huber, unpublished data). However, as long as species limits between A. transcaspica and A. doriae are not convincingly solved, we feel that adding yet another name to this group potentially creates more problems than it solves.