Agorius baloghi, Szűts, 2003

Szűts, T., 2003, New Species Of Agorius Thorell, 1877 (Araneae: Salticidae) From New Guinea, Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 49 (1), pp. 61-69 : 62-69

Agorius baloghi sp. n.

( Figs 1–14 )

Diagnosis – The males can easily be recognised by the three tibial apophyses of the palp ( Figs 9–11 ), and by the robust embolus, females can be recognised by the large atria of the epigynum ( Figs 12–14 ).

Material examined: Holotype, male from New Guinea: Angoram; NGA-U11 (Hung. Soil Exp. 1969), beatenfrom tree, leg.: J. B ALOGH . Paratypes: male, same data as the holotype; 1 male from Baiyer river NGB-U24, (Hung. Soil Exp. 1969), beaten from tree, leg.: J. BALOGH ; 1 female from Kiunga ; NGK-U(N)/11 (Hung. Soil Exp. 1969), beaten from tree, leg.: J. BALOGH ; 1 female from Lae ; NGL-C16 (Hung. Soil Exp. 1968), beaten from tree, leg.: J. BALOGH . New Britain : 1 female from Rabaul; NGR-U25 (Hung. Soil Exp. 1969), beaten from tree, leg.: J. BALOGH

Comparative material: Synagelides palpalis ZABKA, 1985 Holotype male from Vietnam: Yen Bai province; Minh Xuan, near Luc Yen; leg.: Gy. Topál & I. Matskási, det.: M. ZABKA, 1 paratype female from Yen Bai province; Minh Xuan, near Luc Yen; leg.: Gy. Topál & I. Matskási, det.: M. ZABKA (see: ZABKA (1985), figs 577–580).

Synagelides sp. 2 males from India: Darjeeling district ; Geomti; sifted from mosses on trees, 1981; leg.: GY. TOPÁL, det.: J. PRÓSZYNSKI. (see: PRÓSZYNSKI (1992), figs 175–181).

Male ( Figs 1 , 5, 7–11 ): Medium sized spiders. Carapace very low ( Fig. 5 ), with smooth tegument, unicolour, without any colour pattern. Carapace dark brown, amber (or yellow – because colour bleached out in alcohol). Eyes with black surroundings and with sparse white hairs in the eye field. Thoracic region also dark brown (or yellow). Chelicerae small, with one prolateral and one retrolateral tooth ( Fig. 7 ). Gnathocoxae, labium and sternum yellowish brown. Legs yellow. Leg I. and IV. longest, and strongly modified as well (modification and ratio of several leg segments different – see table below): coxae, trochanters and femora longer than on the other legs. Leg I.: patella and tibia long and conspicuous, metatarsus and tarsus small. Leg IV.: patella in “normal” length, tibia and metatarsus long and conspicuous ( Figs 1 , 8 ). Abdomen oval, with a constriction in the middle. A dorsal and a ventral scutum also present.

Measurements (holotype). Carapace 2.0 long, 1.2 wide at PLE, 0.65 high at PLE (carapace is not the highest at PLE – see Fig. 1 , its most height 0.72). Length of OQ 0.84, anterior width of OQ 0.92, posterior width of OQ 1.08. Fovea curved – not measurable. Clypeus very low. Abdomen 2.0 long, 0.92 at its widest point.

Leg spination: Spines long and fine, present on tibia and metatarsus of legs I only. Legs II-IV spineless. Ti I with 4 prolateral and 3 retrolateral spines. Mt I with two prolateral spines.

Copulatory organ( Figs 9–11 ): with rather simple structure. Palpal patella swollen(like Synagelides ). Tibia with three single apophyses: one retro–, one prolateral, and one dorsal. The dorsal apophysis the longest, slightly curved. Tegulum yellowish brown, sperm–duct visible. Embolus slightly curved, strong and robust.

Female ( Figs 2–4 , 6 , 12–14 ): Medium sized. Carapace very low ( Fig. 2 ), with smooth tegument, unicolour as males. Carapace dark yellowish - brown. Eyes with black surroundings and with sparse white hairs inthe whitish eye field. Thoracic regionalso dark yellowish - brown(or yellow).

