Crossopriza semicaudata (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1876 )

Huber, Bernhard A., 2022, Revisions of Holocnemus and Crossopriza: the spotted-leg clade of Smeringopinae (Araneae, Pholcidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 795 (1), pp. 1-241 : 149-155

Crossopriza semicaudata (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1876)

Figs 353A , 574–607

Pholcus semicaudatus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1876: 565 .

Crossopriza semicaudata – Simon 1893: 477. — Wiehle 1933: 244, fig. 3b.

Holocnemus semicaudatus – Simon 1907: 5.

Probable misidentification (see Remarks below)

Crossopriza semicaudata – Denis 1945: 8, fig. 9.

Remarks

Pickard-Cambridge (1876) noted that this species was common in ruins near Cairo and Thebes (= Luxor) but did not specify the number of specimens actually available to him. The only specimen presumably originating from the type series I could locate is the lectotype below. The label says “ lectotype ” but this designation was never published; therefore, the lectotype is formally designated herein. The exact geographic origin of this particular specimen (Cairo or Luxor) is unknown.

Denis (1945) published a credible record from Egypt, Luxor, but I could not locate his specimens (they do not seem to be at the MNHN) and his only figure (of a palp) does not show C. semicaudata . Confusingly, this same figure appears again as figure 10 in Deeleman-Reinhold & van Harten (2001), supposedly showing the palp of C. pristina (which is also wrong).

The specimens from Chad below are here thought to originate from Bardaï, even though the labels say only “ massif du Tibesti ”. In 1965, the collector Max-Yves Brandily accompanied the ethnomusicologist Monique Brandily who made recordings in the Tibesti Mountains.According to the locality data attached to each recording (Centre de Recherche en Ethnomusicologie 2020) they worked in Bardaï in July and in October 1965.

Diagnosis

Easily distinguished from congeners by details of male palp ( Figs 579–584 ; procursus with distinctive prolateral process, ventral sclerite with proximal ventral process; distal bulbal sclerite simple and flat, without ventral apophysis); also by male chelicerae ( Figs 585–586 ; medially directed apophyses and enlarged hair bases) and female genitalia ( Figs 587–593 ; epigynum short and wide as in C. pristina , but without distinct median internal structure and pore plates farther apart).

Type material

Lectotype (designated herein) EGYPT • 1 ♂, examined; Cairo or Luxor (see Remarks above); label data: “ Pholcus (= Crossopriza ) semicaudata OPC , Egypt, Lectotype ♂, loan 3846, B 53619 [or 536A?]”; Jan.–Apr. 1864; O. Pickard- Cambridge leg.; HECO.

Other material examined

EGYPT • 3 ♀♀; Luxor; 25.73° N, 32.60° E; 2 Nov. 1996; P. Jäger leg.; SMF • 1 ♂; Luxor, near airport; 15 Nov. 1996; P. Jäger leg.; in house; SMF • 3 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀, 1 juv.; 5 km N of Aswan; 24.13° N, 32.89° E; 8 Jan. 1987; V. and B. Roth leg.; on sand dunes; CAS 9027139 .

SUDAN • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; Kassala (Wilāyat Kassalā), New Halfa ; 21.80° N, 31.37° E; 1 Aug. 2016; M. Siyam leg.; in house; ZFMK Ar 22430, Ar 22431 • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; Northern (Wilāyat aš-Šamāliyya), Dongola ; 19.17° N, 30.47° E; 9 Jun. 2016; M. Siyam leg.; ZFMK Ar 22432, Ar 22433 • 2 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀; River Nile (Wilāyat Nahr an-Nīl), Atbara ; 17.70° N, 34.00° E; 29–31 Oct. 2016; M. Siyam leg.; in house; ZFMK Ar 22434 to Ar 22437 • 1 ♂; Khartoum ( Wilāyat Ḵarṭūm), Khartoum; 15.6° N, 32.5° E; Nov. 1964; J.S. Cloudsely-Thompson leg.; MRAC 127505 • 1 ♀; same collection data as for preceding; Jan.–Mar. 1962; MRAC 121719 • 1 ♂; Gezira (Wilāyat al-Jazīra), Hasaheisa ; 14.73° N, 33.35° E; 14 Apr. 2007; M. Siyam leg.; ZFMK Ar 22438 .

