Phaeocedus mikha n. sp.

Figs 42, 43

Type material. Adult male holotype from Sedot Mikha, Israel, leg. Yael Mandelik, May 14, 2002, pitfall trap (HUJ 15348). Female unknown.

Etymology. The specific name is a noun in apposition referring to part of the name of the type locality.

Description. Relatively small. Carapace brown with short fovea; Opisthosoma dark coloured with dorsal scutum and a few, barely visible, undulating bands on posterior part. Legs brown. Eyes subequal; AME dark, closer to ALE than to each other; PME round. Eyes of posterior row placed at equal distance from each other. Labium elongated. Sternum oval. Chelicerae with fine keel and no teeth.

Male. Measurements (holotype): total length 3.0; carapace length 1.4, width 1.0, index 1.4; labial index 1.77; clypeal index 0.63; MOQ index 6.08; legs length: I –, II 2.95, III 2.45, IV 3.15.

Palpus. Small. Tegulum, at middle, with oval brown low hump (Fig. 42); hooked embolic tip enwrapped by light fleshy conductor (Figs 42, 43). Stout tibial apophysis with broad slanting top (Fig. 43).

Diagnosis. Based on male. The shape of the palpal sclerites: the hooked embolus, ensheathing conductor, median hump and the oblique tip of the tibial apophysis, are all diagnostic characters that distinguish P. m i k h a clearly from all other Phaeocedus species.

Distribution. Israel, known only from the type locality.