Nesticus stupkai 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 stupkai Gertsch, 1984

Fig. 62A-I

Nesticus stupkai Gertsch, 1984: 31, figs 71-74, 106-108; Reeves 2000: 338.

Material examined.

Type material: Holotype: USA - Tennessee, Blount Co. • ♂ holotype; White Oak Sinks, Great Smoky Mountains National Park ; 21 Jul. 1937; A. Stupka leg; AMNH; New collections from near type locality: - Blount Co. • ♀; Great Smoky Mountains NP, White Oak Sinks, Blowhole; 21 Aug. 1992; M. Hedin leg. Non type material: - Blount Co. • 6♂, 9♀; Blowing Cave, NE Townsend, off Hwy 321; 22 Sep. 1992; M. Hedin, S. O’Kane leg.; • ♀; Great Smoky Mountains NP, Little River at Mile 40 of Hwy 73; 35.6688°N, - 83.6827°W; 22 Aug. 1992; M. Hedin leg.; - Loudon Co. • ♂, 4♀, 16 imm; Benjos Cave , TLN11; 30 Aug. 2014; M.L. Niemiller, C.D.R. Stephen, E.T. Carter leg.; MLN 14-044.17.

Diagnosis.

See Diagnosis of Nesticus bishopi for details on shared male morphology. Females are likewise similar to N. bishopi , with a narrowing median septum with posterior bars that form an anchor shape, directed upwards and outwards, spermathecae lying lateral to these bars at approximately the same angle (compare Fig. 61A-H . to Fig. 62D-I ). Without knowledge of geographic origin, we cannot distinguish epigynal morphologies of these two species.

Females of Nesticus stupkai and N. bishopi can be distinguished from the closely related N. reclusus by the outwards oriented dorsal epigynal plates in the former (Figs 61A-H , 62D-I ), vs. the inwards oriented dorsal epigynal plates in the latter (Fig. 65A-F ).

Variation.

Males and females from different populations share very similar genitalic morphologies (Fig. 62A-C ).

Distribution and natural history.

With a distribution similar to Nesticus barrowsi , from cave entrances in karst windows along the northwestern edge of Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Fig. 53 ), and nearby surface (boulderfield) habitats. We include a new important western record from Benjos Cave, southwest of Knoxville in the Tennessee River Valley.

As an example of natural history, specimens from Blowing Cave were collected from a cave entrance, while those from Little River were collected from beneath rockpiles directly adjacent to a stream.

Reeves (2000) reported Nesticus stupkai in sympatry with N. barrowsi at two cave locations in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and we collected this taxon pair in near sympatry in the White Oak Sinks, with N. barrowsi found in the dark zone of caves, and N. stupkai found closer to cave entrances (twilight zone). Reeves (2000) also recorded N. stupkai from Myhr Cave. We have confirmed male N. reclusus from this location (Fig. 63A ). This is either a case of sympatry or an original misidentification, as females of these species can be difficult to distinguish.

Remarks.

Nesticus bishopi plus N. stupkai together form a strongly supported nuclear clade (Figs 3 , 4 ). Within this clade however N. stupkai is not monophyletic on UCE trees, with the White Oak Sinks (type) population strongly supported as more closely related to a geographically distant N. bishopi clade than to the geographically adjacent Little River plus Blowing Cave N. stupkai clade (Figs 3 , 4 ).

One possibility is that the latter clade (Little River, Blowing Cave) is not Nesticus stupkai , but a separate lineage. We have closely compared males and females from the White Oak Sinks (type) population to males and females from Blowing Cave and detect no morphological differences (Fig. 62A-C ). Despite paraphyly, and as an expectation to the species criteria used in this revision, we retain N. stupkai as a distinct species.

Figures

Figure 3. UCE concatenated maximum likelihood tree. Distant outgroups removed (for graphical purposes), specimen numbers correspond to those in Suppl. material 3 (with detailed location provided in Suppl. material 1). Node numbers correspond to bootstrap (bold text) / gCF / sCF. Only bootstrap values below 100 shown, all others 100. gCF and sCF values rounded to nearest integer; sCF values below 38 highlighted with red text.

