Parapelecopsis conimbricensis Bosmans & Crespo, 2010

Bosmans, Robert, Cardoso, Pedro & Crespo, Luis Carlos, 2010, A review of the linyphiid spiders of Portugal, with the description of six new species (Araneae: Linyphiidae) 2473, Zootaxa 2473 (1), pp. 1-67 : 41-43

Parapelecopsis conimbricensis Bosmans & Crespo new species

( Figs 80–86)

Type material: Holotype male, paratype male and paratype female from Portugal, Coimbra, Paúl de Arzila NR, meadow with few Populus sp. , about 100m from a small river, 23.X.2006, L. Crespo leg.; deposited in KBIN.

Etymology: The name is an adjective and is Latin for a natural from Coimbra, the city where P. conimbricensis was first found.

Diagnosis: The new species is closely related to Parapelecopsis nemoraloides (O.P.-Cambridge, 1884) and P. nemoralis (Blackwall) . Males differ by the cephalic lobe being longer than wide, the wider sulcus, the relatively shorter dorsal and ventral apophyses of the palpal tibia and the wider terminal part of the embolus; females differ by the more anterior position of the insemination ducts.

Remarks: The genus Parapelecopsis was created by Wunderlich in 1992 and, according to Platnick (2009), comprises three species: Parapelecopsis nemoralis (Blackwall, 1841) (type species), P. nemoralioides (O.P.-Cambridge, 1884), and P. mediocris (Kulczyn'ski, 1899). The first two are widely distributed in the Palearctic region and the third one is only known from Madeira. According to Wunderlich (1985), Pelecopsis nemoralis and P. nemoralioides have identical bulbs and variable height of the prosoma in both species; they can only be differentiated by the shape of the palpal tibia. He further suspects P. mediocris to be a junior synonym of P. nemoralioides . Figures of the prosoma of P. nemoralis and P. nemoralioides have been published by Simon (1884, figs 529–535), Tullgren (1954, figs 80e–f), Wiehle (1960, figs 61–71), Locket et al. (1974, figs 52A, C, F), Roberts (1987, figs 23i, 25a) and Heimer & Nentwig (1991, fig. 621). All show a large, rounded cephalic tubercle and a relatively small sulcus, clearly different from the material now discovered in Portugal. There are also differences in the male palp and the female epigynum. The creation of a new species is therefore clearly justified.

Another species is here transferred to the genus Parapelecopsis : Parapelecopsis lunaris ( Bosmans & Abrous 1992) new combination, from the north of Algeria. The species has all the characters of the genus: spineless tibiae, a cephalic lobe carrying the PM, one trichobothrium on the male palpal tibia, a long tegulum, a short spiral embolus and an anterior position of the spermathecae.

Description: Male: Measurements: Total length 1.7–1.8; prosoma 0.70–0.83 long, 0.56–0.60 wide. Colour: Prosoma brown with darkened striae, thoracic part somewhat paler; legs yellow brown; abdomen greyish, in males with dark brown, pitted scutum, Prosoma ( Figs 80–81): With small, flattened tubercle carrying the PM, longer than wide, with strong concavity between the AM and the PM and with very large sulcus behind the PL. Eyes: a = b = 1, c = 0.75, d = 3. Chelicerae: Fang groove with three promarginal and three smaller retromarginal teeth; stridulating file with 8 inconspicuous ridges. Sternum: With few punctures, smooth in the middle getting rugose towards the margins. Legs: All tibiae spineless. Tb Mt I = 0.43; Tb Mt IV absent. Palp ( Figs 82–84): Tibia with large, triangular dorsal and retrolateral apophyses; tegulum ventrally strongly produced with large protegular process; suprategular apophysis strongly developed, U-shaped; embolic division with elongated tailpiece, embolus wider than tailpiece, compact, spirally coiled describing one circle, terminally pointed.

Female: Measurements: Total length 1.8; prosoma 0.72 long, 0.62 wide. Colour as in the male, with four impressed reddish brown dots in the abdomen. Prosoma without concavity in lateral view. Eyes: a = 0.5, b = 0.75, c = 0.6, d = 0.75. Epigynum ( Fig. 85): With rectangular plate with curved lateral margins.

Vulva ( Fig. 86): Spermathecae rounded, separated by 1.5 their diameter; insemination ducts wide, nearly touching in the middle, anteriorly trespassing the base of the spermathecae.

Additional material examined: PORTUGAL. Coimbra: Coimbra, botanical garden, 1 male, spring 2004, Catarina Prado e Castro leg. (CRB) .

Distribution: Only known from the Coimbra distict in Portugal.

Habitat type: Collected near a river and a spring.

Phenology: Found in autumn and spring.