Africactenus Hyatt, 1954

Sankaran, Pradeep M. & Sebastian, Pothalil A., 2018, First record of Africactenus Hyatt, 1954 and redescriptions of two poorly known species of Ctenus Walckenaer, 1805 (Araneae, Ctenidae, Cteninae) from India, Zootaxa 4388 (3), pp. 395-406 : 396

Genus Africactenus Hyatt, 1954

Diagnosis. Carapace with deep dorsal indentation ( Hyatt 1954: fig. 2; herein Fig. 2A ), clypeus high ( Steyn et al. 2003: fig. 3; herein Fig. 2B ), cheliceral retromargin with four teeth, tibiae I and II usually with six prolateralventral and five retrolateral-ventral spines or rarely six on each row on tibiae I and II, RTA with superior and inferior denticles ( Hyatt 1954: figs 3–4, 6–8; Steyn et al. 2003: figs 7–8, 12–13, 17–18; herein Fig. 3B ) and epigynal plate with M-shaped anterior half ( Hyatt 1954: plate XXXII, figs 26–33; Steyn et al. 2003: figs 9, 14, 19).

Type species. Africactenus agilior ( Pocock, 1900) , by subsequent designation ( Hyatt 1954).

Remarks. The genus was erected by Hyatt (1954) for 11 ctenid spiders from Africa as a member of the subfamily Acantheinae Simon, 1897 and was later transferred to Cteninae Simon, 1897 ( Polotow & Brescovit 2014). To date, the genus has 20 nominal species, three are known only from males, eight only from females, whereas nine are known from both sexes (World Spider Catalog 2017). The genus is currently restricted to Africa (World Spider Catalog 2017).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Africactenus unumus sp. nov. (A–B) and Ctenus indicus Gravely, 1931 (C–E). A. Male prosoma, lateral; B. Same, frontal. C. Left femur IV retrolateral view showing humps; D–E. Close up of humps on femur IV. Scale bars: A, C 2 mm; B 1 mm; D–E 0.2 mm.

FIGURE 3. Africactenus unumus sp. nov. A–C Male left pedipalp: A. Prolateral; B. Ventral; C. Retrolateral. Abbreviations: C conductor, Cl lamella-like outgrowth of cymbium, E embolus, EA embolic apophysis, EB embolic base, MA median apophysis, RTA retrolateral tibial apophysis, ST subtegulum, T tegulum, VTA ventral tibial apophysis. Scale bars 2 mm. Arrow indicate inferior denticle of RTA.