Spinozodium, Zamani & Marusik, 2022

Zamani, Alireza & Marusik, Yuri M., 2022, A new genus of Zodariidae (Arachnida: Araneae) from Tajikistan, Journal of Natural History 56 (25 - 28), pp. 1187-1198 : 1189-1190

Genus Spinozodium gen. nov.

Type species

Zodarion denisi Spassky, 1938 from Tajikistan.

Etymology

A combination of spino -, referring to the characteristic spine-like setae on the retrolateral tibial apophysis of the male palp, and - zodium, a common ending for zodariid genera; gender neuter.

Diagnosis

The males of the new genus differ from those of the other Zodariinae genera occurring in Middle Asia by having spine-like setae on RTA ( Figures 3 and 4 (a,c)) (vs lacking). The females of Spinozodium gen. nov. differ from those of the other Zodariinae genera by having a distinct epigynal septum and distinctly sclerotised anterior hood bearing setae that cover the anterior half of fovea ( Figures 4 (b,d) and 5(a–d)) (vs lacking both septum and sclerotised anterior hood with setae).

Description

Small: males 2.4–2.6 long, carapace 1.2–1.42 long; females 3.1–3.6 long, carapace 1.5–1.65 long. Carapace either uniformly light brown or with darker cephalic region. Legs and palps uniformly coloured. Abdomen blackish with light median band in posterior 2/3, band either continuous with angled lateral branches or composed of roughly triangular to diamond-shaped spots; lateral sides and venter pale. Leg formula 4132 or 4123.

Male palp. Tibia with only RTA; RTA long, about ½ of cymbium length, longer than tibia, anterior half bent ventrally, proximal half with around a dozen spine-like setae, distal half slender, spineless and more heavily sclerotised than proximal half; cymbium 2 times longer than wide, without diverticulum or tutaculum, but with longitudinal fold (Cf) in S. denisi ( Figure 3 (f)); cymbial trichobothrium as in Figure 3 (g); bulb oval to almost round; tegular apophysis (Ta) about 1.5 times longer than wide, located in anterior half of bulb, with either very short claw-like or straight process (Tp), and retrolateral lobe (Tr); conductor (Co) small, located at 12 o’clock position; embolus broad, originating from about 6 o’clock position, terminal part with small membranous process (Ep), opening of sperm duct (Os) located on anterior and close to tip of embolus.

Epigyne. Plate wider than long, with distinct fovea and septum; fovea ampullate, with distinctly sclerotised anterior hood (Ah); anterior hood bearing row of long, converging setae partly covering anterior half of fovea; stem of septum (Ss) thin, base of septum (Sb) more than 2 times wider than stem; base of septum bent antero-dorsally and barely visible in intact epigyne; receptacles (Re) separated by 4–7 diameters, each consisting of a base and a globular head (Rh).

Composition

Two species: Spinozodium denisi comb. nov. and S. khatlonicum sp. nov.

Distribution

Known only from Tajikistan; although the distributions of the two currently known species overlap, they are not known to occur sympatrically ( Figure 6 ).

Figures

Figure 3. Scanning electron microscopy images of the male palps of Spinozodium khatlonicum sp. nov. (a–c) and S. denisi (d–g). (a, e) detail of embolus and tegular apophysis, anteroventral view; (b, d) ventral view; (c, f) retrolateral view; (g) cymbial trichobothrium. Scale bars = 0.1 mm, unless otherwise stated. Abbreviations: Cf – cymbial fold, Co – conductor, Em – embolus, Ep – process of embolus tip, Os – opening of the sperm duct, Ta – tegular apophysis, Tp – process of tegular apophysis, Tr – retrolateral arm of tegular apophysis, Tt – teeth of tegular apophysis.

Figure 4. Spinozodium denisi (a, b) and S. khatlonicum sp. nov. (c, d). (a, c) male palp, retrolateral view; (b, d) intact epigyne, ventral view. Scale bars = 0.2 mm.

Figure 6. Collection localities of Spinozodium denisi (circles) and S. khatlonicum sp. nov. (squares). Black symbols indicate the type localities.