Cyrba nigrimana Simon, 1900

Azarkina, Galina N. & Logunov, Dmitri V., 2010, New data on the jumping spiders of the subfamily Spartaeinae (Araneae: Salticidae) from Africa, African Invertebrates 51 (1), pp. 163-182 : 167-169

Cyrba nigrimana Simon, 1900

Figs 14–23

Cyrba nigrimana: Simon 1900: 389 ; Wanless 1984 b: 465, figs 12 A–G; Wesołowska & Haddad 2009: 27–28, figs 26–28.

Description:

Male ( MRAC, 169807).

Measurements: Carapace: length 2.05, width 1.45, height at PLE 1.10. Ocular area: length 0.90, width anteriorly 1.35, width posteriorly 1.25. Diameter of AME 0.42. Abdomen: length 2.45, width 1.25. Clypeal height: 0.15. Cheliceral length: 0.65. Length of leg segments: I 1.30 + 0.75 + 0.90 + 0.90 + 0.50; II 1.30 + 0.70 + 0.90 + 0.80 + 0.50; III; 1.00+ 0.50 + 0.85 + 0.90 + 0.45; IV 1.50 + 0.65 + 1.15 + 1.40 + 0.60.

Leg spination: I Fm d 1 - 1-4; Pt pr and rt 1, Tb pr and rt 1 - 1 v 2 - 2 - 2 ap, Mt pr & rt 1 - 1 v 2 - 2 ap; II Fm d 1 - 1-4, Pt pr and rt 1, Tb pr and rt 1 - 1 v 2 - 2 - 2 ap, Mt pr and rt 1 - 1 v 2 - 2 ap; III Fm d 1 - 1-5, Pt pr and rt 1, Tb d 1 -0-0 pr and rt 1 - 1 v 1-2 - 2 ap, Mt d 1 -0-0 pr and rt 1 - 1-2 ap v 2 - 0-2 ap; IV Fm d 1 - 1-5 or 1 - 1 - 1-5, Pt pr and rt 1, Tb d 1 -0-0 pr and rt 1 - 1 v 1-2 - 2 ap, Mt d 1 -0-0 pr 1-2 - 2 ap rt 1 - 1-2 ap, v 1 - 0-2 ap.

Colouration ( Figs 14, 15): Carapace yellow-brown, with brown eye field and black around eyes, covered with white scales and brown hairs. Sternum yellow-brown. Clypeus and cheeks yellow, densely covered with white hairs. Chelicerae brown-yellow. Abdomen: dorsum brown, but medially yellow; sides and venter grey-brown. Booklungs yellow. Spinnerets brown. All legs yellow, but tibiae, metatarsi and tarsi brown. Palpus yellow, with brown cymbium. Palpal structure as in Figs 17–20.

Female. For description see Wanless (1984 b; Figs 16, 21– 23).

Material examined: SOUTHAFRICA: Limpopo: 1 ♀ ( NCA, 2009 / 2172 ), Little Leigh , 22 ° 93 'S: 29 ° 85 'E, pitfall (10 days), Pterocarpus rotundifolius , collector and date unknown ; 1 ♀ ( NCA, 2009 / 2171 ), same locality, 22 ° 93 'S: 29 ° 88 'E, bk, Pterocarpus rotundifolius , 38798, [no date], V. Gelebe . Eastern Cape: 1 ♀ ( MRAC, 169636 ), Ecca Pass Nature Reserve, ca 13 km N of Grahamstown, direction Fort Beaufort , 33 ° 18 'S: 26 ° 32 'E, 16.i. 1989, R. Jocqué ; 1 ♀ ( MRAC, 169721 ), same locality, under stones, 16.i. 1989, R. Jocqué ; 2 ♂ ( MRAC, 169807 ), ca 30 km E of Port Elisabeth , sieved litter of dune scrub, 17.i. 1989, R. Jocqué .

Comments: Until now, this species has been reported as being known from the female only and from a few localities in South Africa (Wanless 1984 b; Wesołowska & Haddad 2009). Caporiacco (1947) reported a single male of C. nigrimana collected from East Africa (Pangani), but provided no illustration or description of this male. It remains unclear how the latter author could match the single male he studied with C. nigrimana described from a single female by Simon (1900). The problem of what species was reported by Caporiacco under the name C. nigrimana requires further attention.

The male of C. nigrimana ( Figs 17–20) is most similar (almost identical) to that of Cyrba boveyi , described by Lessert (1933) from a single male and redescribed on the basis of both sexes by Wanless (1984 b, figs 10 A – L). The latter author only provisionally matched the male of C. boveyi with the female from Kenya, which was selected because of its ‘most unusual epigyne’ (Wanless 1984 b: 465). The males of both species seem to differ in the slightly different shape of the tibial apophysis and of the sclerotied lobe M 2 (sensu Wanless 1984 a). Furthermore, the male of C. boveyi has its body covered with bright orange hairs (see Wesołowska & Haddad 2009, fig. 238), as in C. simoni , whereas the male of C. nigrimana is otherwise ( Figs 14, 15). We have matched the male and females of C. nigrimana on the basis of their virtually identical body colouration ( Figs 14–16). However, this matching must be considered provisional until a sample containing both sexes has been collected.