Habronattus sp. near carolinensis (Peckham & Peckham, 1901)

Maddison, Wayne P., 2017, New species of Habronattus and Pellenes jumping spiders (Araneae, Salticidae, Harmochirina), ZooKeys 646, pp. 45-72 : 55-57

Habronattus sp. near carolinensis (Peckham & Peckham, 1901) Fig. 71

Note.

At the Royal Ontario Museum in 1978 I saw a male specimen of Habronattus from Lake Temagami, Ontario, from whose label I recorded the collecting data "Ontario: Temagami. Island 1027. 24 June 1939. #5669", although the museum reference notes indicated the date as 27 June 1937. It was notable for the brush of longer setae on the dorsal distal surface of the cymbium, and the twisted and tufted tarsus of the first leg. In both of these features it resembled the two described species Habronattus carolinensis (Peckham & Peckham, 1901) (from the southeastern U.S.) and Habronattus venatoris Griswold, 1987 (from the southern Rocky Mountains of Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico), both of which are notable for the twisted and tufted tarsus and metatarsus of the first leg ( Chamberlin and Ivie 1944, figure 210). I drew the palp (Fig. 71), which differs distinctly in rotation of the bulb from those two species (embolus arising at 225°, compared to 270° for Habronattus venatoris and 290° for Habronattus carolinensis ), and thus represents a new species. I did not draw the cymbial brush or the first leg, and my memory does not retain their details except that there was a clear resemblance to Habronattus carolinensis in these ornaments. Recent attempts to locate the specimen at the museum have failed, and it may have been loaned for a project on Pellenes (which was never completed) and not returned. In 1995 I travelled to the exact island in Lake Temagami on the label, but no specimens were found. However, the island was rock of perhaps 5 meters by 2 meters, unlikely to sustain any permanent population, and so either the specimen bal looned in, or the label was incorrect. We are thus left with a biogeographically puzzling new species with no specimen on which to describe it. Two possible habitats might be productively searched: the rock outcrops of the Canadian Shield, or exposed sand of glacial deposits in Northern Ontario and Québec.