Attulus (Attulus) sylvestris (Emerton, 1891), restored (removed from synonymy with S. floricola)

Maddison, Wayne P., Maddison, David R., Derkarabetian, Shahan & Hedin, Marshal, 2020, Sitticine jumping spiders: phylogeny, classification, and chromosomes (Araneae, Salticidae, Sitticini), ZooKeys 925, pp. 1-54 : 1

Attulus (Attulus) sylvestris (Emerton, 1891), restored (removed from synonymy with S. floricola) Figures 31 , 32 , 54-58

Attus sylvestris Emerton, 1891 (Holotype male in MCZ from Beverly, Massachusetts, examined).

Sitticus magnus Chamberlin & Ivie, 1944, syn. nov.

Sitticus rupicola - Prószyński, 1980, figs 58, 59 (misidentification), specimen from Texas.

Remarks.

A widespread but little-known Nearctic species, A. sylvestris can be found on partially shaded ground where the males stand out for their tiny bouncing bright white spots (the white tuft of setae on the palp’s tibia). We have found them on rocks and leaf litter along a forest edge in Ontario, on the ground at the edge of a creek in a forest in California, and on forest leaf litter in Maryland. See discussion under A. floricola about why we judge A. sylvestris to be the proper name of this species, at issue because of confusion over the type specimens of Attus palustris .

Both males and females have shorter legs and less contrasting markings than in A. floricola , but the distinction of markings is most notable in the male, which lacks the high-contrast white stripes on dark brown seen in A. floricola . The white setae on the male’s palp are concentrated on just the tibia and end of the femur. The bulb of the palp is rotated slightly more than in A. floricola , and thus the spermophore’s path shows an upturn (i.e., the loop is angled to point distally instead of basally as in floricola ), and the female’s copulatory ducts arrive further to the posterior before looping back anteriorly to enter the spermathecae. In these regards the genitalia resemble those of the Eurasian A. rupicola , A. caricis , and A. inexpectus (Logunov and Kronsestedt 1997). Attulus sylvestris is most similar to A. caricis in appearance (low-contrast brown markings), in having a small loop of the copulatory duct, and small body size, but differs in brighter markings on the palp, a more anteriorly-placed junction where the ducts enter the spermatheca, a larger epigynal RTA coupling pocket, and a more distinctly swollen bulb of the spermatheca. (They are also distinct on the COI tree, Fig. 104 .) The synonymy of magnus can be determined by its original description and Prószyński’s (1980) excellent drawing of the vulva of the holotype female. The female from Texas tentatively identified by Prószyński (1980: 15, figs 58, 59) as S. rupicola is considered here to be S. sylvestris based on his clear drawings showing the loop of the copulatory duct slightly bigger than typical, but not reaching nearly as far to the posterior as in S. rupicola .

Material examined

(all in UBC-SEM except as indicated): Canada: Ontario: Ottawa, Britannia Bay, 45.374, -75.796 (26 males, 3 females), Long Point, 42.53, -80.12 (2 females); U.S.A.: Maryland: Dorchester Co. (1 male 1 female, MCZ); Colorado: Morgan Co., Fort Morgan (1 female); California: Smith Redwoods State Reserve (1 male), 36.3907, -121.5951 (2 females), 36.3742, -121.5614 (1 male, 4 females).

Figures

Figure 104. Relationships among Attulus floricola mitochondrial COI sequences in the context of the floricola group. Specimens in bold had their relationships constrained by the UCE phylogeny of Fig. 48; not shown are the relationships outside the floricola group, which are fixed to match the UCE phylogeny. The placement of non-bold specimens on this constrained skeletal tree was inferred by maximum likelihood (RAxML, codon positions as separate partitions).

Figures 31 - 38. Attulus subgenus Attulus, continued (floricola group) 31, 32 Attulus sylvestris: 31 male, Ontario, Ottawa 32 male, Maryland, Dorchester Co 33 - 35 A. floricola: 33 male, Ontario, Port Cunnington 34 male, Ontario (46.9300, - 79.7268) 35 male, Ontario, Gravenhurst 36 - 38 A. inexpectus: 36, 37 male, Tuva (50.6690, 92.9844) 38 female, Tuva (51.316, 94.495). For additional images of the floricola group, see Figs 49 - 58.

Figures 49 - 68. Sitticines of Canada: Attulus subgenus Attulus (for A. ammophilus, see Figs 69 - 73) 49 - 53 Attulus floricola: 49 palp (Ontario, Gravenhurst) 50, 51 ventral view of epigyne, dorsal view of cleared vulva (Ontario, Gravenhurst) 52 male (Ontario, 46.9300, - 79.7268) 53 female (Ontario, 46.9300, - 79.7268) 54 - 58 Attulus sylvestris: 54 palp (Ontario, Ottawa) 55, 56 ventral view of epigyne, dorsal view of cleared vulva (Ontario, Ottawa) 57 male (California, 36.3646, - 121.5544) 58 female (Ontario, 42.55, - 80.13) 59 - 63 Attulus striatus: 59 palp (Ontario, 45.1453, - 75.8467) 60, 61 ventral view of epigyne, dorsal view of cleared vulva (Ontario, 45.1453, - 75.8467) 62 male (Ontario, 45.1453, - 75.8467) 63 female (New Hampshire, Ponemah Bog) 64 - 68 Attulus cutleri: 64 palp (Northwest Territories, Wrigley) 65, 66 ventral view of epigyne, dorsal view of cleared vulva (Northwest Territories, Wrigley) 67 male (Northwest Territories, Inuvik) 68 female (Yukon, 67.57, - 139.67). For habitus of other Attulus species, see Figs 15 - 38.