Pardosa pusiola ( Thorell, 1891 )

Omelko, M. M., Yu & Marusik, M., 2020, A new species and new records of wolf spiders (Araneae: Lycosidae) from Laos, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 68, pp. 479-487 : 486-487

Pardosa pusiola ( Thorell, 1891)

( Figs. 40–42 )

P. pusiola: Yin et al., 1997: 252 , fig. 119a–k, male and female.

P. pusiola: Song et al., 1999: 333 , fig. 197G, M, male and female.

P. pusiola: Wang & Zhang, 2014: 233 , figs. 5A–D, 6A–J, 7A–B, male and female.

For the complete list of taxonomic references see WSC (2020).

Material examined. 205 males 85 females ( FEFU), LAOS, Vientiane Prov., env. of Nam-Lik Eco-Village , 18°36′53.18″N 102°24′31.87″E, coll. M.M. Omelko, November 2013, June 2016, June 2017 ; 3 males 4 females ( FEFU), Champasak Prov., Bolaven plateau, env. of Tad E-Tu resort, 910 m, 15°11′35.56″N 106°6′8.11″E, coll. M.M. Omelko, 1–6 December 2013 .

Note. This species belongs to the Pardosa nebulosa -group, the most species rich group within the genus. Most of species have very similar male palps and epigynes. Pardosa pusiola is a common species in Laos. It inhabits mostly dry habitats like meadows, litter near forest edges, etc. It is worth mentioning that we found two different types of carapace pattern among material studied. Most specimens have a dark carapace with faint lateral bands while some of them are much lighter, with the carapace bearing wide, yellow lateral bands. However, the copulatory organs for all specimens are identical and this leads us to believe that these forms are the result of intraspecific variability. Because type specimens of this species were never illustrated and existing figures are lacking fine details, we provide a figure of the epigyne, which was drawn on the request of Pekka Lehtinen a long time ago. It seems the syntype was taken from Natural History Museum in Stockholm and probably lost. Details of the label are unknown to us.

It is worth noting that Tikader & Malhotra (1980) indicated that they examined syntype female of P. pusiola stored in Paris (#5578). Search of the museum database reveals no such species in the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle and the given number refers to several other species.

Distribution. This species is distributed from India to Southeast China, Laos (first record), and south to Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

Figures

Figs. 36–41. Copulatory organs of Passiena torbjoerni (36), Pardosa pseudoannulata (37–39); epigyne and habitus of P. pusiola (40–41). 36, cymbium with bulb removed, ventral; 37, palp, ventral; 38, macerated epigyne; 39, endogyne, 40, drawing of epigyne (syntype); 41, living specimen from Singapore (photo taken by David Court). Scale = 0.25 mm (unless otherwise specified).

Fig. 42. Map of collecting localities.