Cryptodrassus ratnagiriensis ( Tikader & Gajbe, 1976 ) Sankaran & Caleb & Sebastian, 2020

Sankaran, Pradeep M., Caleb, John T. D. & Sebastian, Pothalil A., 2020, On the taxonomic validity of Indian ground spiders: II. Genera Drassyllus Chamberlin, 1922 and Nodocion Chamberlin, 1922 (Araneae: Gnaphosidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 673 (673), pp. 1-14 : 8

Cryptodrassus ratnagiriensis ( Tikader & Gajbe, 1976) comb. nov.

Fig. 4

Drassyllus ratnagiriensis Tikader & Gajbe, 1976: 431 , figs 1–4.

Drassyllus ratnagiriensis – Tikader 1982: 514, figs 495–499.

Diagnosis

Cryptodrassus ratnagiriensis comb. nov. can be distinguished from all other known species of Cryptodrassus by a disto-medially placed small, circular epigynal atrium and uniformly thick, C-shaped copulatory ducts that are confronting each other ( Fig. 4 C–D).

Material examined

Holotype

INDIA • ♀; Maharashtra, Ratnagiri, Chiplun, Kashedi Ghats ; 17°54′14.77″ N, 73°26′00.67″ E; 386 m a.s.l.; 14 Feb. 1973; M. Babu Rao leg.; NZC-ZSI, Kolkata 5042/18 .

Supplementary description

Female (holotype, Fig. 4 )

Body length 8.58. Prosoma: length 2.77, width 2.43. Opisthosoma: length 5.81, width 3.07. Eye diameters: ALE 0.15, AME 0.16, PLE 0.14, PME 0.21. Eye interdistances: AME–AME 0.06, AME– PME 0.13, PME–PLE 0.04. Chelicerae length 0.87. Measurements of palp and legs. Palp 2.84 [1.08, 0.53, 0.45, 0.78], III 6.19 [1.69, 1.00, 1.17, 1.53, 0.80], IV 11.78 [3.27, 1.42, 2.75, 3.10, 1.24]. Palpal tarsus bears spines. Epigyne (holotype, Fig. 4 C–D): Epigynal plate membranous, with circular atrium, with paired anterior hoods ( Fig. 4C ). Copulatory openings indistinct. Copulatory ducts short, thick, weakly twisted ( Fig. 4D ). Receptacles small, globular, contiguous, lying adjacent to posterior epigynal margin ( Fig. 4D ). Fertilization ducts narrow, diverging ( Fig. 4D ).

Male

Unknown.

Justification of the transfer

Tikader & Gajbe (1976) described this species on the basis of a female specimen collected in Maharashtra. Like all the former species, this species also resembles Drassyllus spp. only in the posterior median eyes ( Fig. 4B ). A detailed examination of the holotype of D. ratnagiriensis revealed that its features fit those of Cryptodrassus spp. as noted for previous species. We therefore propose to transfer D. ratnagiriensis to Cryptodrassus .

Remarks

The ZSI collection has one glass bottle for this species, labeled as ‘holotype’ (5042/18), containing a female specimen in fairly good condition, with only left legs III and IV. The same bottle has a small glass vial containing the dissected epigyne.

Figures

Fig. 4. Cryptodrassus ratnagiriensis (Tikader & Gajbe, 1976) comb. nov., ♀, holotype of Drassyllus ratnagiriensis Tikader & Gajbe, 1976 (NZC-ZSI-5042/18). A. Habitus, dorsal view. B. Eyes of the same, dorsal view. C. Epigyne, ventral view. D. Same, dorsal view. E. Label from type bottle. Scale bars: A = 2 mm; B = 0.5 mm; C–D = 0.2 mm.