Stenaelurillus arambagensis (Biswas & Biswas, 1992)

Figs 57–62, 509

Marpissa arambagensis Biswas & Biswas, 1992: 390, figs 20–22 (D ♀). Holotype in the National Zoological Collection, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, India; not examined.

Stenaelurillus digitus Prajapati, Murthappa, Sankaran & Sebastian, 2016: 327, figs 1C–D, 6A–D, 7A–E, 8A–C, 9A–D (D♂ ♀). Synonymized by Caleb et al. (2017).

Diagnosis

This species can easily be separated from all other species of Stenaelurillus, except for S. albus Sebastian, Sankaran, Malamel & Joseph, 2015, by the presence of the long, finger-shaped distal projection of the functional tegulum (Fig. 57: DP), the unique feature of S. arambagensis and S. albus . The only difference between the two related species is the presence of a more prominent, stout embolus in S. arambagensis (Fig. 57; Caleb et al. 2017: fig. 14), which is not visible in ventral view in S. albus (see Sebastian et al. 2015: fig. 2E, G), provided the latter authors correctly illustrated the embolic division. Females of both species differ in the shape of the primary spermathecae: round in S. arambagensis (see Caleb et al. 2017: fig. 17) and C-shaped in S. albus (see Sebastian et al. 2015: fig. 3B–C).

Material examined

PAKISTAN: 1 ♂, Punjab, Jehlum, 32°04′58.8″ N, 73°04′01.2″ E, 191 m a.s.l., 22 Mar. 2012, S. Din leg. (CBGO).

Remarks

This species has been (re)described and illustrated in detail by Prajapati et al. (2016: sub. S. digitus) and Caleb et al. (2017). It is worth mentioning that both Sebastian et al. (2015) and Prajapati et al. (2016) mis-coded sclerites of the embolic division in S. albus and S. arambagensis respectively. What they coded as the ‘embolus’ is actually the distal projection of the functional tegulum; see above under ‘Morphological notes’ for further details. The true embolus is seen in S. arambagensis as the stout, pointed sclerite partly hidden behind the tegular tip (E on Fig. 57).

Distribution

India (Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, West Bengal) and Pakistan (Punjab) (Fig. 509) (Caleb et al. 2017; present data).