Sicarius hahni ( Karsch, 1878 )

Lotz, L. N., 2012, Present status of Sicariidae (Arachnida: Araneae) in the Afrotropical region, Zootaxa 3522, pp. 1-41 : 8-10

Sicarius hahni ( Karsch, 1878)

( Figs. 2C, 3C, 4D, 6B)

Hexomma hahnii Karsch, 1878: 325 , pl. 9, f. 2.

Hexophthalma hahni, Karsch, 1879: 109 .

Sicarius hahni, Simon, 1893: 269 , f. 225–231; Purcell, 1908: 225; Newlands 1986: 51, f. 21–23.

Sicarius oweni Newlands 1986: 53 , f. 12, 24–26, unpublished synonym.

Types: ♂ holotype from Namibia: Hereroland , Hahn Mission [in 1878 Hahn had his mission at Otjimbingwe], [2221'S, 1608'E] [not seen] .

Note: Newlands (1986) mentions a new species from the “Semiarid regions of Transvaal and Zimbabwe lowvelds. All the material he based this species on seem to be lost as they were mostly from his personal collection. The two records of material from AMSA seem to be lost as well, as they are not among the material received from AMSA on loan. Specimens studied from the “Transvaal / Zimbabwe area correspond to the description of S. hahni and the distinction of abdomen size mentioned by Newlands (1986) do not merit a new species.

Diagnosis: Leg femora in both sexes with long, medially slightly widened setae dorsal ( Fig. 2C), differing from S. albospinosus , where there is no widening medially, and from all other species where the widening is more pronounced. Male embolus ending in a thin pointed apex ( Fig. 3C), this is similar to most of the other species except for S. spatulatus where the embolus apex is broad and blunt. Female spermathecae ( Fig. 4D) consist of four medium length finger-like knobbed sacs that branch of away from the copulatory tube end, in a similar way to S. damarensis and S. testaceus , but not like S. albospinosus , in S. dolichocephalus the spermathecae is unbranched and in S. spatulatus there is a multitude of spherical spermathecae; the copulatory tube has a short extension tube at the base and widens distally in lateral humps that in some specimens form short lateral extentions, in S. albospinosus the widening is triangular, in S. damarensis it is a smooth arc and in S. testaceus it is only sometimes present as a single hump.

Female: (NMZ/A 9940): TL = 10.5; CL = 5.3; CW = 5.4; CLL = 0.8. AME-LE 0.5; Eye diameter 0.2.

Leg measurements:

Distribution: Sicarius hahni is distributed in the eastern part of Namibia, in Botswana, in the northeastern part of South Africa and in Zimbabwe ( Fig. 6B).