Cryptothele verrucosa L. Koch, 1872

Marusik, Yuri M. & Omelko, Mikhail M., 2013, First description of the male of Cryptothele verrucosa L. Koch, 1872 (Araneae), the type species of the genus, ZooKeys 351, pp. 31-36 : 32-35

Cryptothele verrucosa L. Koch, 1872 Figs 1-3, 6-11

Cryptothele verrucosa L. Koch, 1872: 240, pl. 20, f. 2 (D♀).

Material examined.

FIJI: 1♂ (ZMUT AA 5.828), Viti Levu, Suva rain forest, 26.05.1973 (J.M. Ackerman).

Diagnosis.

Cryptothele verrucosa differs from Cryptothele alluaudi , the only properly described species in the genus, by lack of carapace pattern, much more heavy camouflage of dirt that covers whole body, straight row of posterior eyes, anterior lateral eyes spaced by one diameter (1/2 of diameter in Cryptothele alluaudi ), shape of tibial apophysis (cf. Figs 11, 12), short and broad embolus with two processes (long and filamentous in Cryptothele alluaudi , Fig. 12).

Description.

Measurements. Total length 5.5, carapace 3.0 long, 2.28 wide. AME 0.14, AME-AME 0.15. Position of metatarsal trichobothria IV 0.9.

Whole body, including sternum and venter of abdomen covered by comouflaging dirt (Figs 1-2). Carapace brown, without pattern, with two rows of hairs aside of median line, these rows are visible after removing the comouflaging dirt. AME spaced by one diameter (Fig. 3), anterior eyes form inverted trapezium (ALE row wider than AME row), posterior eye row almost straight, cephalic area with pit behind posterior median eyes. Leg subeaqual in length, formula 1423. Legs heavily built, with thick femur–tibia and twice as thin metatasrus–tarsus, border between tarsus and metatarsus poorly visible, metatarsi with terminal trichobothria.

Length of legs and leg joints.

Abdomen oval, with two spinnerets (Sn) about the size of anal tubercle (At).

Palp as shown in Figs 6-11. The single specimen examined has both palps expanded. Tibia (Fig. 11) with long retrolateral apophysis tapering in terminal 1/3, dorsal side of apophysis with shallow blunt outgrowth, retrolateral side of tibia with trichobothrium in proximal part; cymbium oval, with trichobothrium on retrolateral side. Subtegulum (St) (Figs 8-10) large (as long as tegulum in lateral view), cone-shaped with three threads (Ts); prolaterally with process (Sp) directed to notch of embolic base. Tegulum nearly oval with triangle extesion (Te) in terminal part (Figs 6, 8, 10). Embolus (Em) broad, longer than tegulum, heavily built in the base (Eb), terminal part lamellated with two processes: digitiform posterior process (Ep) and triangle shape terminal process (Ea), seminal duct (Sd) broad and heavily sclerotised in the base of embolus, and very fine in lamellar part of embolus.

Comments.

Thanks to the discovery of the male of Cryptothele verrucosa (the easternmost species of the genus) it has became possible to compare it with the westernmost species, Cryptothele alluaudi . General appearance of the two species is rather similar (Figs 1-5). They differ in amount of camouflage cover which is almost absent in Cryptothele alluaudi ,but Cryptothele verrucosa is covered heavily on dorsal and ventral sides. Both male and female of Cryptothele alluaudi have a distinct pattern on the carapace. Such a pattern is absent in the studied male of Cryptothele verrucosa (we have removed the camouflage cover); it is also absent in the conspecific female, judging from L. Koch’s description. Male of Cryptothele alluaudi has relatively longer and thinner legs (cf. Figs 1 and 4) and less spaced anterior lateral eyes (Figs 3 and 5). The posterior eye row is straight in Cryptothele verrucosa (Fig. 1) and recurved in Cryptothele alluaudi (Fig. 4). Male palps in two species are strikingly different. Cryptothele alluaudi has a long filamentous spiraled embolus and conductor (Co) (Fig. 12). In Cryptothele verrucosa the embolus is flat and broad. Extension of tegulum in Cryptothele alluaudi is weakly sclerotized and has subparallel margins, while in Cryptothele verrucosa it is triangle–shaped and strongly sclerotized.

In the collection of the Zoological Museum, University of Turku we had the opportunity to examine males of two unidentified species of Cryptothele , one from Thailand (which seems new to science) and another from Indonesia (probably Cryptothele sundaica Thorell, 1890). Males of both species have conformation of the palp similar to that in Cryptothele alluaudi (a thin and long embolus, a well developed conductor, etc.). This may indicate that Cryptothele alluaudi , Cryptothele sundaica and the mentioned undescribed species most likely are not congeneric with Cryptothele verrucosa and the genus could be split in the future into two separate genera.

Comparative material examined.

Cryptothele sp. (presumably new) 1♂ (ZMUT: AA 5.812), Thailand, Chanthaburi Pr., Kho Yai N.P., Wang Chum Pee, rain forest, 27.10-22.11.1976 (P.Lehtinen) covered with dirt, even cymbium, but RTA like in Cryptothele alluaudi , embolus and conductor long.

Cryptothele sundaica ?: 2♂ 1♀ (ZMUT: AA 5.806), Indonesia, Sumatera Barat, Paykumbuh d., Lubu Bangku, low jungle, 7.12.1980 (P.T.Lehtinen).