Nesticus georgia Gertsch, 1984

Hedin, Marshal & Milne, Marc A., 2023, New species in old mountains: integrative taxonomy reveals ten new species and extensive short-range endemism in Nesticus spiders (Araneae, Nesticidae) from the southern Appalachian Mountains, ZooKeys 1145, pp. 1-130 : 1

Nesticus georgia Gertsch, 1984

Fig. 51A-C

Nesticus georgia Gertsch, 1984: 39, figs 156-158, 164-166.

Material examined.

Type material: Holotype: USA - Georgia, Dade Co. • ♂ holotype; Sitton's Cave , near Trenton ; 28 Nov. 1952, E.J. Kuenzler leg.; AMNH. New collections from type locality: - Dade Co. • ♂, ♀; Sitton's Cave , 1 mi E of Trenton; 30 Sep. 1991; M. Hedin, K. Crandall leg.; • 2♂, 3♀; Sitton’s Cave; 23 Sep. 1992; M. Hedin, S. O’Kane leg.

Diagnosis.

Nearly eyeless, long-legged taxon. Male palp most similar to that of Nesticus lula , but with a spatulate tegular apophysis and details of the distal edge of the paracymbial ventral process with a sclerotized process projecting dorsally (Fig. 51A ). Ventral epigynum very close to similarly troglomorphic N. lula , difficult to separate based on epigynal morphology alone (compare Fig. 51B, C to Zigler and Milne 2022: figs 2, 3). Both N. georgia and N. lula are also similar in overall epigynal morphology to the more distantly related (but geographically proximate) N. barri (Fig. 48C ).

Distribution and natural history.

Known only from a handful of limestone caves from three adjacent counties in northwest Georgia (Fig. 49 ; Hedin and Dellinger 2005: fig. 1; Carver et al. 2016: fig. 2). Reeves (1999) summarized natural history information (microhabitat preference, fecundity, prey items, etc.) for topotypic Nesticus georgia .

Figures

Figure 48. Nesticus barri and N. furtivus genitalia. N. barri - Tennessee, Marion Co., Tate Spring Cave, MCH 04 _ 050, ♂ palp ventral (A), epigynum ventral (C). N. furtivus - Tennessee, Hamilton Co., Raccoon Mountain Caverns, SE Chattanooga, MCH 00 _ 137, ♂ palp ventral (B), epigynum ventral (# 1660) (D).

Figure 49. Distribution of Nesticus barri and Nesticus carteri groups. Type localities designated with yellow circles. State boundaries and major cities shown for geographic context. Dashed lines circumscribe known species distributions.

Figure 51. Nesticus georgia genitalia A Georgia, Dade Co., Sitton's Cave, MCH specimen # 1015, ♂ palp, ventral. Georgia, Dade Co., Sitton's Cave, MCH specimen # 1014, epigynum, ventral (B), dorsal (C). Scale bar: 0.5 mm.