CHAD • 2 ♂♂, 6 ♀♀; Tibesti Mountains, Bardaï (see Remarks above); 21.35° N, 17.00° E; Jul.–Oct. 1965; Y. Brandily leg.; MRAC 132920 • 8 ♂♂, 33 ♀♀ (partly used for SEM); same collection data as for preceding; MRAC 132959 • 6 ♀♀, 16 juvs; same collection data as for preceding; MARC 132967 .

Redescription

Male (Khartoum, MRAC 127505)

MEASUREMENTS. Total length 3.4, carapace width 1.4. Distance PME–PME 80 µm; diameter PME 100 × 120 µm; distance PME–ALE 30 µm; diameter AME 95 µm; distance AME–AME 30 µm. Leg 1: 35.7 (10.3 + 0.6 + 9.4 + 13.3 + 2.1), tibia 2: 6.3, tibia 3: 4.7, tibia 4: 5.6; tibia 1 L/d: 59; femora 1–4 diameters: 0.20, 0.18, 0.17, 0.17.

COLOR (in ethanol). Carapace ochre-yellow; carapace pit anteriorly light brown; sternum brown with darker radial marks; legs ochre-yellow, without darker rings, with black lines on femora and tibiae (cf. Figs 577–578 ); abdomen ochre-gray, with few indistinct dark marks dorsally; ventrally with black median band, partly disrupted.

BODY. Habitus very similar to C. sahtan sp. nov. (cf. Fig. 391 ). Ocular area slightly raised. Deep thoracic pit and pair of furrows diverging from pit toward posterior margin. Clypeus unmodified, only rim more sclerotized than in female. Sternum wider than long (1.0/0.7), unmodified. Abdomen slightly elongated, dorso-posteriorly angular. Gonopore with four epiandrous spigots ( Fig. 606 ); ALS with one widened spigot and one pointed spigot; PMS with two pointed spigots ( Fig. 607 ).

CHELICERAE. As in Figs 585–586 , distally with pair of frontal apophyses provided with one large modified cone-shaped hair each ( Fig. 598 ); distance between tips of modified hairs 90 µm; with ~12 enlarged hair-bases on each side ( Fig. 599 ); lateral stridulatory ridges distinct ( Fig. 599 ; distances between ridges ~4.5 µm), clearly visible in dissecting microscope.

PALPS. As in Figs 574–576 ; coxa with low retrolateral hump; trochanter barely modified; femur distally strongly widened, with rounded ventral protrusion, proximally with prolateral stridulatory pick, with very indistinct retrolateral transversal line, without retrolateral proximal process; femur-patella joints close together, barely shifted toward prolateral side; tibia-tarsus joints shifted toward retrolateral side; tarsus without macrotrichia; tarsal organ capsulate ( Fig. 602 ); procursus ( Figs 579–581 ) short and straight, proximally on prolateral side with strong hump set with numerous long hairs, dorsal hairs mostly straight, some weakly curved, procursus tip with ventral sclerite with proximal ventral process, distinctive prolateral process, and semitransparent retrolateral-dorsal flap; with hair-like process on retrolateral side (arrow in Fig. 596 ); genital bulb ( Figs 582–584 ) with simple basal sclerite connected to distal (main) sclerite, sperm duct opening on prolateral side (arrow in Fig. 597 ); distal sclerite simple and flat, with semitransparent ventral process, without retrolateral ridge, without prolateral apophysis or ridge.

LEGS. Femur 1 with single row of ~25 ventral spines; without curved hairs; few vertical hairs; retrolateral trichobothrium of tibia 1 at 4%; prolateral trichobothrium absent on tibia 1, present on other leg tibiae; tarsal pseudosegments very indistinct, irregular except 1–2 at tip.

Male (variation)

Tibia 1 in 16 males (incl. lectotype): 8.3–12.1 (mean 10.0); lectotype smaller (carapace width 1.25), with shortest tibia (8.3) and fewer spines on femur 1 (~18). More recently collected specimens with distinct pattern of dark and whitish marks dorsally on abdomen (similar C. sahtan sp. nov., cf. Fig. 391 ); ventral pattern behind gonopore variably distinct, with 2–4 longitudinal bands often not clearly separate.

