Eusparassus xerxes ( Pocock, 1901 )

Moradmand, Majid, 2013, The stone huntsman spider genus Eusparassus (Araneae: Sparassidae): systematics and zoogeography with revision of the African and Arabian species, Zootaxa 3675 (1), pp. 1-108 : 69-70

Eusparassus xerxes ( Pocock, 1901)

Figs 56c–d , 66c–d

Sparassus xerxes Pocock, 1901: 489–490 (description of male and female; syntypes, NHM, examined).

Olios xerxes (Pocock) . Gravely 1931: 240–241, figs 5A, 6A (transfer); Sethi and Tikader 1988: 35, figs 157–162.

Eusparassus xerxes (Pocock) . Moradmand and Jäger 2012a: 2481 , figs 19, 20, 23B (transfer; redescription and illustration of male and female syntypes).

Type material: Syntypes (designated by Pocock 1901): 3 ♂, 1 ♀, 1 immatures, IRAN: Bushehr Province : 1 ♂, 1 ♀, 1 juvenile, Bushehr (sub Bushier), F.W. Townsend leg. ( NHM 1882.109 ) ; 1 ♂, PAKISTAN: Baluchistan Province: Ormara, Makran Coast , F.W. Townsend leg. ( NHM 1899.10.6.7) ; 1 ♂, Ormara, Makran Coast , F.W. Townsend leg. ( NHM 0.5.6.20) .

Material examined. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Ajman: 1♂, S of Al Manamah, Wadi Siji , 1995, Ziegler leg. ( SMF) .

Remarks. This is the first record of E. xerxes from the Arabian Peninsula. According to the distribution range of E. xerxes , it occurs along the Northern strip of the Persian Gulf in Iran to the Makran Coast and central parts of Pakistan ( Fig. 72b ). However, it was not surprising to encounter this species on the Southern shores of the Persian Gulf. This single male specimen has all the diagnostic character of this species. In addition to the characters of copulatory structure, it has the diagnostic vase-like dark marking on the opisthosoma ventrally ( Fig. 56d ). For detailed species description, see Moradmand and Jäger (2012a: 43).

Systematic position. Eusparassus xerxes is similar to the dufouri and vestigator groups due to the presence of the dark marking on the ventral opisthosoma, but the females differ in having not fused AMLL of epigyne. It is similar to doriae group in the latter character. Eusparassus xerxes has four thick bristles, a character shared with the vestigator group, but it differs in lacking the autapomorphic character of the vestigator group, the strongly developed vRTA. Consequently, E. xerxes could not be placed in any of the vestigator , doriae or dufouri groups. Its geographical distribution also supports this intermediate status.

Known geographical distribution. From the Middle East [ Iran and UAE (new country record)] to Pakistan ( Fig. 72b ).

Figures

FIGURE 56. Habitus and ventral views of Eusparassus spp. (a) Eusparassus educatus spec. nov. paratype male from Namibia; (b) Eusparassus tuckeri (Lawrence, 1927) comb. nov., female from Namibia; (c–d) Eusparassus xerxes (Pocock, 1901) (c syntype male from Pakistan, d syntype subadult male from Iran); (e–f) Eusparassus pontii Caporiacco, 1935, female from Ladakh, Himalayas, India.

FIGURE 66. (a–b, e) Cercetius perezi Simon, 1902; (c–d) Eusparassus xerxes (Pocock, 1901); (f) Eusparassus maynardi (Pocock, 1901); (g) Eusparassus pontii Caporiacco, 1935. (a, c) left male palps, (e) bulbus, ventral; (b, d, f, g) epigynes, dorsal.

FIGURE 72. Distribution range of (a) Eusparassus doriae group; (b) Eusparassus incertae sedis and Cercetius perezi. (a, b) with the same scale.