Sphingius paltaensis Biswas & Biswas, 1992

Sankaran, Pradeep M., Caleb, John T. D. & Sebastian, Pothalil A., 2020, A review of the genus Sphingius Thorell, 1890 from India (Araneae: Liocranidae), Zootaxa 4896 (4), pp. 505-522 : 514-515

Sphingius paltaensis Biswas & Biswas, 1992

Fig. 7

Sphingius paltaensis Biswas & Biswas, 1992: 426 , figs 36–38. Type material. Holotype ♀ from INDIA: West Bengal: North 24 Parganas: Palta : Santi Nagar (22°46’57.51’’N, 88°22’50.46’’E), 12 m a.s.l., leg. Bijan Biswas, 8 December 1986, deposited in NZC-ZSI (5046/18), examined ( Fig. 7E ).

Diagnosis. Females of S. paltaensis are closely related to the females of S. spinosus Dankittipakul, Tavano & Singtripop, 2011 , but can be separated by circular atrium (quadrangular in S. spinosus ) and sharply curved copulatory ducts (gently curved in S. spinosus ) (compare Fig. 7 C–D with Dankittipakul et al. 2011: figs 25–26).

Supplementary description. Female ( Fig. 7 A–B). Body length 6.46. Carapace length 2.76, width 2.30. Opisthosoma length 3.70, width 2.00. Eye diameters: ALE 0.14. AME 0.10. PLE 0.11. PME 0.15. Eye interdistances: ALE–PLE 0.07. AME–ALE 0.04. AME–AME 0.06. AME–PME 0.08. PME–PLE 0.06. PME–PME 0.07. Chelicerae length 0.96. Clypeus height at ALEs 0.07, at AMEs 0.13. Measurements of palp and legs. Palp 3.00 [0.93, 0.58, 0.59, 0.90], I 8.38 [2.38, 1.23, 1.90, 1.48, 1.39], II 6.52 [1.72, 0.87, 1.39, 1.36, 1.18], III 6.17 [1.66, 0.93, 1.18, 1.39, 1.01], IV 9.17 [2.74, 1.19, 1.96, 2.41, 0.87]. Leg formula: 4123. Genitalia ( Fig. 7 C–D, F): epigynal plate moderately sclerotized. Atrium large, nearly circular, with wide anterior hood ( Fig. 7C ). Copulatory openings situated on postero-lateral margin of epigynal atrium. Copulatory ducts short, curving medially ( Fig. 7D ). Bursae globular, with indistinct stalks, arising on distal part of copulatory ducts ( Fig. 7D ). Spermathecae large, more or less pear-shaped, lying parallel to each other ( Fig. 7D ). Fertilization ducts more or less linear-shaped, directed mesally towards each other ( Fig. 7D ).

Male. Unknown.

Remarks. The ZSI collection has one glass bottle for this species labelled as ‘holotype’ (5046/18) containing a female specimen with broken legs, otherwise in good condition. The same bottle has a small glass vial containing the dissected genitalia. There is an inconsistency in the registration number of this species; the label mentions it as ‘5406/18’, but in the original literature, it is given as ‘5046/18’.

Figures

FIGURE 7. Sphingius paltaensis Biswas & Biswas, 1992, holotype ♀. A habitus, dorsal. B eye group, dorsal. C epigynum, ventral. D vulva, dorsal. E label from type bottle. F original illustrations adopted from Biswas and Biswas (1992). Scale bars: A, 2 mm; B, 0.5 mm; C–D, 0.2 mm.