Female

In general similar to male but without spines on legs, without stridulatory files on chelicerae ( Fig. 600 ), and with stridulatory organ consisting of pair of weakly sclerotized but distinct processes posteriorly on carapace (arrows in Fig. 595 ) and pair of small light brown plates anteriorly on abdomen. Tibia 1 in 46 females: 7.0–10.2 (mean 8.8). Epigynum as in Figs 589–590 ; main epigynal plate semicircular, medially protruding; with pair of large pockets close to median line (distance between pockets 40 µm); internal sclerotized arc variably visible in uncleared specimens; posterior plate relatively large but mostly weakly sclerotized except frontally laterally. Internal genitalia ( Figs 587–588 , 591–593 ) with oval pore plates, dorsal arc weakly sclerotized laterally, ventral arc medially barely modified.

Natural history

Several specimens were collected in houses, suggesting that this is at least partly a synanthropic species. At Dongola, spiders were collected from webs among palm trees (M. Siyam, pers. com., Apr. 2021).

Distribution

Widespread in NW Africa ( Egypt, Chad, Sudan) ( Fig. 353A ).

Figures

Fig. 353. Known distribution of Crossopriza Simon, 1893; autochthonous species part 2 (cf. Fig. 352): species with main cheliceral apophyses in frontal position and epigynal pockets close together. The figure is split into two to avoid too much overlap; the split is not meant to reflect any natural grouping of species. The single record of C. maculipes from China is not shown (see text).

Figs 574–578. Crossopriza semicaudata (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1876); male from Egypt, 5 km N of Aswan (CAS 9027139), and female from Egypt, Luxor (SMF). 574–576. Left male palp, prolateral, dorsal, and retrolateral views. 577–578. Female right femora 2 and 3, dorsal views. Scale bars: 574– 576 = 0.5 mm; 577–578 = 0.2 mm.

Figs 579–588. Crossopriza semicaudata (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1876); male and female from Egypt, 5 km N of Aswan (CAS 9027139). 579–581. Left procursus, prolateral, dorsal, and retrolateral views; arrow: distinctive prolateral process. 582–584. Left genital bulb, prolateral, dorsal, and retrolateral views. 585–586. Male chelicerae, frontal and lateral views. 587–588. Cleared female genitalia, ventral and dorsal views; arrows: pockets. Abbreviation: vs = ventral sclerite. Scale bars = 0.3 mm.

Figs 589–593. Crossopriza semicaudata (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1876); female from Egypt, 5 km N of Aswan (CAS9027139). 589–590. Abdomen and epigynum, ventral views. 591–593. Female internal genitalia, dorsal view (with dorsal arc tilted backwards and epigynal plate accidentally flipped forward), ventral view, and regular dorsal view. Abbreviations: da = dorsal arc; po = pocket; va = ventral arc. Scale bars = 0.5 mm.

Figs 594–601. Crossopriza semicaudata (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1876); male and female from Chad, Bardaï (MRAC 132959). 594. Male ocular area and clypeus. 595. Female ocular area and carapace; arrows: stridulatory processes. 596. Left procursus tip, retrolateral view; arrow: hair-like process. 597. Distal sclerite of right genital bulb, prolateral (slightly distal) view; arrow: sperm duct opening. 598. Tip of male cheliceral apophysis. 599–600. Male stridulatory file and corresponding smooth side of female chelicera. 601. Proximal prolateral hair on female palpal femur. Abbreviation: vs = ventral sclerite. Scale bars: 594–595, 600 = 100 µm; 596 = 30 µm; 597 = 20 µm; 598–599, 601 = 10 µm.

Figs 602–607. Crossopriza semicaudata (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1876); male and female from Chad, Bardaï (MRAC 132959). 602. Male palpal tarsal organ. 603–605. Tarsal organs on female tarsi 1, 2, and 4. 606. Male gonopore. 607. Male spinnerets. Scale bars: 602–605, 607 = 10 µm; 606 = 20 µm.

Figs 391–398. Crossopriza Simon, 1893, live specimens. 391–392. C. sahtan sp. nov., male and female from Oman, Wadi Ghul. 393–395. C. tiwi sp. nov., males and female with egg-sac from Oman, Wadi Tiwi. 396–398. C. dhofar sp. nov., male and female from Oman, Ain Razad, and female from Oman, Wadi Nahiz.