Porrhoclubiona Lohmander, 1944

Marusik, Yuri M. & Omelko, Mikhail M., 2018, A survey of the Porrhoclubiona Lohmander, 1944 from Central Asia (Araneae, Clubiondae), ZooKeys 802, pp. 19-38 : 21-23

Porrhoclubiona Lohmander, 1944

Porrhoclubiona Lohmander, 1944: 20 (subgenus of Microclubiona , type C. clandestina Menge, 1873 (= C. genevensis L. Koch, 1866).

Porrhoclubiona : Prószyński and Staręga 1971: 234; Sterghiu 1985: 54 (considered as subgenus).

Porrhoclubiona : Wunderlich 2011: 140 (considered as a genus).

Clubiona genevensis -group: Bosmans et al. 2017: 2.

Clubiona pteronetoides -group: Deeleman-Reinhold 2001: 96.

Note.

Above we listed only two of the most recent publications dealing with this species group.

Diagnosis.

Porrhoclubiona differs from all other clubionids by having modified setae on the cymbium (Figs 4a, c, d, f, g, i, 5 a–c and Bosmans et al. 2017: figs 52-79), a retrolateral basal extension of the cymbium (called here a tutaculum, Tu, Figs 4a, c, d, f, g, i, 5g and Bosmans et al. 2017: figs 55, 59, 63, 67), a tegular groove (Tg) serving as a kind of conductor for the embolus (Figs 4b, c and Bosmans et al. 2017: figs 55, 59, 63, 67), the presence (Fig. 4h) of a prolateral tibial apophysis (Pt) which is lacking in other genera and strongly reduced, and posteriorly located subtegulum (St) (vs. large prolateral subtegulum in other genera). Porrhoclubiona differs from Clubiona s. str. by the smaller size, strongly protruding male chelicera (cf. Fig. 2b and Fig. 2f), shape of endites with a deep constriction (vs. unmodified endites, Fig. 2i, j), undivided short tibial apophysis of the male palp (vs. divided); brush of long modified setae on cymbium (vs. unmodified setae), filamentous embolus (vs. short, stick-like). Females of Porrhoclubiona differ from these of Clubiona by the shape of receptacles: round sclerotised (or primary, Sr) and round hyaline (or secondary, Hr) receptacles (vs. both pairs of receptacles elongate). Females of Porrhoclubiona have no such distinct differences from other genera as males.

Comments.

Aside from those mentioned in the diagnosis, characters that separate Porrhoclubiona from all other genera previously considered in Clubiona , such as the presence of a patch/brush of modified setae on the cymbium, a cymbial extension that can be considered a tutaculum (Tu) and a tegular groove (Tg) serving as a conductor, a simple retrolateral tibial apophysis, and the presence of a prolateral apophysis, a few more characters should be mentioned. The two genera differ by spination of leg I: Porrhoclubiona is lacking metatarsal spines which are present in Clubiona and have fewer ventral tibial spines (cf. Fig. 2d and Fig. 2e). Porrhoclubiona has better developed “scopula”, which stretch along the entirety of tibia I, while in Clubiona it occupies only the distal ½ of the tibia (cf. Fig. 2d and Fig. 2e).

Although the retrolateral tibial apophysis of the male palp looks simple, from SEM figures it is rather broad (Fig. 5e) and the tip has a kind of filamentous extension (Fl). This tip can be long, like in P. vegeta ( Bosmans et al. 2017: fig. 65) or P. moradmandi sp. n. (Fig. 5e), or rather short like in P. bosmansi sp. n. or P. genevensis (Figs 4c, 5f). Although the base of the embolus looks like one sclerite, in fact it is composed of two sclerites (Figs 4b, e, h, 9c, d, 10 b’), heFl (Ts) and the base of the embolus (Eb).

Some species can be separated based on the proportions of the cymbial setae. Porrhoclubiona lecucaspis has distinctly longer basal part of the setae (Sb) than P. moradmandi sp. n. and P. bosmansi sp. n. (cf. Fig. 5c and Fig. 5a, b, respectively).

The haematodocha in Porrhoclubiona is rather large, but the subtegulum is strongly reduced and located posterior to the embolus base (Figs 4h, 6a, d, 7a, d); however, it is not large and or located prolaterally as in all other Clubiona s. l. It appears that species in this genus can be separated by the shape of the sperm duct course and relative width of the sperm duct (cf. Fig. 9c and Fig. 9d).

While studying morphology of the Porrhoclubiona with SEM, we found several notable characters:

- The femur has few bald areas (Ba), not covered with a transversal furrow as other parts of the cuticle (Fig. 3d). Such bald areas are known in several unrelated families.

- The tarsal organ (To) in Porrhoclubiona is (if we recognized it correctly) slit like (Fig. 3c).

- The trichobothrial base has five transversal ridges (Fig. 3g).

- Porrhoclubiona moradmandi sp. n. has modified short setae (Ms) on the cymbium (Fig. 5d) (may also be peculiarly broken setae).

Composition.

Bosmans et al. (2017) listed eight species belonging to the Clubiona genevensis -group. We establish a new combination for all of them except the generotype Porrhoclubiona decora (Blackwall, 1859), comb. n. (Madeira, Azores), P. diniensis (Simon, 1878), comb. n. (western Mediterranean), P. genevensis (L. Koch, 1866) (West Palaearctic?), P. leucaspis (Simon, 1932), comb. n. (western North Africa, Western Europe), P. minor (Wunderlich, 1987), comb. n. (the Canaries), P. pseudominor (Wunderlich, 1987), comb. n. (the Canaries), P. vegeta (Simon, 1918), comb. n. (Mediterranean or West Palaearctic) and P. wunderlichi (Mikhailov, 1992), comb. n. (Mongolia). Two species assigned to this group by Wunderlich (2011) were overlooked by Bosmans et al. (2017): P. pteronetoides (Deeleman-Reinhold, 2001), comb. n. and P. viridula (Ono, 1989), comb. n. both from SE Asia. Deeleman-Reinhold (2001) considered these two species in a separate group, the Clubiona pteronetoides -group. Males of P. pteronetoides and P. viridula have dorsal abdominal scuta unknown in other species of the group, and possibly lack modified setae on the cymbium.

Aside from the species mentioned above, we consider three more species in this genus, P. laudata (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1885), comb. n., ex. Clubiona and two new species, P. bosmansi sp. n. and P. moradmandi sp. n.