Sphingius nainitalensis ( Gajbe, 1979 ) Sankaran & Caleb, 2021

Sankaran, Pradeep M. & Caleb, John T. D., 2021, On the taxonomic validity of Indian ground spiders: V. Genera Megamyrmaekion Reuss, 1834, Sosticus Chamberlin, 1922 and Gaviphosa gen. nov. (Araneae: Gnaphosidae), Zootaxa 5040 (4), pp. 539-564 : 557

Sphingius nainitalensis ( Gajbe, 1979) comb. nov.

Figs 84–89

Sosticus nainitalensis Gajbe, 1979: 70 , fig. 2A–E (♀). Tikader, 1982: 432, figs 325–329 (♀).

Type material. Holotype ♀ from INDIA : Uttarakhand: Nainital (formerly in Uttar Pradesh): Kaladhungi forest (not Koladurgi ) (28°56’11’’N, 79°14’38’’E), 263 m alt., Asket Singh leg., 22.XII.1970, NZC-ZSI, Kolkata (4318/18), examined.

Justification of the transfer. The original genitalic illustrations of this species ( Gajbe 1979: fig. 2C–D) clearly suggest that it is misplaced in Sosticus . Furthermore, the conical anterior lateral spinnerets of this species ( Fig. 86 ) clearly indicated that it is misplaced in Gnaphosidae . Examination of the type of this species revealed that it has diagnostic features of Sphingius as mentioned in the case of S. poonaensis (compare Figs 87–88 with Zhang & Fu 2010: figs 9–10 and Dankittipakul et al. 2011: figs 25–26, 39). Based on these observations, we propose to transfer S. nainitalensis to Sphingius .

Remarks. The ZSI collection has one glass tube for this species labeled as ‘holotype’ (4318/18) containing a female specimen in fairly good condition, with broken legs. The same tube has a micro-vial containing the dissected epigyne.

Figures

FIGURES 84–89. Sphingius nainitalensis (Gajbe, 1979) comb. nov., type of Sosticus nainitalensis Gajbe, 1979. 84 holotype female habitus, dorsal view; 85 eyes of holotype female, dorsal view; 86 spinnerets of holotype female, ventral view; 87–88 genitalia of holotype female (87 epigyne, ventral view, 88 vulva, dorsal view); 89 label from type tube. Abbreviations: AH, anterior epigynal hood; B, bursa; S, spermatheca. Scale bars: 84, 2 mm; 85, 0.5 mm; 86–88, 0.2 mm.