Paracedicus turcicus, Gündüz, 2023

Guenduez, Goekhan, 2023, A new species of Paracedicus Fet, 1993 (Araneae, Desidae) from Turkey, Biodiversity Data Journal 11, pp. 109714-109714 : 109714

Paracedicus turcicus sp. nov.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: G1 ; recordNumber: Paraturc 2023_1; recordedBy: Goekhan Guenduez ; individualCount: 1; sex: male; lifeStage: adult; preparations: 70% Ethanol Solution ; occurrenceID: B59FEB68-115D-53BD-8D16-60822CCAF5ED; Taxon : scientificName: Paracedicus turcicus; Location : country: Turkey; stateProvince: Muş; locality: Korkut District , Konakduezue Village ; verbatimElevation: 1340 m; verbatimLatitude: 38°36'46.8"N; verbatimLongitude: 41°53'24.0"E; georeferenceProtocol: GPS; Identification : identifiedBy: Goekhan Guenduez ; Event : samplingProtocol: Hand Aspirator ; eventDate: 10/04/2018; Record Level: language: en Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: G2 ; recordNumber: Paraturc 2023_2; recordedBy: Goekhan Guenduez ; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; preparations: 70% Ethanol Solution ; occurrenceID: 25C34AAB-FA79-5E20-A568-3602B4DB0C65; Taxon : scientificName: Paracedicus turcicus; Location : country: Turkey; stateProvince: Muş; locality: Korkut District , Konakduezue Village ; verbatimElevation: 1340 m; verbatimLatitude: 38°36'46.8"N; verbatimLongitude: 41°53'24.0"E; georeferenceProtocol: GPS; Identification : identifiedBy: Goekhan Guenduez ; Event : samplingProtocol: Hand Aspirator ; eventDate: 10/04/2018; Record Level: language: en Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: G3 ; recordNumber: Paraturc 2023_3; recordedBy: Goekhan Guenduez ; individualCount: 1; sex: male; lifeStage: adult; preparations: 70% Ethanol Solution ; occurrenceID: B13A8C45-5361-529F-9EF8-307F58BAC3E5; Taxon : scientificName: Paracedicus turcicus; Location : country: Turkey; stateProvince: Muş; locality: Korkut District , Konakduezue Village ; verbatimElevation: 1340 m; verbatimLatitude: 38°36'46.8"N; verbatimLongitude: 41°53'24.0"E; georeferenceProtocol: GPS; Identification : identifiedBy: Goekhan Guenduez ; Event : samplingProtocol: Hand Aspirator ; eventDate: 10/04/2018; Record Level: language: en Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: G4 ; recordNumber: Paraturc 2023_4; recordedBy: Goekhan Guenduez ; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; preparations: 70% Ethanol Solution ; occurrenceID: C9E59716-C219-51EC-A20B-30A963E47292; Taxon : scientificName: Paracedicus turcicus; Location : country: Turkey; stateProvince: Muş; locality: Korkut District , Konakduezue Village ; verbatimElevation: 1340 m; verbatimLatitude: 38°36'46.8"N; verbatimLongitude: 41°53'24.0"E; georeferenceProtocol: GPS; Identification : identifiedBy: Goekhan Guenduez ; Event : samplingProtocol: Hand Aspirator ; eventDate: 10/04/2018; Record Level: language: en

Description

Male: Holotype (ZMUU). Habitus as in Fig. 1 A. Total body length: 5.83. Prosoma: Carapace length: 2.53, width: 1.73. Sternum length: 1.40, width: 1.06. Carapace brown (Fig. 1 A). Sternum slightly reddish-yellow and droplet-shaped.

Legs: Legs yellow, with numerous spines (Fig. 1 A). Measurements of legs: I: 6.47 (1.89, 0.75, 1.60, 1.31, 0.92), II: 5.64 (1.66, 0.64, 1.35, 1.14, 0.85), III: 4.83 (1.38, 0.58, 0.94, 1.18, 0.75), IV: 6.24 (1.86, 0.73, 1.49, 1.43, 0.73). Spination is given in Table 1 .

Chelicerae: Chelicerae dark brown (Fig. 1 B). Retromargin of cheliceral furrow with four gradually increasing teeth (the most distal one very small); promargin with five teeth, largest being fourth tooth distally.

Eye diameters and interdistances: AME: 0.07; ALE: 0.11; PME: 0.07; PLE: 0.08. ALE-AME: 0.10; AME-AME: 0.04; ALE-PLE: 0.04; PLE-PME: 0.15; PME-PME: 0.14; AME-PME: 0.05. PER: 0.75. AER: 0.58.

Gnathocoxae dark yellow with white patch distally, non-convergent. Labium similar in colour to gnathocoxae.

Abdomen: Abdomen greyish-yellow, with a dark pattern dorsally (Fig. 1 A).

Spinnerets: Spinnerets light greyish-yellow. Apical segment approximately one-sixth length of basal segment.

Palp: Femur without apophysis. Patella with two closely-positioned apophyses. One of them considerably larger (as wide as patella), with a blunt tip, dark-coloured, rectangular shape from dorsal view. Second one smaller, slightly bending retrolaterally and lighter. Tibia elongated diagonally and with several scattered long spines. Cymbium globular, with short hairs dorsally. Tegulum oval and without any projections or outgrowths. Median apophysis lamellar, semi-transparent, quite small and flat, crescent-shaped, adjacent to base of conductor and extending over dark-coloured tegulum (Fig. 2 D). Conductor light, membranous, with its base located approximately in middle of tegulum, with truncated tip and bending retrolaterally. Embolic base thick. Embolus widening in middle part, narrowing towards to proximal, with sharp tip (Fig. 3 ).

