Cryptodrassus khajuriai ( 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 : 2-5

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

Figs 1–2

Drassyllus khajuriai Tikader & Gajbe, 1976: 432 , figs 5–8.

Drassyllus jabalpurensis Gajbe, 2005: 136 , figs 23–27. Syn. nov.

Drassyllus khajuriai – Tikader 1982: 512, figs 490–494. — Gajbe 2007: 489, figs 208–212.

Diagnosis

Cryptodrassus khajuriai comb. nov. seems closely related to Cryptodrassus helvolus (O. Pickard- Cambridge, 1872), as both have a large epigynal atrium. However, the former species can be distinguished from the latter by the following combination of characters: epigyne with anterior hood (epigyne of C. helvolus lacks anterior hood), highly coiled copulatory ducts with thick proximal and thin distal parts (copulatory ducts of C. helvolus less coiled and nearly uniform in diameter along the entire length) and globular receptacles ( C. helvolus with nearly oval receptacles) (compare Figs 1 C–D, 2C–D with Chatzaki & Russell-Smith 2017: figs 5–6).

Material examined

Holotype of D. khajuriai

INDIA • ♀; Madhya Pradesh, Jabalpur, rest house in Madla ; 28 Feb. 1974; H. Khajuria leg.; NZC-ZSI, Kolkata 5043/18 .

Holotype of D. jabalpurensis

INDIA • ♀; Madhya Pradesh, Jabalpur, Bhirki Village on Jabalpur-Chargawan road; 24 Nov. 1970; D.K. Ghosal leg.; NZC-ZSI, Kolkata 5452/18 .

Supplementary description

Female (holotype, Fig. 1 )

Body length 5.38. Prosoma: length 2.18, width 1.76. Opisthosoma: length 3.20, width 1.71. Eye diameters: ALE 0.12, AME 0.13, PLE 0.11, PME 0.19. Eye interdistances: AME–AME 0.05, AME– PME 0.09, PME–PLE 0.04. Chelicerae length 0.67. Measurement of leg II 5.27 [1.51, 0.87, 1.03, 1.13, 0.73]. Epigyne (holotype, Fig. 1 C–D): Epigynal plate moderately sclerotized, triangular, with smoothly triangular atrium with anterior hood ( Fig. 1C ). Copulatory openings indistinct. Copulatory ducts long, tubular, thick proximally and narrowed distally, obliquely twisted ( Fig. 1D ). Receptacles small, spherical, nearly contiguous, lying adjacent to posterior epigynal margin ( Fig. 1D ). Fertilization ducts narrow, diverging ( Fig. 1D ).

Male

Unknown.

Justification of the transfer

Tikader & Gajbe (1976) described D. khajuriai on the basis of a female specimen collected in Madhya Pradesh. It resembles Drassyllus spp. only in the posterior median eyes, which are the largest and remaining contiguous in both Cryptodrassus and Drassyllus (see Murphy 2007: figs 184, 528; herein Fig. 1B ). Detailed examination of the holotype of D. khajuriai revealed that it has all of the characteristic features of Cryptodrassus spp. as described and illustrated for Cryptodrassus hungaricus (Balogh, 1935) , the type species of the genus ( Murphy 2007: figs 528–529; Kovblyuk & Nadolny 2010: figs 7–8), Cryptodrassus helvolus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872) ( Levy 1998: fig. 126; Chatzaki & Russell-Smith 2017: fig. 5) and Cryptodrassus helvoloides ( Levy, 1998) ( Chatzaki & Russell-Smith 2017: fig. 11): PMEs largest, irregular, all other eyes round, cheliceral promargin with three and retromargin with one tooth and epigyne with wide, anterior atrium. Considering these observations, we propose to transfer D. khajuriai to Cryptodrassus .

Justification of the synonymy

A detailed examination of the holotype of D. jabalpurensis shows that it has diagnostic features of D. khajuriai : triangular epigynal atrium with single anterior hood, highly coiled obliquely twisted copulatory ducts with thick proximal and narrow distal parts and spherical and contiguous receptacles (compare Fig. 1 C–D with Fig. 2 C–D). Based on these observations, we propose to consider D. jabalpurensis as a junior synonym of D. khajuriai .

Remarks

The ZSI collection has one glass bottle for D. khajuriai , labeled as ‘holotype’ (5043/18), containing a female specimen in fairly good condition, with only left leg II. The same bottle has a small glass vial containing the dissected epigyne. The ZSI collection has one glass bottle for D. jabalpurensis , labeled as ‘holotype’ (with no register number), containing a female specimen in bad condition. The same bottle has a small glass vial containing the dissected epigyne.

Figures

Fig. 1. Cryptodrassus khajuriai (Tikader & Gajbe, 1976) comb. nov., ♀, holotype of Drassyllus khajuriai Tikader & Gajbe, 1976 (NZC-ZSI-5043/18). 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 = 1 mm; B = 0.5 mm; C–D = 0.2 mm.

Fig. 2. Cryptodrassus khajuriai (Tikader & Gajbe, 1976) comb. nov., ♀, holotype of Drassyllus jabalpurensis Gajbe, 2005 (NZC-ZSI-5452/18). 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 = 1 mm; B = 0.5 mm; C–D = 0.2 mm.