Nesticus pecki Hedin & Dellinger, 2005

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 pecki Hedin & Dellinger, 2005

Fig. 11A-C

Nesticus pecki Hedin & Dellinger, 2005: 14, figs 17-20.

Material examined.

Type material: Holotype: USA - Tennessee, Marion Co. • ♂ holotype; Monteagle Saltpeter Cave, ~ 6.4 km SE of Monteagle; 26 Sep. 1992; M. Hedin, J. Hedin, S. O’Kane leg.; MCH1624; • ♀ paratype; data as for holotype; MCH1625; • 2♀; Monteagle Saltpeter Cave ; 29 Sep. 1991; M. Hedin, K. Crandall, A. Gerber leg.; MCH1012, MCH1013; Non type material: - Fentress Co. • ♀; Hurricane Maze Cave (TFE331); 31 Aug. 2013; M.L. Niemiller, G. Moni, K. Bobo, A. Crabtree, B. Reeves, K. Pasternak leg.; MLN 13-063; - White Co. • 8♀; Haskell Sims Cave ; 18 Jan. 2014; M.L. Niemiller, E.T. Carter, G. Moni, C. Sutherland leg.; MLN 14-004.

Diagnosis.

Morphological diagnosis as summarized in Hedin and Dellinger (2005), spiders small-bodied with well-developed eyes, males with a thickened and chisel-like tegular apophysis, females with a posteriorly-broadened median septum (Fig. 11A-C ).

Variation.

The Hurricane Maze Cave specimen is similar to specimens from the type locality, possessing a short and wide epigynum with a posteriorly flaring median septum and banana-shaped spermathecae with narrow bases, lying just lateral to fovea but inside of the sclerotized epigynal outline (Fig. 11A, B ). Haskell Sims Cave specimens are fairly different, the posterior edge of the median septum rounded instead of flared, and with internal plates close to touching (Fig. 11C ). Given this relatively divergent female morphology it would be useful to attempt to collect adult males from this northern disjunct cave location (Fig. 8 ).

Distribution and natural history.

Previously known only from the type locality in southeastern Tennessee ( Hedin and Dellinger 2005, fig. 1). We report here new important northern records from Haskell Sims and Hurricane Maze Caves, extending the geographic distribution of this species significantly northwards (Fig. 8 , Suppl. material 1). More collecting on the Cumberland Plateau will likely result in additional new distributional records, although the species appears to be naturally rare. Hedin and Dellinger (2005) and Carver et al. (2016) reported on the rarity of this species at the type locality.

Figures

Figure 8. Distribution of the Nesticus archeri group, including Nesticus archeri, N. pecki, N. jemisinae, N. cressleri, and N. stygius. State boundaries and major cities shown for geographic context. Dashed lines circumscribe the distributions of N. pecki and N. stygius.

Figure 11. Nesticus pecki epigynum variation, ventral views A Tennessee, Marion Co., Monteagle Saltpeter Cave, specimen # 1625 B Tennessee, Fentress Co., Hurricane Maze Cave, MLN 13 - 063 (SDSU _ G 2100) C Tennessee, White Co., Haskell Sims Cave, MLN 14 - 004 (SDSU _ G 3697). Scale bar: 0.5 mm.