Pardosa evippiformis Caporiacco, 1935

Sankaran, Pradeep M. & Caleb, John T. D., 2023, Notes on Indian wolf spiders: III. Genera Acantholycosa Dahl, 1908, Evippomma Roewer, 1959, Hippasosa Roewer, 1960 and Trochosa C. L. Koch, 1847 (Araneae: Lycosidae), Zootaxa 5369 (4), pp. 533-552 : 542-544

Pardosa evippiformis Caporiacco, 1935 comb. rest.

Figs 7–8

Pardosa evippiformis Caporiacco, 1935: 242 , plate VII, fig. 5 (♂ ♀).

Evippomma evippiformis : Roewer, 1955: 155 (transfer from Pardosa ).

Type material. Lectotype ♂ (here designated) and paralectotype 1 subadult ♀ from INDIA: Jammu & Kashmir: near Kangan (34°17’N, 75°13’E; 2000 m alt.), leg. Caporiacco, April 1929, repository MSNM (Ar 4951), good at preservation, examined from photographs.

Diagnosis. Males of P. evippiformis comb. rest. seem closely similar to the males of Pardosa baraan Logunov & Marusik, 1995 as both share tegulum with a medially originating, stout process lying close to tegular apophysis, and palea with folded distal part, but can be separated from the latter species by apex of tegular apophysis located near the middle of the median process of tegulum (vs. near the base in P. baraan , compare Fig. 8B–C with Logunov & Marusik 1995: fig. 25).

Supplementary description. Male. Measurements after Caporiacco (1935): body length 7.80. Carapace 3.55 long. Opisthosoma 4.25 long. Palp 5 long. Leg formula: 4312. Palp (lectotype, Fig. 8A–C ): cymbium brown ( Fig. 8A–C ). Palea broad, with folded distal part ( Fig. 8B–C ). Tegulum medially with a short, broad process, lying in front of tegular apophysis ( Fig. 8B–C ). Tegular apophysis short, with blunt apex ( Fig. 8C ). Embolus originating distolaterally, with semi-transparent lamina basally, most of embolus hidden by tegulum ( Fig. 8B ).

Female. Unknown.

Distribution. India (Jammu & Kashmir, Caporiacco 1935). The World Spider Catalog (2023) plainly mentions Karakorum as the species distribution for this species. The Karakorum mountain range extends across five different countries ( Afghanistan, China, India, Pakistan, and Tajikistan). Based on the original description and label data, it is apparent that the type locality of this species is Srinagar, in Jammu & Kashmir, India, and the species was also collected from Kangan in Jammu & Kashmir, about 35 km northward from Srinagar ( Caporiacco 1935). The species is therefore presently recorded only from these localities and is confined to India.

Notes. Examination of the types of P. evippiformis comb. rest. showed that this species does not belong to Evippomma , instead it is a member of the genus Pardosa sensu lato due to its genitalic similarities with that of Pardosa alacris (C.L. Koch, 1833) : broad palea, tegulum with a median process covering the basal part of tegular apophysis, medially originating tegular apophysis, terminal apophysis arched, and distolaterally originating embolus with semi-transparent lamina basally (compare Fig. 8B–C with Töpfer-Hofmann et al. 2000: figs 24–25). Based on these observations, the transfer of E. evippiforme to Pardosa sensu lato is fully justified and confirms that the genus Evippomma is not recorded from India.

Although Caporiacco (1935) examined a few female specimens collected from the Munshi (= Munchi) Bagh market place (34°04’N, 74°50’E; 1700 m alt.) and the Takht-e-Suleiman (= Takht-i-Sulaiman)/Shankaracharya Hill (34°04’N, 74°50’E; 2000 m alt.) in/near Srinagar , India, he did not provide description of any of them due to the immature stage of all the collected females, as stated ‘ non adhuc adultae ’ in the original description.

Figures

FIGURE 7. Pardosa evippiformis Caporiacco, 1935 comb. rest. A male lectotype habitus, dorsal. B juvenile female paralectotype habitus, dorsal. C label from type tube. Scale bars: A–B, 5 mm. © M. Zilioli, MSNM, Italy.

FIGURE 8. Pardosa evippiformis Caporiacco, 1935 comb. rest. A–C male lectotype left palp: A dorsoprolateral, B prolateroventral; C retrolateral. Scale bars: A–C, 0.5 mm. © M. Zilioli, MSNM, Italy.