Dysdera xerxesi, Zamani & Marusik & Szűts, 2023

Zamani, Alireza, Marusik, Yuri M. & Szűts, Tamas, 2023, A survey of the spider genus Dysdera Latreille, 1804 (Araneae, Dysderidae) in Iran, with fourteen new species and notes on two fossil genera, ZooKeys 1146, pp. 43-86 : 43

Dysdera xerxesi sp. nov.

Figs 23A-C , 24A-D

Type material.

Holotype ♂ (ZMUT), Iran: Bushehr Province: Asaluyeh, 27°20'N, 52°49'E, 27.01.2016 (A. Zamani).

Etymology.

The new species is named after Xerxes I, the fourth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, ruling from 486 to 465 BC; adjective.

Diagnosis.

The new species differs from all of its congeners occurring in the region by having a stylus (St), rounded median crest (Mc) and wide posterior apophysis (Ap); none of the other species has a rounded median crest, and those with a stylus, have a small posterior apophysis.

Description.

Male. Habitus as in Fig. 23A-C . Total length 4.02. Carapace 2.14 long, 1.60 wide. Eye diameters: AME 0.11, PME 0.09, PLE 0.08. Carapace, sternum, chelicerae, labium, and maxillae reddish brown. Legs missing. Abdomen cream-coloured, without any pattern. Spinnerets uniformly cream-coloured.

Palp as in Fig. 24A-D ; bulb ca. 2.3 × longer than wide; tegulum bell-shaped, almost as long as wide; psembolus 1.48 × longer than tegulum; median crest (Mc) rounded, ca. 3.45 × shorter than length of psembolus, ca. 2.3 × wider than high; posterior apophysis (Ap) broad and hook-shaped; incision between tegulum and psembolus absent; retrolateral crest (Rc) gradually rounded; stylus (St) membranous and shorter than median crest.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution.

Known only from the type locality in Bushehr Province, southern Iran (Fig. 35 ).

Dysdera longirostris species group

Diagnosis. This group can be diagnosed by a combination of the following characters: cheliceral fang as long as the basal segment, carapace broad, flat and anteriorly convergent, and bulb with lateral projection smaller than the apex ( Deeleman-Reinhold and Deeleman 1988).

Figures

Figure 23. Male of Dysdera xerxesi sp. nov., habitus A dorsal view B ventral view C lateral view. Scale bars: 1.0 mm.

Figure 24. Male of Dysdera xerxesi sp. nov., bulb A retrolateral view B prolateral view C anterior view D posterior view. Scale bars: 0.25 mm. Abbreviations: Ap - posterior apophysis, Mc - median crest, Rc - retrolateral crest, St - stylus.

Figure 35. Distribution records of Dysdera spp. in Iran 1 D. achaemenes sp. nov. 2 D. bakhtiari sp. nov. 3 D. hormuzensis sp. nov. 4 D. iranica sp. nov. 5 D. isfahanica sp. nov. 6 D. mazeruni sp. nov. 7 D. persica sp. nov. 8 D. pococki 9 D. sagartia sp. nov. and D. medes sp. nov. 10 D. verkana sp. nov. 11 D. xerxesi sp. nov. 12 D. damavandica sp. nov. 13 D. tapuria sp. nov. 14 D. genoensis sp. nov.