Evippa praelongipes (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1871 )

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 : 171-172

Evippa praelongipes (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1871)

Lycosa praelongipes O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1871: 822 , plate L, fig. 3.

Pardosa praelongipes Schmidt 1895: 476 .

Evippa praelongipes Simon 1897: 290 . Roewer 1959: 182, fig. 93. Denis 1966: 127, fig. 44. Tikader & Malhotra 1980: 311, figs 135–137. Alderweireldt 1991: 369, fig. 5.1–5. Armiach Steinpress et al. 2021: 113 , figs 3B, 4D, 5D, 6D, 7D, 8D, 10D, 11D, 14A.

Remarks. This species was described based on a male specimen (O. Pickard-Cambridge 1871). In India, it was reported to occur in Assam, Gujarat and Rajasthan ( Tikader & Malhotra 1980). The female epigynum illustrated for this species by Tikader & Malhotra (1980) is based on specimens collected by E. Simon from Pakistan. It is deviating from the epigynum of E. praelongipes illustrated by Alderweireldt (1991) and instead shows close resemblance with the female genitalia of E. rajasthanea (compare Fig. 3D with Alderweireldt 1991: fig. 5.4; Tikader & Malhotra 1980: fig. 137), indicating that Tikader & Malhotra (1980) misidentified the species (see also Armiach Steinpress et al. 2021). The specimens collected in Assam, Gujarat and Rajasthan (which has the type locality of E. rajasthanea ), which are never illustrated and might be identified by comparison with the specimens from Pakistan, may also be that of E. rajasthanea . All these make the record of E. praelongipes in India doubtful. The NZC-ZSI collection has two glass tubes labeled as E. praelongipes . A tube (7749/H2) contains one female specimen in bad condition. The same tube has a small glass vial without genitalia. A second tube (7749/H2) contains one dried female specimen and a female prosoma. The label in this tube mentions the collecting locality as Kuchh, which is in Gujarat. We were unable to confirm whether these specimens are of E. praelongipes or not due to their bad condition.

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.