Palliduphantes Saaristo & Tanasevitch, 2001

Tanasevitch, Andrei V., 2019, Notes on some Palliduphantes Saaristo & Tanasevitch, 2001, with the description of a new species from the Iberian Peninsula (Araneae: Linyphiidae), Revue suisse de Zoologie 126 (2), pp. 203-208 : 204

Palliduphantes Saaristo & Tanasevitch, 2001

Type species: Linyphia pallida O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1871 , by original designation.

Diagnosis: The diagnosis given below is a slightly corrected and supplemented version of the genus diagnosis provided by Saaristo & Tanasevitch (2001).

1) Medium sized, pale, often cavernicolous micronetine spiders, total length 1.3-2.5, seldom up to 3.0 mm.

2) Abdomen of one color, grey, very seldom with an indistinct dorsal pattern of pale transverse stripes in dark-colored specimens.

3) General pattern of chaetotaxy as follows: Ti I: 2-1-1-0, II: 2-0(1)-1-0, III: 2-0-0(1)-0, IV: 2-0- 0-0; Mt I-III(IV): 1-0-0-0. Tm I: 0.16-0.26, no trichobothrium on Tm IV.

4) Palpal tibia of male usually short, conspicuously swollen, bearing one strong dorsal spine on patella and tibia.

5) Paracymbium large, its posterior and anterior pockets (sensu Saaristo & Tanasevitch, 1996: 167) transformed to two teeth or tooth-like outgrowths.

6) Pit hook (= distal suprategular apophysis in male palp of Erigoninae ; not illustrated in this paper) relatively long, curved, blunt or sharply pointed.

7) Radix oblong, Fickert’s gland present.

8) Main trunk of lamella characteristica long and narrow, slightly bent or S-shaped.

9) Terminal apophysis usually bipartite, seldom fan- or broom-shaped.

10) Embolus with a trunk-like main body, relatively long, weak, embolus proper bifid.

11) Epigyne protruded, its side walls drawn into platelike extensions between which lies the scapus.

12) Proscapus long and narrow, its median part short or reduced. Distal part of scape often lacking distinct lateral lobes, stretcher present or reduced.

13) Posterior median plate present.

Taxonomic remarks: An examination of the Lepthyphantes (sensu lato) fauna of southern Europe revealed that, on the basis of the diagnosis given above, at least eight species actually belong to Palliduphantes , i.e. Palliduphantes bigerrensis ( Simon, 1929) , P. constantinescui ( Georgescu, 1989) , P. corfuensis ( Wunderlich, 1995) , P. eleonorae ( Wunderlich, 1995) , P. fagei ( Machado, 1939) , P. garganicus ( Caporiacco, 1951) , P. ligulifer ( Denis, 1952) and P. zaragozai ( Ribera, 1981) , all comb. nov. ex Lepthyphantes .

Species included: The genus currently includes 80 species (including the new species and new combinations), distributed mainly in the Mediterranean.