Figure 4. UCE ASTRAL species tree. Distant outgroups removed (for graphical purposes), specimen numbers correspond to those in Suppl. material 3 (with detailed location provided in Suppl. material 1). Included are quartet support values (rounded to nearest integer), and local posterior probability values (if less than 1.0, red text). Branch lengths in coalescent units for internal branches only, terminal branch lengths arbitrary. Internal branch to Nesticus cressleri truncated for graphical purposes.

Figure 53. A distribution of Nesticus reclusus group species B distribution of Nesticus jonesi. Type localities designated with yellow circles. State boundaries and major cities shown for geographic context. Dashed lines circumscribe known species distributions. The geographic distribution of " N. cooperi - like " populations is circled; this includes some female-only locations which are inside this distribution and included here only for purposes of graphical convenience.

Figure 61. Nesticus bishopi epigynal variation. North Carolina, Macon Co., below Glenn Falls, MCH specimen # 1071, ventral (A), dorsal (B). Georgia, Rabun Co., Chattooga River at confluence with Pole Creek, MCH 02 _ 181, ventral (C), dorsal (D). North Carolina, Macon Co., along Black Creek, MCH 02 _ 141, ventral (E), dorsal (F). North Carolina, Jackson Co., along Chattooga River, between Scotsman and Glade Creek, MCH specimen # 2016, ventral (G), dorsal (H). Scale bar: 0.5 mm.

Figure 62. Nesticus stupkai genitalia. Tennessee, Blount Co., Blowing Cave, NE of Townsend, MCH specimen # 1555, ♂ palp, ventral (A), dorsal (B) C Tennessee, Blount Co., Great Smoky Mountains NP, White Oak Sinks, holotype ♂ palp, ventral. Tennessee, Blount Co., Blowing Cave, MCH specimen # 1567, epigynum, ventral (D), dorsal (E). Tennessee, Blount Co., Great Smoky Mountains NP, Little River at Mile 40 of Hwy 73, MCH specimen # 1305, epigynum, ventral (F), dorsal (G). Tennessee, Blount Co., Great Smoky Mountains NP, White Oak Sinks, MCH specimen # 1304, epigynum, ventral (H), dorsal (I). Scale bar: 0.5 mm.

Figure 63. northeastern Nesticus reclusus ♂ palps, ventral view (* except for G) A Tennessee, Sevier Co., Wear Cove, Myhr Cave, MCH 01 _ 182 (* right palp, inverted in Photoshop) B Tennessee, Sevier Co., Great Smoky Mountains NP, Lower Baskins Creek C Tennessee, Sevier Co., Great Smoky Mountains NP, Hwy 441, N of Newfound Gap D Tennessee, Sevier Co., Great Smoky Mountains NP, Elkmont Area, MCH 00 _ 144 E North Carolina, Swain Co., Great Smoky Mountains NP, south of Clingman's Dome, near Forney Ridge parking area F North Carolina, Swain Co., Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Andrew's Bald (male holotype, AMNH) G North Carolina, Swain Co., Cheoah Dam along Cheoah Reservoir (MCH 07 _ 116), dorsal view. Scale bar: 0.5 mm.

Figure 65. northeastern Nesticus reclusus epigynal variation. North Carolina, Swain Co., Great Smoky Mountains NP, south of Clingman's Dome, vicinity Forney Ridge parking area, MCH specimen # 1973, ventral (A), dorsal (B). North Carolina, Swain Co., Great Smoky Mountains NP, N of Smokemont Campground turnoff, MCH specimen # N 1019, ventral (C), dorsal (D). North Carolina, Swain Co., Great Smoky Mountains NP, Noland Creek at Laurel Branch, MCH specimen # N 1051, ventral (E), dorsal (F). Scale bar: 0.5 mm.