Heser vijayanagara, Bosselaers, Jan, 2010

Bosselaers, Jan, 2010, A new species of Heser Tuneva, 2005 (Araneae, Gnaphosidae) from the south of India, ZooKeys 73, pp. 1-11 : 3-7

Heser vijayanagara sp. n. Figs 1-8, 10 –1112– 19

Type material.

Holotype male:India, Karnataka, Hospet, Hampi World Heritage Site, 15°18'27.7"N 76°28'32.8"E, alt. 455 m, under stone close to archaeological office, 25 November 2006, J. Bosselaers leg. (RBINS). Allotype female, same data (RBINS).

Diagnosis.

The species can be distinguished from the other three species of Heser by the abdominal dorsal scutum in males, the pronounced S-shaped curve of the sperm duct, the small, transversally oriented median apophysis and the hook-shaped embolus tip circling the broad membranous conductor in the male palp, as well as the narrow anterior epigynal hood, the large spermathecae and the circular insemination ducts in females.

Entymology.

The species epithet is a noun in apposition and refers to the imperial city of Vijayanagara (Hampi, Karnataka, India) among whose ruins the type specimens of the new species were found (Fig. 9).

Description.

Male (holotype). Total length: 5.00. Carapace length: 2.24; width: 1.63. Carapace orange brown, unicolorous, with a deep and narrow fovea in the posterior half (Fig. 1). Eight eyes in two rows, ringed with black, AER width 0.47, straight from above, slightly procurved from front, PER width 0.56, procurved from above, strongly procurved from front. MOQ depth 0.35, anterior width 0.29, posterior width 0.32. Eyes of AER subequal, AME grey and circular, separated by half their diameter, ALE oval, pearly white, touching AME. PME oval to subtriangular, pearly white, touching, larger than AME (Fig. 1). PLE subquadratic, pearly white, slightly smaller than ALE, separated from PME by half the PLE diameter. Clypeus vertical, slightly larger than diameter of AME. Chilum small, sclerotised, subtriangular and single, orange-brown. Chelicerae brown, with a few scattered thin setae on anterior face, anterior cheliceral rim with two very small teeth close to fang base and three larger teeth further from fang base, posterior cheliceral rim with one very small tooth close to fang base end two medium-sized teeth further from fang base. Sternum smooth, orange-brown, shield-shaped with a thin border, length 1.32; width 1.08. No precoxal triangles ( Bosselaers and Jocqué 2002: 247, fig. 1K, Penniman 1985: 16) or intercoxal sclerites ( Bosselaers and Jocqué 2002: 247), pleural bars ( Bosselaers and Jocqué 2002: 247, fig. 1P; Simon 1892: 11, fig. 29) yellow-brown, weakly sclerotised and isolated, not protruding between coxae. Labium brown, longer than wide, with a slightly thickened anterior rim. Endites longer than labium, dumbbell-shaped with oblique depression, and provided with an apical hair tuft (Fig. 2). Abdomen mottled grey dorsally, with a frontal row of curved hairs and a small, shiny, brown anterior do scutum covering less than 10% of abdominal do surface area. (Fig. 1). Lateral and ventral sides of abdomen creamy white (Figs 1, 2). ALS and PLS large and cylindrical, PMS thin and slender, shorter than PLS. Legs yellow-brown, unicolorous (Figs 1, 2). No trochanter notch, no retrocoxal hymen ( Raven 1998, Bosselaers and Jocqué 2002), patellar indentation ( Simon 1892: 22, Ledoux and Canard 1991: fig. 15A-15B) long and narrow, 2/3 of pa length. Metatarsi III and IV with ventral terminal preening comb composed of stiff, black setae. Tarsi with two pectinate claws, no claw tufts. Leg formula 4123. Leg spination (Fig. 10): fe: palp do 0-1-2; I pl 0-0-1 do 1-1-0;II pl 0-0-1 do 1-1-0;III do 1-3-3; IV do 1-3-2; pa: palp pl 1-0 do 0-1; III do 0-2-0; ti: palp do 0-0-1; III pl 1-0-1 do 3-0-0 rl 1-0-1 ve 2-2-2; IV pl 1-0-1 do 1-1-0 rl 1-0-1 ve 2-2-2; mt: III pl 0-1-1 do 2-1-2 rl 0-1-1 ve 2-2-1; IV pl 0-1-1 do 2-2-2 rl 0-1-1 ve 2-2-1; ta: palp pl 1-0-0 do 1-0-0 rl 1-0-0.

Leg measurements:

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Male palp with a slender, basally-prolaterally inserted embolus circling more than half of the tegulum, having a hook-shaped tip pointing in prolateral direction, which is curling around the broad, membranous conductor. Median apophysis small and subtriangular, oriented transversally. Sperm duct with a pronounced, S-shaped curve in basal half of tegulum. Retrolateral tibial apophysis pointed, subtriangular (Figs 5-7, 13-14).

Female (allotype). Total length: 6.31. Carapace length: 2.37; width: 1.79. Carapace as in male (Fig. 3). Eyes as in male, AER width 0.53, PER width 0.58, MOQ depth 0.39, anterior width 0.30, posterior width 0.31. PME subtriangular, somewhat smaller than in male, almost touching (Figs 3, 12). Clypeus and chilum as in male. Cheliceral teeth as in male (Fig. 17). Sternum smooth, yellow-brown with a darker margin (Fig. 4), shield-shaped with a thin border, length 1.45; width 1.13. No precoxal triangles or intercoxal sclerites, pleural bars as in male. Labium and endites as in male (Fig. 4). Abdomen pale grey dorsally, with a frontal row of curved hairs and a number of paler chevrons in posterior half, no do scutum (Fig. 3). Ventral side of abdomen pale white (Fig. 4). Legs yellow-brown, unicolorous (Figs 3, 4). No trochanter notch, no retrocoxal hymen, patellar indentation as in male. Metatarsi III and IV with ventral terminal preening comb composed of stiff, black setae (Fig. 16). Tarsi with two pectinate claws, no claw tufts. Leg formula 4123. Leg spination (Fig. 11): fe: palp do 0-1-2; I pl 0-0-1 do 1-1-0;II pl 0-0-1 do 1-1-0;III do 1-3-3; IV do 1-3-2; pa: palp pl 1-0 do 1-1; III do 0-2-0; ti: palp pl 0-1-2 do 0-0-1; III pl 1-0-1 do 3-0-0 rl 1-0-1 ve 2-2-2; IV pl 1-0-1 do 1-1-0 rl 1-0-1 ve 2-2-2; mt: III pl 0-1-1 do 2-1-2 rl 0-1-1 ve 2-2-1; IV pl 0-1-1 do 2-2-2 rl 0-1-1 ve 2-2-1; ta: palp pl 0-2-1 do 1-0-0 rl 0-1-0 ve 0-0-2.

Leg measurements:

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Epigyne simple and poorly sclerotised, with a narrow anterior hood and showing large, oval spermathecae, as well as the connected, stout, inward directed part of the looped anterior insemination ducts. Copulatory openings small and medially situated (Figs 8, 15, 18, 19). Vulva (Figs 18, 19) with two large, thick-walled, oval, posterior spermathecae, connected to the anterior, medially situated copulatory openings by an insemination duct looped over 360°. The first, hemicircular stretch of the looped insemination duct passes dorsally behind the anterior part of the spermathecae, while the second, straight, longitudinally directed stretch carries an accessory gland (Fig. 19), and the third, stout, outward directed and ventrally situated stretch connects to the large spermathecae (Fig. 18).