Lepthyphantes taza Tanasevitch, 2014

Barrientos, José Antonio, Brañas, Neus & Mederos, Jorge, 2020, The high complexity of Micronetinae Hull, 1920 (Araneae, Linyphiidae) evidenced through ten new cave-dweller species from the Morocco, Zoosystema 42 (1), pp. 1-29 : 17

Lepthyphantes taza Tanasevitch, 2014

( Fig. 10 )

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Morocco. 1♀, 2 juv.; Cv. Trou de la Piste, Tabhairte , Taza; 3.IX.2009; A. Faille leg.; MZB 2010-1837 • 1♀; same locality; 1.VIII.2012; F. Fadrique leg.; MZB 2014-7288 • 5♀, 2 juv.; same locality; 15.IX.2016; F. Fadrique leg.; MZB 2016- 4080 • 1♂, 1♀; Ifri Azokhage (= Riviere Chara ), Tabhairte, Taza; 15.IX.2016; F. Fadrique leg.; MZB 2016-4087 .

DIAGNOSIS. — The paracymbium is narrow; it presents an acute denticle in the proximal part of its middle zone, and a laminated prolongation with three points in its anterior part; the apical part is finger-shaped and bent distally. In the bulb, the lamella characteristica is fused at the base with the terminal apophysis, making a bifurcated structure: the terminal apophysis is short, narrow and sinuous; the lamella characteristica is narrow and extends forward on the outer side of the bulb, apically denticulated at on the margins. The female is characterized by the peculiar conformation of the epigyne: the walls of the bursa copulatrix protrude, moving its opening away from the epigastric wall. The lateral walls differentiate an elongated process (“wings”) on each side, flanking a reduced proscape, as well as the rest of the scape, which is not very apparent. Lepthyphantes taza could be related to a set of species from the Maghreb, L. aelleni , L. maurusius , L. imazigheni Barrientos n. sp. and L. sasi Barrientos n. sp. (although in the latter there are features in the female genitalia that bring it closer to the “ afer group”).

DISTRIBUTION. — This species was only known from the type locality ( Tanasevitch 2014). We add other caves here in the same region of Chara, south of Taza, in the Moroccan Atlas.

DESCRIPTION

Male

Body. Total body length: 2.63. Carapace: 1.02 long and 0.96 wide, pale brown yellowish, uniform. Scattered hairs in the cephalic area, up to the eyes. Eyes relatively small, but visible and surrounded by a black areola. Chaelicerae with 0.36 long stem, with three teeth (one bigger) and a minor denticle on the promargin; on the retromargin a small slightly denticulated edge. Legs pale brown yellowish; lighter in distal articles (metatarsus and tarsus); relatively long and thin; measurements: leg I (2.11 + 0.38 + 2.24 + 1.92 + 1.06), leg II (1.95 + 0.35 + 1.89 + 1.79 + 1.02), leg III (1.79 + 0.32 + 1.47 + 1.44 + 0.90), and leg IV (1.92 + 0.35 + 1.86 + 1.86 + 0.99). Opisthosoma, length 1.60, width, 0.90, pale yellow, whitish and without dorsal pigmentary pattern.

Palp and copulatory bulb ( Fig. 10 A-C). Paracymbium narrow; proximal part wide, with rounded edges and small hairs; middle part with an acute denticle at the posterior end (which closes the posterior pocket) and a laminated three-pronged denticle at the anterior end (which in turn delimit the posterior pocket); apical part finger-shaped, bent distally. With the bulb at rest: radix well visible ventrally on prolateral side. Lamella characteristica fusing at the base with the terminal apophysis, protruding from the back, so that it appears as a bifurcated structure. Anterior branch short, narrow and sinuous; posterior branch laminar, narrow, longer and extending forward on the outer side of the bulb; distal part darker, with denticulate margins. Embolus emerging from the middle part of the radix; quite complex: main part simple, laminar, widened in its middle part and finished in a black bifurcated tip; accompanied, from the base, by a sheet becoming translucent and protecting distally the main part. Fickert’s gland visible in the radix. Suprategular apophysis sclerotised, pointed and curved, protruding below the embolus and facing forward.

Figures

FIG. 10. — Lepthyphantes taza Tanasevitch, 2014, male genital organs: A-C, male copulatory bulb, retrolateral view (A), ventral view (B), embolic division (C). Abbreviations: see Material and methods. Scale bar: 0.5 mm.