Pterotricha cf. dalmasi Fage, 1929

Zamani, Alireza, Seiedy, Marjan, Saboori, Alireza & Marusik, Yuri M., 2018, The spider genus Pterotricha in Iran, with the description of a new genus (Araneae, Gnaphosidae), ZooKeys 777, pp. 17-41 : 17

Pterotricha cf. dalmasi Fage, 1929 Figs 1, 16

Pterotricha dalmasi : Levy 1995: 948, f. 71-76 (♂♀).

Material examined.

IRAN: 1♀ (ZUCT), Hormozgan Province: Minab, sand dunes of Minab beach, February 2018 (A. Zamani).

Diagnosis.

This species closely resembles P. conspersa (O. Pickard–Cambridge, 1876). Males are diagnosed by the different shape of the base of the tegular apophysis (sub-circular in P. dalmasi vs. irregularly shaped in P. conspersa ) and the retrolateral tibial apophysis (more massive in P. conspersa ), while females can be distinguished by the different shape of the epigynal septum (anterior depression pointed posteriorly and median curves pointed anteriorly or anterolaterally in P. dalmasi (Figs 1d, e) vs. the anterior depression pointed anteriorly and median curves pointed posteriorly in P. conspersa ) ( Levy 1995).

Description.

Well described by Levy (1995).

Comments.

The species was described from males. Levy (1995) was the first to describe females of this species. He provided figures of two “forms” of the epigyne ( Levy 1995: figs 74-75). The epigyne illustrated on fig. 75 is rather similar to the epigyne of our specimen. Apparently, the small (tiny) receptacular gland present in the Iranian specimen was overlooked in the specimens from Israel, and perhaps the female specimens illustrated by Levy (1995) belong to two different species. A lack of samples containing both males and females does not allow us to conclude which of the two “forms” of the females are conspecific with P. dalmasi .

Records in Iran.

Hormozgan (Fig. 16).

Distribution.

From Algeria to Iran (first record), south to Sudan and Saudi Arabia ( WSC 2018).