Sphingius barkudensis Gravely, 1931

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 : 554

Sphingius barkudensis Gravely, 1931

Figs 59–68

Sphingius barkudensis Gravely, 1931: 271 , fig. 19G–H (♂ ♀). Majumder & Tikader, 1991: 152, figs 320–325 (♂ ♀) (for com- plete list of references, see World Spider Catalog (2021)).

Sosticus jabalpurensis Bhandari & Gajbe, 2001: 89 , figs 7–11 (♀). Gajbe, 2004: 89, figs 99–103 (♀). New synonymy

Sosticus sundargarhensis Gajbe, 1979: 72 , fig. 1A–E (♀). Tikader, 1982: 438, figs 310–314 (♀). New synonymy

Type material. S. jabalpurensis . Holotype ♀ from INDIA : Madhya Pradesh: Jabalpur: Tilwara Ghat (23°06’23’’N, 79°52’44’’E), 383 m alt., Pawan Gajbe leg., 22.VIII.1998, NZC-ZSI, Kolkata (5519/18), not examined (the original illustrations of the epigyne ( Bhandari & Gajbe 2001: figs 10–11) are diagnostic and were used for comparison). S. sundargarhensis . Holotype ♀ from INDIA : Odisha (= Orissa): Sundergarh: Bonaigarh (21°48’36’’N, 84°57’23’’E), 154 m alt., D.P. Sanyal leg., 15. VI. 1972, NZC-ZSI, Kolkata (4320/18), examined. Paratypes: 1 ♀ from INDIA : Odisha: Ganjam: Chilika Lake (=Chilka Lake): Barkuda Island (19°33’12.7’’N, 85°08’47.2’’E), 13 m alt., F.H. Gravely leg., 20.VII.1916, repository NZC-ZSI, Kolkata (4321/18), examined. 1 ♀ from INDIA : Mizoram: Bungt- lang Aizawl (not Bhungtilang Aigal) (formerly part of Assam), T.G. Vazirani leg., 22.X.1960, NZC-ZSI, Kolkata (4322/18), examined.

Justification of the synonymy of S. jabalpurensis . Even though we could not examine its type specimen, the original figures of this species share the features of S. barkudensis : epigyne with a single anterior hood and high epigynal plate and vulva with short copulatory ducts and globular spermathecae (compare Bhandari & Gajbe 2001: figs 10–11 with Sankaran et al. 2020: figs 2D–F, 3J–K, 4C–D). Based on these observations, we propose to consider S. jabalpurensis as a junior synonym of S. barkudensis .

Justification of the synonymy of S. sundargarhensis . Examination of the types of this species shows that it has all of the diagnostic features of S. barkudensis as in the case of previous species (compare Figs 62–65 with Sankaran et al. 2020: figs 2D–F, 3J–K, 4C–D). Based on these observations, we propose to consider S. sundargarhensis as a junior synonym of S. barkudensis .

Remarks. We were unable to trace out the type of S. jabalpurensis in the arachnid collection of ZSI, even though the authors mentioned that the type would be deposited there ( Bhandari & Gajbe 2001). The ZSI collection has three glass tubes with ‘ S. sundargarhensis ’. A tube labeled as ‘holotype’ (4320/18) contains a female specimen in fairly good condition, with broken legs. The same tube has a micro-vial containing the dissected epigyne. A second tube labeled as ‘paratype’ (4321/18) contains a female specimen in fairly good condition, with broken legs and intact epigyne. A third tube also labeled as ‘paratype’ (4322/18) contains a female specimen in fairly good condition, with broken legs and intact epigyne. In the original description ( Gajbe 1979), the figure numbers for ‘ S. sundargarhensis ’ are misplaced with that of Sosticus nainitalensis Gajbe, 1979 . The epigyne of the holotype of this species matches with the original illustrations numbered as ‘1C–D’ and that of S. nainitalensis matches with the illustrations numbered as ‘2C–D’ (compare Figs 62–65 and Figs 87–88 with Gajbe 1979: figs 1C–D and 2C–D respectively), indicating that Gajbe (1979) carelessly provided the figure numbers to support species descriptions that are totally misleading.

Figures

FIGURES 59–68. Sphingius barkudensis Gravely, 1931, types of Sosticus sundargarhensis Gajbe, 1979. 59 holotype female habitus, dorsal view; 60 paratype female habitus (from Mizoram), dorsal view; 61 paratype female habitus (from Barkuda Island), dorsal view; 62–63 genitalia of holotype female (62 epigyne, ventral view, 63 vulva, dorsal view); 64 epigyne of paratype female from Mizoram, ventral view; 65 epigyne of paratype female from Barkuda Island, ventral view; 66–68 labels from type tubes. Abbreviations:AH, anterior epigynal hood; B, bursa; S, spermatheca. Scale bars: 59–60, 2 mm; 61, 1 mm; 62–65, 0.2 mm.

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.