Evippa banarensis Tikader & Malhotra, 1980

Sankaran, Pradeep M., Caleb, John T. D. & Sebastian, Pothalil A., 2021, Notes on Indian wolf spiders: I. Genus Evippa Simon, 1882 (Araneae: Lycosidae Evippinae), Zootaxa 4975 (1), pp. 159-175 : 172

Evippa banarensis Tikader & Malhotra, 1980

Fig. 11B, E–F

Evippa banarensis Tikader & Malhotra, 1980: 305 , figs 121–125.

Type material. Female holotype from INDIA: Rajasthan: Jodhpur: Banar village (26°20’35.04’’N, 73°09’09.58’’E), 214 m alt.; V. C. Agarwal (Agrawal?) leg.; 7 July 1967; repository NZC-ZSI, Kolkata (4643/18), not examined. Male allotype with same data as the holotype, examined .

Remarks. The holotype tube (4643/18) for this species in the NZC-ZSI collection contains, instead of an Evippa species as illustrated in Tikader & Malhotra (1980: figs 121–124), a female specimen that has all the diagnostic features of Geolycosa Montgomery, 1904 : anteriorly elevated prosoma, shape of epigynal median septum and shape and orientation of spermathecae ( Fig. 11A, C–D ). This indicates that the holotype female of E. banarensis may either be lost or misplaced elsewhere in the collection. The tube with the register number ‘4644/18’ contains one bad specimen and since this tube is labeled as allotype, we presumed that it is the male of E. banarensis ( Fig. 11B ), but with lost pedipalps.

The genitalia originally illustrated for E. banarensis seem extremely similar to the genitalia of E. rajasthanea by having a retrolaterally oriented long median apophysis of pedipalp and a long median epigynal septum, with short disto-lateral extensions and W-shaped posterior border (compare Fig. 3B–D with Tikader & Malhotra 1980: figs 123, 125). It can be separated from the latter species only by slight differences such as apically pointed median apophysis without any retrolateral process (median apophysis of E. rajasthanea with smoothly rounded apex and with a retrolateral process) and diverging spermathecae ( E. rajasthanea with parallel spermathecae, compare Fig. 3B, F with Tikader & Malhotra 1980: figs 123, 125). These differences, however, may be attributed to intraspecific variations or due to poor illustrations lacking details and the species E. banarensis may be a junior synonym of E. rajasthanea ; however, confirmation requires the examination of type or topotype material of E. banarensis .

Figures

FIGURE 3. Evippa rajasthanea Tikader & Malhotra, 1980. A–C allotype male left pedipalp (NZC-ZSI-4650/18):A ventral; B ventral enlarged; C retrolateral enlarged. D holotype epigynum without clearing (NZC-ZSI-4648/18), ventral. E–F genitalia of paratype female (NZC-ZSI-4649/18): E epigynum, ventral; F vulva, dorsal. Arrows indicate short disto-lateral processes. Scale bars: A, 0.5 mm; B–F, 0.2 mm.

FIGURE 11. Geolycosa sp. found in the holotype tube of Evippa banarensis Tikader & Malhotra, 1980 (A, C–D) and allotype male of E. banarensis (B). A–B habitus, dorsal. C–D genitalia: C epigynum, ventral; D vulva, dorsal. E–F labels from type tubes of E. banarensis. Scale bars: A–B, 1 mm; C–D, 0.5 mm.