Histopona breviemboli, Dimitrov & Deltshev & Lazarov, 2017

Dimitrov, Dragomir, Deltshev, Christo & Lazarov, Stoyan, 2017, Description of Histopona breviemboli sp. n. from the Balkan Peninsula (Arachnida, Araneae, Agelenidae), Zootaxa 4311 (2), pp. 283-286 : 283-286

Histopona breviemboli sp. n. Figs. 1–8 .

Textrix chyzeri: Demircan & Topcu 2015: 182 (misidentification).

Type material: Holotype ♂, Bulgaria, Strandzha Mts, Kondolovo Village, 30.6.2004, leg. M. Langouov. Paratypes: 1 ♂, same data as holotype; 4 ♂, same locality, 4.08.1998; 1 ♂, same locality, 9.10.1998; 1 ♂, same locality, 7.11.1998; 1 ♂, same locality, 11.11.2000; 1 ♂, Gramatikovo village, 13.11.1999; 1 ♂, same locality, 8.2000, leg. V. Popov. Other material ( Demircan & Topcu 2015, not examined): 4 ♂, 6 ♀, Turkey, Kırklareli Province, Vize District, Balkaya Village, Uzuntarla (Domuzdere) Cave (Demirkan & Topçu, 2015). The material is not examined because the images presented by Demirkan & Topçu, 2015 where sufficient to match their specimens with the males described here. Etymology: From the Latin words ‘brevis’ (short) and ‘embolus’.

Diagnosis: The new species has somatic characters (notched trochanters, patellae with dorsal spines only, male palps with patellar apopyse) that correspond well to those of the genus Histopona , according to Bolzern et al. (2013). The male of Histopona breviemboli sp. n. can be easily separated from all the other Histopona species by the overall shape of the male bulbus, the short embolus and its position, the thorn-like radix, the shape of the patellar apophysis and the simple (with no branches) and pointed at the end tibial apophysis of the pedipalp ( Figs 3–5 , 6–8 ). It’s not related to any of the known species.

Description: Male holotype: Measurements (in mm): Total length, 4.5; cephalothorax: length, 1.73, width,1.13; clypeus: width, 0.15; chelicerae: length, 0.83, width, 0.38; sternum: length, 0.90, width, 0.83. Coloration ( Figs 1, 2 ): Prosoma yellow-brown. Sternum yellow-brown, without pattern. Opistosoma grey-white. Legs: same color as prosoma. Eyes: Both eye rows straight in dorsal view. Anterior lateral eyes larger than anterior median eyes. Posterior eyes equal in size. Chelicerae: with 2 teeth on promargin and 5 teeth on retromargin. The number of cheliceral teeth may vary even between left and right chelicerae of a single specimen. Colulus reduced, only two hairy plates are visible. Legs: All trochanters notched, patellae with dorsal spines only, measurements as in Table 1. Chaetotaxy see Table 2.

Male palps ( Figs 3–5 , 6–8 ): With retrolateral tibial and retrolateral patellar apophyses. Tibial apophysis with no branches, pointed at the end. Patellar apophysis short and simple. Bulbus: Embolus very short (not typical for Histopona ). Radix thorn-like, very similar in shape to the embolus. At a glance, it looks like that the embolus is forked. Both embolus and radix go into conductor.

General distribution: Bulgaria, Turkey.

Discussion: The species has been previously recorded by Demircan & Topçu (2015) as Textrix chyzeri , which is obviously a misidentification. It certainly does not belong to Textrix at all because of the notched trochanters (straight in Textrix ), straight eyerows (recurved in Textrix ) and the presence of a patellar apophysis (missing in Textrix ). Although its genital structure also differs from all known Histopona , the somatic characters (notched trochanters, presence of only dorsal spines on patellae, presence of patellar apophysis) are much closer to this genus (according to Bolzern et al. 2013). Histopona breviemboli sp. n. slightly resembles the species of H. italica —group by the overall structure of the bulbus and reduced colulus. For the record of Textrix chyzeri , cited above, Demircan & Topçu (2015) provide a picture and a short description of the female. The presented picture of the female epigyne also resembles those of italica —group. However, the embolus of Histopona breviemboli sp. n. is much shorter than in any other Histopona species and the radix is also very different, having a thorn-like shape, so the species cannot be placed in any of the existing Histopona speciesgroups.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 5. Histopona breviemboli sp. n., male holotype. 1. Habitus, dorsal view; 2. Habitus, ventral view; 3 – 5. Male palp, prolateral, ventral and retrolateral view. Scale lines: 2.0 — 1, 2; 0.2 — 3 – 5.

FIGURES 6 – 8. Histopona breviemboli sp. n., male paratype. 6 – 8. Male palp, prolateral, ventral and retrolateral view. Scale lines: 0.2.