Philodromus monitae, Muster, Christoph & Keer, Johan Van, 2010

Muster, Christoph & Keer, Johan Van, 2010, A new species of Philodromus (Artanes) from Macedonia, Greece (Araneae: Philodromidae), Zootaxa 2495, pp. 65-68 : 66-68

Philodromus monitae sp. nov.

Figs 1–7

Type material: Holotype: male, GREECE: Macedonia: Drama, SE Volakos, 41° 17’ 34.49” N, 24° 00’ 20.71” E, 1177 m, 15 June 2009, Koen van Keer leg. ( IRSNB).

Paratypes: 1 male, 3 females, same data as holotype (1 male, 1 female CJVK, 1 female CM, 1 female IRSNB).

Etymology. The species name refers to the nickname of Koen van Keer’s (the collector of the type series) girlfriend “Monita” (she tries very hard to overcome her arachnophobia), noun (name) in genitive case.

Diagnosis. Males are characterized by the shape of the tibial apophyses of the palp, especially the elongated DTA with its bent tip ( Figs. 2, 3 ). Females are recognizable by the shape of the receptacula in combination with a voluminous bursa copulatrix ( Fig. 5 ).

Description. Measurements. Male (n = 2): total length 5.9, CL 2.7, CW 3.0, ClyH 0.42, OL 3.2, OW 2.45–2.55. Leg I 11.95–12.1 [3.45, 1.2, 3.0, 2.75, 1.65]. Eye distances: AME–AME 0.26–0.30, AME–ALE 0.24–0.25, PME–PME 0.40– 0.41, PME–PLE 0.35, ALE–PME 0.30–0.33. Pedipalp: Fem 1.0–1.04, Pat 0.46, Tib 0.45, CyL 1.2, CyW 0.98. Female (n = 3): total length 8.6 (8.1–9.5), CL 2.95 (2.85–3.0, CW 3.28 (3.25-3.30), ClyH 0.39 (0.35–0.42), OL 5.5 (5.0–6.1), OW 4.72 (4.0–5.4). Leg I 11.07 (10.75–11.35) [3.4, 1.28, 2.72, 2.25, 1.42]. Eye distances: AME–AME 0.34, AME–ALE 0.23, PME–PME 0.49, PME–PLE 0.39, ALE–PME 0.38. Epigyne/vulva (n = 1): EGL 0.48, EGW 0.19, RL 0.58, RW 0.28, R–EG 0.14. This is one of the largest species in the P. poecilus group.

Leg spination. Following the general pattern in Artanes and the Philodromus poecilus group ( Muster 2009: 145, 150). Female tarsi with one pro- and one retrolateral spine at legs I-II (in one female I-III).

Pedipalp ( Figs 1–3 ). VTA a transparent lamina, stick-like in ventral view, RTA triangular, heavily sclerotised, with small lateral bulge at the base, DTA strongly elongated,> 2x longer than other apophyses, resting in deep groove of cymbium, its tip conspicuously bent to retroventral direction. Cymbium dark brown with lamellar bulge at DTA groove. Tegulum without specific modifications, sperm duct loop strongly asymmetric, tegular suture leading to 7.30 o’clock position. Sclerotised part of conductor (CoI) gradually merging with membranous conductor (CoII), CoP a small hook. Embolus originating at 8:30 o’clock position, evenly narrowing and smoothly curved, terminating at 3:15 o’clock position.

Epigyne/vulva ( Figs 4–5 ). Epigynal grooves elongate, median septum flat with small keel distally. Receptacula kidney-shaped, separated by small gap, diverging anteriorly, glandular heads sitting anteriorly, glandular mounds indistinct at lateral margins, bursa copulatrix voluminous, sclerotised, projecting beyond receptacula anteriorly.

Colour. Dorsal shield of prosoma uniformly dark brown (male, Fig. 6 ) or yellowish brown with dark brown posterior edges, indistinct yellowish V-sign, irregularly distributed brown spots and whitish pubescence interspersed with black microsetae (female, Fig. 7 ), area between anterior eyes pale yellowish. Clypeus with yellowish-brown pattern, chelicerae dark brown, sternum yellowish brown with dark margin, densely covered with thin, long, dark hairs. Legs dark brown (male) or yellowish brown (female), the latter intensely mottled, with conspicuous blackish, longitudinal, bifurcated stripes at ventral side of femora, double-annulation at tibiae and metatarsi. Opisthosoma pentagonal, dorsum grey with dark border, in males with dark cardiac mark, in females with contrasting pattern with whitish dots and chevrons. Venter grey with rows of small whitish dots.

Distribution. Only known from the type locality in Macedonia, Greece.

Life history and habitat preferences. The type series was collected from bark of pine trees.

Character 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 State 7 4 3 1 K K 1 3 1 0 1 2 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 3 1 1 0 3 2 2 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 3 1 3 0 1 0 1 Character 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4

State 1 0 0 - 1 1 2 2 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 - 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1

Remarks. Relationships within the P. poecilus species group could not be resolved with confidence using a matrix of 65 morphological characters ( Muster 2009). Not surprisingly, parsimony analysis by adding P. monitae sp. nov. to the dataset resulted in variable placements of the species across 42 shortest trees of 471 steps (same TNT settings as in the original study). Sister-group relationship between P. blanckei (Wunderlich, 1995) and P. monitae sp. nov. was the most frequently inferred reconstruction (14 trees). The character scorings for P. monitae are given in Table 1.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 7. Philodromus monitae sp. nov. 1 male palp, ventral view; 2 – 3 tibial apophyses of male palp (2 dorsal, 3 retrolateral); 4 epigyne, ventral view; 5 vulva, dorsal view; 6 male habitus (holotype); 7 female habitus (paratype). Scale bars: 1 – 5 = 0, 1 mm; 6 – 7 = 2 mm.