Amaurobius hercegovinensis Kulczyński, 1915

Marusik, Yuri M., Otto, S. & Japoshvili, G., 2020, Taxonomic notes on Amaurobius (Araneae: Amaurobiidae), including the description of a new species, Zootaxa 4718 (1), pp. 47-56 : 49-52

Amaurobius hercegovinensis Kulczyński, 1915

Figs 1–2, 5–6, 9–12

Amaurobius hercegovinensis Kulczyński, 1915: 901 , pl. 66, f. 1–5 (♂ ♀).

Material: Lectotype 1♂ (designated here) and paralectotypes 4♀, with label: „Bilek [= Bileća] ad Trebinje, Jugosl.

Hercegovina”, 42.876120° N, 18.414720° E, ca. 500 m, collection of the Zoological Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, MIZ 223524–223529.

Note. This species is known from the original description only, therefore we offer here a redescription.

Diagnosis. Female of A. hercegovinensis is similar to that of A. annulatus Kulczyński, 1906 , a species described from the female from the coastal part of Dalmatia (now belongs to Montenegro; distance between type localities is less than 50 km). Females differ by the proportions of the median plate of the epigyne: width/length ratio ca 2.0 in A. hercegovinensis and 1.6 in the sibling species. Amaurobius hercegovinensis differs from A. drenskii Kratochvíl, 1934 , a species known from a single female from Sarajevo ( Bosnia) by an oval wide median plate vs. transverse thin (width/length ratio ca. 4.0) and lack of lateral teeth ( Figs 9–12 ). Amaurobius hercegovinensis differs from A. phaeacus Thaler & Knoflach, 1998 , a species known from Greece and Albania, by a longer median plate (width/ length ratio ca 2.75 in A. phaeacus ) and by a sharply pointed dorsal tibial apophysis (blunt in A. phaeacus , figs 1–3 in Thaler & Knoflach (1998)). The cymbial fold in A. caucasicus sp. n. is much less prominent in comparison to those in A. hercegovinensis and developed as a straight sclerotized ridge (cf. Figs 6 and 8 ).

Description. Male (lectotype). Body length ca. 6.75. Carapace 3.20 long, 2.41 wide. Abdomen 3.26 long. Carapace light brown, cephalic region brown, region in front of fovea pale, clypeus 1.8 times higher than AME diameter; labium and gnathocoxae pale. Sternum yellow with light brown fringe. Chelicerae brown, with 4 to 5 teeth in anterior row and 3 teeth in posterior row. Palpal femur, patella and cymbium pale, tibia brown, coxae pale, other leg segments light brown, metatarsus I brown, tibia I darker than femur and patella. Spination is given in Tab. 3 , leg measurements in Tab 4 . Abdomen pale with weakly developed darker lanceolate mark on anterior dorsum. Cribellum reduced.

Palp as in Figs. 1–2, 5–6 . Femur almost as long as cymbium. Tibia with 5 apophyses, dorsal (Da), intermediate (Ia), retrolateral (Ra), ventral (Va) and prolateral (Pa). Dorsal apophysis claw like, sharply pointed with triangular outgrowth (To) near the base. Retrolateral apophysis the largest, as long as tibia. Intermediate apophysis digitiform. Ventral apophysis (Va) square shaped (abrupt on the tip). Prolateral apophysis (Pa) small semicircular. Cymbium with retrolateral angular projection (Cf), bulb globular, tegulum with distinct quadrangular anterior projection (Tp). Tegular apophysis sub-triangular, almost as wide as long.

Female (n =4). Body length 6.90±0.76. Carapace 3.24±0.24 long, 2.22±0.17 wide, length/width ratio1.46.Abdo- men 3.49±0.24 long. Clypeus 1.9 –2.0 times higher than AME diameter. Coloration like in male, gnathocoxae and labium pale or brown, palp pale, tarsus light brown or brown. Chelicera with 4 or 5 teeth in anterior row and 3 or 4 teeth in posterior row. Legs pale, metatarsus and tarsus I light brown or brown (also in leg II but less distinct), leg spination as shown in Tab. 5, lengths of leg segments in Tab. 6 . Cribellum white or pale. Abdomen gray.

Epigyne: as in Figs 9 – 12 . Median plate 1.8-2.25 times wider than high. Copulatory ducts indistinct, receptacles semiglobular, as long as median plate, spaced by more than one radius.

Comments. It is possible that A. hercegovinensis could be a junior synonym of A. annulatus , a species described from the same region and having similar epigyne and size. The main difference between the two species is a lack of leg annulations in A. hercegovinensis . It is also possible that A. annulatus is a junior synonym of A. fenestralis (Ström, 1768) , a species with similar epigyne and distinct leg annulations.

Distribution: Amaurobius hercegovinensis is so far known from the type locality only.

Figures

FIGURES 1–12. Copulatory organs of A. hercegovinensis (1–2, 5–6, 9–12) and A. caucasicus sp. n. (3–4, 7–8). 1, 3—right male palp, ventral; 2, 4—ibid., dorsal; 5, 7—ibid., prolateral; 6, 8—ibid, retrolateral; 9, 11—epigyne, ventral; 10, 12—ibid., dorsal. Figs 9–10 and 11–12 belong to the same paralectotypes.

Tables

TABLE 4. Lengths of leg segments of male lectotype of A. hercegovinensis (extended version in supplementary informa- tion).

	Femur	Tibia	Metatarsus
I	d1 p1	p2 2 v3-3	p3 r3 v2-2-1
II	d3 p1	p2 r2 v3-3	p2 r2 v2-2-2
III	d2	p2 r2 v1-2-2	p2 r2 v2-1-2
IV	d2	p1 r1 v1-1-2	p2 r1 v1-1-2