Tenuiphantes herbicola ( Simon, 1884 )

Tanasevitch, Andrei V., 2011, On linyphiid spiders (Araneae) from the Eastern and Central Mediterranean kept at the Muséum d’histoire naturelle, Geneva, Revue suisse de Zoologie 118 (1), pp. 49-91 : 83

Tenuiphantes herbicola ( Simon, 1884) Figs 104-112

MATERIAL: 3 Ƌ, 1 ♀, Italy, Tuscany, Mt Argentario, Maremma, 280-400 m a.s.l., sifting litter under Quercus ilex & Q. suber , 13.-14.II.1980, leg. A. Focarile. – 1 Ƌ, Greece, Peloponnese, Messenie, Agios Dimitrios/Leuktron, 20.VIII.1970, leg. A. Senglet [7050].

COMPARATIVE MATERIAL EXAMINED: 1 Ƌ, France, Corsica, 15 km N of L’Ile-Rousse, wetland near Ostriconi , pitfall traps, 1. VI.1984 leg. H.G. Müller. – 2 Ƌ, Corsica, forest of Tartagine, near forest camp, broadleaved forest, pitfall traps , VI.1984, leg. H.G. Müller. – 2 ♀, same locality, from leaf litter , VI.1984, leg. H.G. Müller.

REMARKS: The lamella characteristica in a male from the Peloponnese, Greece differs in shape from those illustrated in the literature ( Simon, 1884, 1929; Helsdingen et al., 1977). A small material of T. herbicola from Tuscany and Corsica has shown that the shape of the lamella characteristica is really somewhat variable, but the main reason of variation for such differences lies in the different angles at which the specimens were illustrated. The shape of the posterior median plate of the epigyne is indeed different in two samples from the same population.

This species is here reported for the first time for the Greek fauna.