Stoliczka insignis O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1885

Marusik, Yuri M. & Nadolny, Anton A., 2018, Redescription of enigmatic spider genus Stoliczka O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1885 (Araneae: Lycosoidea) based on the type species, Zootaxa 4497 (2), pp. 295-300 : 296-298

Stoliczka insignis O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1885

Figs 1‒20

StOliczka insiGnis O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1885 : 77 (♀).

Type material. All specimens are from the jar #1685 (OUMNH): vial #2—13♀ 6 cocoons; vial #11—3♀; vial #13— 7♀ 2 cocoons; vial #14—4j 5♀ 8 cocoons; vial #15— 4♀. All specimens are partially faded. The female with an egg cocoon attached to the spinnerets from the vial #13 is here designated as the lectotype ( Figs 2, 8 ). The type locality was indicated as “ Murree, June 11th to July 14th, 1873 ”, referring to the NE Punjab in Pakistan, on the original description. Neither vials or the jars have a locality label.

Description. Female (jar # 1685, vial # 15). Total length 10. Carapace 5.5 long, 4.5 wide. Carapace pearshaped, cephalic part square-shaped; brownish, with a light median band, and dark radial stripes. Eyes in two rows. Eye sizes and interdistances: AME 0.2, ALE 0.35, PME 0.22, PLE 0.35; ALE‒PME 0.32, AME‒ALE 0.12, AME‒ AME 0.18, ALE‒PLE 0.42, AME‒PME 0.28, PME‒PME 0.12, PLE‒PME 0.5. Clypeus 0.25. Fovea distinct, longitudinal, 0.98 long. Sternum brown, with a lighter median part. Chelicerae dark brown, with 3 anterior and 4 posterior teeth. Palps and legs brown, without annulations. Tarsi of all legs and metatarsi I‒III with scopula. Scopula on metatarsi III occupies half of segment. Palp spination: Fe d4, p1, r1; Ti d1, p2; Ta d1, p3, r3. Leg measurements and spination in tables 1 and 2.

Abdomen oval, brown, with a yellow, lanceolate heart mark, venter uniformly brown.

Epigyne as in Figs 9‒19 ; epigynal plate wider than long; median plate (Mp) with a median furrow (Mf) and slit like copulatory openings (Co); copulatory openings spaced by 1.30 width. Endogyne with 2 pairs of receptacles, posterior (or proper: with the fertilization duct) receptacles (Pr) round, with large round gland antero-ventrally (Rg); anterior receptacles (Ar) cylindrical, with the globular head (Hr) covered with sparse glandular pores (Gp); anterior receptacles spaced out of each other by 1.3 time of their diameters; posterior receptacles separated by at least 2.25 times of their diameters ( Figs 15‒17 ).

Variation. Body size varies 8 to 10.6 mm long, carapace 4.4‒5.8 long, 3.5‒4.8 wide. Sizes of the epigyne vary (cf. Figs 9 and 10 ), the relative distance between the anterior receptacles vary from 1.3 to 2 times of their diameters.

Male. Unknown.

Notes. The syntype series has 16 egg-cocoons, of which two contains eggs, and 14 first instar spiderlings. Cocoons are white, globular, with their diameter of 7.5‒8.5 mm. One cocoon was opened and contains over 200 spiderlings and egg shells. The egg cocoon is attached to the anterior spinnerets ( Figs 2, 8 ). The bond between the cocoon and the spinnerets is so strong that three females collected and preserved almost 150 years ago still have their cocoons attached to the spinnerets ( Fig. 2 ).

Distribution. The WSC (2018) indicates its distribution as China (Yarkand). Bonnet (1958) listed this species also from Yarkand, while Roewer (1955) listed it as a species from north-western India. In fact, this species was collected from the vicinity of Murree, which now lies in north-eastern Punjab ( Pakistan) ( Fig. 20 ).

Figures

FIGURE 20. Type localities of StOliczka isniGnis (circle) and S. affinis (triangle). Yarkand, a town and county though to be type locality of S. insiGnis, is marked by square.

FIGURES 1‒8. Somatic morphology of StOliczka insiGnis female. 1 habitus, dorsal; 2 habitus of the lectotype, ventral, with attached cocoon; 3‒4 prosoma, anterior and dorsal showing eye arrangement; 5‒6 legs IV and I, retrolateral; 7 metatarsus and tarsus I, ventral, showing scopula; 8 spinnerets with attached egg cocoon, ventral.

FIGURES 9‒19. Epigyne of StOliczka insiGnis. 9‒10 ventral; 11 antero-ventral; 12‒14 macerated, ventral; 15, 17 macerated, dorsal and antero-dorsal; 16 macerated, posterior; 18‒19 receptacles, dorso-lateral and dorsal. 9, 11‒12, 14‒16, 19 refer to the same specimen, 10, 13, 18 refer to the same specimen. Abbreviations Ar anterior receptacle, CO copulatory opening, GP glandular pore of Ar, Hr head of anterior receptacle, Mf median furrow, MP median plate, Pr posterior receptacle, RG gland of posterior receptacle.