Female: Paratype (ZMUU). Habitus as in Fig. 2 C. Total body length: 6.11. Prosoma: Carapace length: 2.66, width: 1.82. Sternum length: 1.53; width: 1.20. Carapace and sternum as in male, but lighter.

Legs: Legs as in male; but lighter. Measurements of legs: I: 5.35 (1.72, 0.63, 1.26, 1.01, 0.73), II: 4.52 (1.37, 0.56, 1.02, 0.93, 0.64), III: 4.29 (1.31, 0.47, 0.94, 0.88, 0.69), IV: 6.01 (1.76, 0.52, 1.52, 1.36, 0.85). Spination is given in Table 2 .

Chelicerae: Chelicerae as in male, but lighter and with larger first (the most distal one) of retromarginal teeth (Fig. 2 A).

Eye diameters and interdistances: AME: 0.09; ALE: 0.13; PME: 0.10; PLE: 0.09. ALE-AME: 0.07; AME-AME: 0.04; ALE-PLE: 0.03; PLE-PME: 0.13; PME-PME: 0.16; AME-PME: 0.05. PER: 0.84. AER: 0.65.

Gnathocoxae and labium as in male; but lighter.

Abdomen and spinnerets as in male; but slightly lighter (Fig. 2 B, C).

Epigyne: Simple, fovea surrounded by an intact sclerotised layer anteriorly and laterally. Fovea approximately twice as long as its width, narrowing towards anterior. Posteriorly, with extending transversely straight strip-shaped median plate tapering in middle and extending inwards. Vulva complex. Opaque and membranous structures extending inside epigyne, forming a pair of ear-like structures on both sides of vulva and covering copulatory ducts and spermathecae. Copulatory ducts wide. Spermathecae tubular, adjacent to ear-like opaque structures. Fertilisation ducts prominent and extending inwards (Fig. 4 ).

Diagnosis

Paracedicus : Paracedicus can be distinguished from related genera Cedicus Simon, 1875 and Cedicoides Charitonov, 1946 by genital characters. These can be listed as follows: median apophysis is present in species of Paracedicus , while it is absent in those of Cedicus and Cedicoides . In Cedicoides species, a prominent terminal apophysis is present in the palp, whereas this structure is absent in Paracedicus species. Additionally, in Cedicoides species, the conductor extends apically and the embolus is separated from the conductor, whereas in Paracedicus , the conductor is inclined retrolaterally and the embolus is situated within the conductor groove ( Fet 1993, Marusik and Guseinov 2003, Levy 2007, Mirshamsi 2018).

The new species is most closely related to P. feti . It can be differentiated from P. feti and/or other congeners based on these characters: 1 - Size and shape of median apophysis (smaller in P. feti ; larger in P. baram , P. geshur and P. ephthalitus than new species), 2 - thickness of embolus (thinner in P. feti than new species), 3 - orientation of conductor (not bending towards apical like P. darvishi or towards basal like P. ephthalitus and P. gennadii in new species), 4 - size and shape of patellar apophyses (The new species bears two apophyses; one being as wide as patella and rectangular, while the other is slender and inclined. Other congeners have less wide patellar apophyses.), 5 - morphology of palpal tibia (elongated diagonally in new species unlike P. feti ), 6 - length of epigynal fovea, (longer than wide in new species, but wider than long in all other congeners, except for P. kasatkini ), 7 - structure of vulva (covered with opaque membrane in new species unlike P. feti ), 8 - colouration and pattern of abdomen (lighter than P. darvishi and P. kasatkini in new species; new species with an abdominal pattern unlike P. kasatkini ).

Etymology

The specific name is an adjective referring to the country where it was found.

Distribution

Known only from the type locality in Muş Province, eastern Turkey (Fig. 5 ).

Ecology

The specimens were collected under stones from the northern slopes of mountains located in the southern part of Muş Basin, which is an important transit region between Central and Eastern Anatolia. The region is predominantly characterised by semi-arid oak forests and the presence of Irano-Turanian floral elements as ground vegetation. Furthermore, occurrences of maquis formations are observed in areas where oak forests have been degraded by anthropogenic impacts (Fig. 6 ).

Biology

The specimens were collected from their silken retreats under stones.

Figures

Figure 1. Male of P. turcicus sp. nov. A Habitus. B Anterior region of prosoma, lateral. Abbreviations: ctf - cheliceral transverse folds. Scale bars: 1 mm (A); 0.5 mm (B).

Figure 2. P. turcicus sp. nov. A Chelicerae of female, ventral. B Spinnerets of female, ventral. C Habitus, female. D Male palp, ventral. Abbreviations: c - conductor, cl - colulus, ctf - cheliceral transverse folds, e - embolus, ma - median apophysis, t - tegulum. Scale bars: 1.00 mm (A); 0.2 mm (B); 1 mm (C); 0.3 mm (D).

Figure 3. Male palp of P. turcicus sp. nov. A Ventral. B Dorsal. C Prolateral. D Retrolateral. Abbreviations: c - conductor, e - embolus, eb - embolic base, ma - median apophysis, pa - patellar apophysis, Ti - tibia. Scale bar: 0.3 mm.

Figure 4. Epigyne and vulva of P. turcicus sp. nov. A Epigyne, ventral. B Macerated epigyne, ventral. C Vulva, dorsal. D Vulva, lateral. E Vulva, anterior. F Vulva, posterior. Abbreviations: cd - copulatory duct, co - copulatory opening, ef - epigastric furrow, fd - fertilisation duct, fo - fovea, mp - median plate, om - opaque membrane, s - spermatheca. Scale bar: 0.5 mm.

Figure 5. Distribution map of Paracedicus spp.

Figure 6. The type locality of P. turcicus sp. nov.; Mus Province, Korkut District, Konakduezue Village.