Ajmonia aurita Song and Lu, 1985

Marusik, Y. M. & Esyunin, S. L., 2010, On the northernmost Ajmonia Caporiacco, 1934 (Aranei: Dictynidae: Dictyninae), Journal of Natural History 44 (5 - 6), pp. 361-367 : 362-364

Ajmonia aurita Song and Lu, 1985

A. auritus Song and Lu, 1985: 81 , figs 6A–F (Ƌ ♀).

A. auritus: Song, 1987: 70 , fig. 35 (Ƌ ♀).

A. auritus: Hu and Wu, 1989: 63 , figs 45.1–4 (Ƌ ♀) (misidentification, refer to A. lehtineni ). A. auritus: Song et al., 1999: 362 , figs 212M–P (Ƌ ♀).

Material examined

Two females (PSU-2255), Kazakhstan, East Kazakhstan Area, Zaisan Lake , Ters-Airyk , (c. 47º30′ N, 85º E), grass, July 1936 A.G. Ovsyannikov .

Description

Total length 4.4. Carapace 1.86 long, 1.71 wide. Carapace light brown with white submarginal broken stripe, formed from guanine deposits ( Figure 1D ). Abdomen whitish without pattern but with numerous white guanine spots and three pairs of apodemes ( Figure 1A ), the two anterior pairs are large and the posterior are much smaller. Venter of abdomen with two pair of apodemes ( Figure 1B ). Endites elongate ( Figure 1B ). Chelicera with three prolateral teeth and one smaller retrolateral tooth ( Figure 1E ). Bases of prolateral teeth are fused. Legs yellowish, without annulations. Metatarsi II–IV with a pair of ventral apical spines ( Figure 1F ).

The lengths of the leg joints are listed in Table 1.

Epigyne as shown in Figure 1 (G–I). Fovea indistinct, whole epigynal plate covered with dense hairs, copulatory openings separate from each other, originating from lateral hoods.

Diagnosis

This species can be distinguished from its sibling A. lehtineni by the smaller spermathecae and the shape of the sclerotized parts in the vulva. The males of the two species can be distinguished easily by the shape of the embolic tip, which is thin and bent in A. lehtineni and straight, thick and tapering in A. aurita .

Material examined

Two females (PSU-2255), Kazakhstan, East Kazakhstan Area, Zaisan Lake , Ters- Airyk , (c. 47º30′ N, 85º E), grass, July 1936 A.G. Ovsyannikov .

Comments

A survey of the publications dealing with eastern Palaearctic Ajmonia revealed that the figures of A. aurita in Hu and Wu [1989: figs 45.1–4] in fact refer to A. lehtineni (cf. Figure 2A, G ) or to a closely related undescribed species. So there are at least two species of Ajmonia in Xinjiang: A. aurita and A. lehtineni . The record of A. velifera from Xinjiang [cf. Song et al. 1999] may refer to either A. aurita or A. lehtineni .

In his diagnosis of Ajmonia, Lehtinen (1967) indicated that the genus had a bipartite cribellum and no metatarsal spines. Our specimens of A. aurita have a pair of ventral apical spines on metatarsi II–IV and the subdivision of the cribellum into two parts is almost invisible.

Because A. psittacea is known only from relatively poor figures in the original description, we provide diagnostic drawings ( Figure 3A–C ) made from the holotype male stored in the Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm. We also provide figures of the relatively well-known A. capucina (Schenkel, 1963) made from a syntype male ( Figure 3D–F ). The figures of both species were made more than 10 years ago and additional information (original label, museum number, etc) about types has been lost.

Distribution

Although A. aurita has been reported from numerous localities in Xinjiang (cf. map 47 in Hu and Wu 1989), these seem to refer to two different species, so the actual distribution of this species within Xinjiang is unclear. Other than Xinjiang, A. aurita is known only from the adjacent East Kazakhstan Area (the present record).

Figures

Figure 1. Ajmonia aurita, female, from Kazakhstan.(A,B) Habitus, dorsal and ventral; (C, D) prosoma, frontal and dorsal; (E) left chelicera, inner view; (F) metatarsus and tarsus IV, showing metatarsal spines; (G, H) epigyne, ventral; (J) epigyne, dorsal; (I) after maceration. Scale bars 0.1 mm if not otherwise indicated. Abbreviations: Lh, lateral hood; Ms, metatarsal spine; Sp, spermatheca.

Figure 2. Ajmonia lehtineni (A–E, G, H) and Ajmonia aurita (F). (A, F, G) Male palp, ventral; (B, H) male palp, retrolateral; (C) endites of male; (D, E) epigyne, ventral and dorsal. (A–E) after Marusik and Koponen (1998); (F) after Songu and Lu (1985); (G, H) after Hu and Wu (1989). Arrows show differences in tip of embolus (Et) and tip of conductor.

Figure 3. Male palps of Ajmonia psittacea holotype (A–C) and Ajmonia capucina syntype (D–F). (A, D) Ventral; (B) retrolateral; (C) dorsolateral; (E) femur-tibia, prolateral; (F) dorsoretrolateral. Scale bars 0.1 mm.