Agyneta iranica, V. & Tanasevitch, 2011

Tanasevitch, Andrei, V., 2011, A new Agyneta Hull, 1911 from Iran (Araneae, Linyphiidae, Micronetinae), Revue suisse de Zoologie 118 (1), pp. 45-48 : 45-47

Agyneta iranica sp. n.

Figs 1-7

HOLOTYPE: MNHG (without registration number); ♂, Iran, Golestan; labeled as Mazandaran; Naharkhoran / Gorgan (36°44’N, 54°29’E), forest, sifted litter and moss; 20.VII.1973; leg. A. Senglet [7332].

PARATYPES: MNHG (without registration number); 2 ♀, same locality and date as for holotype.

ETYMOLOGY: The specific name, an adjective, is derived from the name of the country of origin.

DIAGNOSIS: The new species can be easily distinguished by the peculiar shape of the lamella characteristica, by the presence of a strong tooth at the base of the embolus in male, as well as by the much wider entrance ducts, which are well translucent through the proscape in the female.

DESCRIPTION: Male. Total length 1.77. Carapace 0.75 long, 0.55 wide, brown, with a thin black margin. Chelicerae 0.32 long. Legs yellow to pale brown. Leg I 2.79 long (0.75+0.20+0.70+0.67+0.47), IV 2.86 long (0.77+0.20+0.72+0.65+0.52). Chaetotaxy: All tibiae with two dorsal spines only. Metatarsi spineless. TmI 0.26. Metatarsus IV without trichobothrium. Palp (Figs 1-6): Palpal tibia with two small outgrowths retrolaterally. Cymbium without posterodorsal outgrowth. Posterior and anterior pockets of paracymbium poorly expressed. Lamella characteristica like a narrow band with a hook apically. Embolus with a long tooth basally. Abdomen 1.00 long, 0.70 wide, pale grey.

Female. Total length 1.90. Carapace 0.75 long, 0.52 wide. Chelicerae 0.30 long, unmodified. Leg I 2.42 long (0.70+0.20+0.62+0.58+0.32), IV 2.46 long (0.72+0.20+0.62+0.60+0.32). TmI 0.22. Abdomen 1.20 long, 0.80 wide. Epigyne (Fig. 7): Proscape slightly narrowed basally. Entrance ducts very wide, well translucent through proscape. Lateral lobes of scape well-developed. Body and leg coloration, as well as chaetotaxy, as in male.

TAXONOMIC REMARKS: The new species seems to be most similar to the Turkmenian-Iranian Agyneta kopetdaghensis Tanasevitch, 1989 , originally described from Kopet Dagh Mts, Turkmenistan ( Tanasevitch, 1989), but differs clearly by the shape of the distal part of the lamella characteristica, which is claw-shaped in A. iranica sp. n., versus circular saw-like in A. kopetdaghensis . The female of the new species differs from that of A. kopetdaghensis by the much wider entrance ducts of the epigyne, well translucent through the proscape.

DISTRIBUTION: Known from the type locality only.