Chelicerae small, with one prolateral and one retrolateral tooth ( Fig. 6 ). Gnathocoxae, labium and sternum yellowish brown. Legs yellow. Leg I ( Fig. 3 ) and IV longest, and strongly modified as well: coxae, trochanters and femora longer than on the other legs. Leg I: patella and tibia long and conspicuous, metatarsus and tarsus small. Leg IV: patella in “normal” length, tibia and metatarsus long and conspicious. Abdomen oval, with a smooth constriction in the middle ( Fig. 4 ).

Measurements. Carapace 2.25 long, 1.25 wide at PLE, 0.625 high at PLE (carapace is not the highest at PLE – see Fig., its most height 0.75). Length of OQ 0.875, anterior width of OQ 1.25, posterior width of OQ 1.125. Fovea curved – not measurable. Clypeus very low. Abdomen 3.5 long, 1.5 at its widest point.

Length of the leg segments as follows:

Leg spination: as in males.

Female genitalia: weakly sclerotised, with large atria ( Fig. 13 ). Female vulva small ( Figs 12, 14 ). Distribution: New Guinea, New Britain ( Fig. 15 ).

Etymology: This species is dedicated to Prof. JÁNOS BALOGH (1913–2002), Hungarian oribatid mite specialist ( Acari : Cryptostigmata: Oribatidae ), who collected the specimens.

Relationships – According to the female genitalia, this species is considered congeneric with Agorius gracilipes . Despite only one sex of the type species of the genus is known, yet Agorius has unique somatic features, which makes it possible to draw its limits: Agorius is an ant-like salticid (since the term “ant-like” is quite subjective, I would prefer the following definition – based on MURPHY and MURPHY (2000): “amber-brown to shiny black coloured spiders, with constricted abdomen” with long visible pedicel), with long and thin legs.

The leg segments Pt I, Ti I, Fm IV, Ti IV and Mt IV are especially long, longer than the others trochanters (almost as long as carapace). Ti I curved and with characteristic spines, Mt I very small with long, gracile spines ( Figs 1, 3 , 6–8 ) (see e.g. PRÓSZYNSKI (1968), fig. 10).

Agorius is a peculiar genus and SIMON separated it as a genus group. This suprageneric taxon was mentioned by PRÓSZYNSKI (1971) as subfamily Agoriinae SIMON, 1901 (although he proposed to include Agorius into the subfamily Synemosinae (F.-P. CAMBRIDGE 1900) which later proved to be polyphyletic). Discussionof the status of suprageneric taxa withinthe Salticidae is beyond this paper’s limits, but the separationof Agorius (together with its closest relative Synagelides STRAND, 1906 ) seems to be reasonable. The longer Tr I, IV, the characteristic spines of the first (curved) tibia, the gracile spines on the first metatarsus, the ventrolateral joint of the male palpal patella, the proportion of the first and forth legs limit this group.

Perhaps anAustraliangenus Pseudosynagelides ZABKA, 1991 also could attach to this clade of salticids, but since many species waiting for their description further consideration would requires a total revision of the above mentioned three genera.

*

Acknowledgements – I am grateful to SÁNDOR MAHUNKA for providing working facilities in the collection. I would like to thank also for JERZY PRÓSZYNSKI, for WANDA WESOLOWSKA the fruitful discussions on salticid taxonomy. I am indebted to SÁNDOR MAHUNKA, CSABA CSUZDI and LÁSZLÓ PAPP for their comments on the previous versions of the manuscript. I am also grateful MIHÁLY FÖLDVÁRI for linguistic suggestions and an anonymous referee for the critical remarks.

Figures

Figs 1–4. Agorius baloghi sp. n.: 1 = male, habitus, 2 = female, carapace, lateral view, 3 = female, first leg, 4 = female, habitus

Figs 5–7. Agorius baloghi sp. n., carapace:5 = male, fronto-lateral view, 6 = female, ventral view, 7 = male, ventral view

Figs 8–11. Agorius baloghi sp. n., male: 8 = lateral view, 9 = palp, dorsal view, 10 = palp, retrolateral view, 11 = palp, ventral view

Figs 12–14. Agorius baloghi sp. n., female: 12 = epigyne, dorsal view, 13 = vulva, dorsal view, 14 = same, enlarged

Fig. 15. Distribution of Agorius baloghi sp. n.