Euophrys meridionalis, Wesołowska & Azarkina & Russell-Smith, 2014

Wesołowska, Wanda, Azarkina, Galina N. & Russell-Smith, Anthony, 2014, Euophryine jumping spiders of the Afrotropical Region-new taxa and a checklist (Araneae: Salticidae: Euophryinae), Zootaxa 3789 (1), pp. 1-72 : 24-27

Euophrys meridionalis sp. nov.

Figs 78–86

Holotype: male, SOUTH AFRICA, KwaZulu-Natal Province, Royal Natal National Park , 28°41'S: 28°57'E, dry grassland, 24 April 1977, leg. A. Russell-Smith ( NHM).

Paratypes: together with holotype, 1 female; same locality, riparian forest, 1 female, 21 January 2011, leg. C. Haddad ( NCA 2010 /2716); SOUTH AFRICA, KwaZulu-Natal Province, Luneburg road to Paulpietersburg, 27°20'S: 30°30'E, sifting leaf litter, bush patch, 1 male, 4 females, 23 May 2012, leg. J.A. Neethling & C. Luwes ( NCA 2013 /585); Free State Province, Harrismith , Platberg Nature Reserve , 28°17'S: 29°12'E, leaf litter, dry mountain runoff (thicket), 3 males, 1 female, 12 March 2012, leg. J.A. Neethling ( NCA 2013 /580) ; same data, 1 male, 13 March 2012 ( NCA 2013 /579) ; same locality, dry mountain runoff ( Eucalyptus plantation), 1 female, 14 March 2012, leg. J.A. Neethling ( NCA 2013 /578); Monk’s Cowl, Drakensberg , 1465 m a.s.l., 29°01'S: 29°24'E, 1 female, afromontane forest, sifting litter, 3 November 2012, leg. J.A. Neethling ( NCA 2012 /5703) .

Diagnosis. The male is easily recognized by the shape of the embolus, with a wide base and not forming a full loop. It slightly resembles E. falciger described above, but is larger and may be recognized by the lack of an outgrowth on the ventral surface of the palpal tibia and by the shorter, stouter embolus. The female has wider seminal ducts than in congeners.

Etymology. The specific name refers to the southern distribution of the species.

Description. Measurements (male/female). Cephalothorax: length 1.0/1.1–1.2, width 0.6/0.7–0.8, height 0.4/ 0.4. Abdomen: length 1.0/1.1–1.3, width 0.6/0.8–0.9. Eye field: length 0.4/0.4–0.5, anterior width 0.5/0.6–0.7, posterior width 0.6/0.7–0.8.

Male. General appearance as in Fig. 78 . Very small spider. Carapace dark brown to blackish, shining, eye field black, delicately pitted, with a few brownish bristles near eyes. Clypeus clothed in colourless hairs. Chelicerae orange, promargin with two teeth, retromargin unident. Mouth parts and sternum brownish. Abdomen oval, brown, whole dorsum covered with delicate shining scutum, without hairs, venter yellowish grey or blackish with four lines formed by light dots. Spinnerets light. Legs I black with yellowish tarsus. Other legs generally brown, dorsal surfaces of femora slightly lighter, yellowish grey, basal halves of segments lighter than their distal parts. Pedipalps orange to brown, clothed in dark hairs, cymbium and bulb yellow. Tibial apophysis wider than in the majority of congeners ( Figs 81, 83 ), bulb oval, without delimited proximal lobe ( Fig. 79 ), with meandering spermophore, embolus stiletto-like with broad base ( Figs 80, 82 ).

Female. General appearance as in Fig. 84 , slightly larger than male. Carapace as in male. Abdomen with typical markings for Euophrys spp. , coloration dark grey with mosaic of small lighter patches and a few (5–6) pairs of larger light spots and chevrons along midline, dark patches fused into irregular transverse streaks on sides, venter yellowish. Legs yellowish, bases of patellae, tibiae and metatarsi brown. Epigyne very weakly sclerotized, with two shallow, slightly procurved depressions, copulatory openings situated laterally ( Fig. 85 ). Internal structures simple, as in Fig. 86 .

Distribution. Known from the Drakensberg Mountains of the eastern Free State and western KwaZulu-Natal Provinces in South Africa.

Figures

FIGURES 78–83. Euophrys meridionalis sp. nov. 78 male holotype, dorsal view; 79 palpal organ, ventrolateral view; 80, 82 palpal organ, ventral view; 81, 83 palpal organ, retrolateral view. 79-81 holotype, 82, 83 paratype.

FIGURES 84–86. Euophrys meridionalis sp. nov. 84 female paratype, dorsal view; 85 epigyne; 86 internal structure of epigyne.