Lepthyphantes leprosus (Ohlert, 1865)

Lepthyphantes leprosus (Ohlert, 1865): Evtushenko 2004: 66–68; Kovblyuk 2014: 44; Zagorodniuk and Vargovitsh 2004: 207; Turbanov et al. 2016 b: 1283; Samokhin et al. 2019: 247.

Material examined.

• 1 ♂ (TNU 10236/2), Crimea, Bakhchisarai Distr., nr Khodzha-Sala Vil., steep southern slope of Baba-Dagh Plateau (= Mangup-Kale Gorodishche), entrance to Mangupskaya I (= MK- 1) Cave, 11. VI. 2018, I. S. Turbanov, A. A. Nadolny leg. • 3 ♀♀ (TNU 10180/3), Crimea, Sevastopol, nr Balaklava, Aya Cape Mt. Range, Kala-Fatlar Mt., entrance to Gekkonovaya Cave, 9. X. 2016, A. A. Nadolny leg. • 7 ♀♀ (IT), Crimea, nr Sevastopol, Tshernaya River canyon, entrance to Tshernoretshenskaya Cave, 3. VI. 2021, I. S. Turbanov, A. A. Nadolny leg. • 4 ♂♂ 5 ♀♀ (TNU 10257/1) • 1 ♀ (IT), Crimea, nr Sevastopol, northwestern slope of Ai-Petri Yaila, Baidarskaya Valley, nr Rodnikovskoye Vil., entrance to Skelskaya Cave, 29. IX. 2020, A. A. Nadolny, I. S. Turbanov A. A. Turbanova leg.

Distribution.

Circum-Holarctic polyzonal (Kovblyuk and Kastrygina 2015; Nentwig et al. 2024).

Records from the Crimean caves.

Map (Fig. 17 B – red circle). Recorded in caves from the western and central parts of the Crimean Mountains: in unnamed cave near the city of Bakhchisarai, Mangupskaya I, Gekkonovaya, Tshernoretshenskaya, Skelskaya, and Kizil-Koba (Evtushenko 2004; present data).

Ecology.

A troglophile and northward, above the 55 th parallel, exclusively as a synanthropic species (Kovblyuk and Kastrygina 2015; Mammola et al. 2018; Nentwig et al. 2024). In Crimea, the species lives in the mountainous regions, except for its upper parts – mountain meadows and yaila steppes (Kovblyuk and Kastrygina 2015), and is confined to cave entrances; in our opinion, it is a subtroglophile.