Euophrys leipoldti Peckham & Peckham, 1903

Wesołowska, Wanda, Azarkina, Galina N. & Russell-Smith, Anthony, 2014, Euophryine jumping spiders of the Afrotropical Region-new taxa and a checklist (Araneae: Salticidae: Euophryinae), Zootaxa 3789 (1), pp. 1-72 : 20-23

Euophrys leipoldti Peckham & Peckham, 1903

Figs 61–70

Euophrys leipoldti Peckham & Peckham 1903: 203 , pl. 22, fig. 6.

Material. SOUTH AFRICA, Northern Cape Province, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park , 26°07'S: 20°34'E, mixed grassland, 5 males, 8 females, 11 February 1987, leg. D.P. Keetch ( NCA 2012 /2490) ; Richtersveld , 28°18'S; 16°25'E, under rock, 1 female, 3 April 1988, leg. R. Mitchell. ( NCA 88 /863) ; Western Cape Province, Karoo National Park , 10 km NW of Beaufort West, 32°18'S: 20°33'E, 1200 m a.s.l., 6 males, 3 females, 22–24 October 1985, leg. C. Griswold & J. Deyen ( NMSA 26502 ) .

Diagnosis. The male is similar to E. griswoldi described above, but may be distinguished by the clearly shorter embolus without the end folded onto the cymbial dorsum and by the lack of a ventral process on the palpal tibia. The female is distinctive in having a unique form of the epigyne, with the longest seminal ducts in the genus, forming a triple coiled spiral.

Description. Measurements (male/female). Cephalothorax: length 2.1/1.9, width 1.6/1.5, height 1.2/1.1. Abdomen: length 1.8/2.4, width 1.3/1.8. Eye field: length 0.9/0.8, anterior width 1.3/1.3, posterior width 1.2/1.2.

Male. General appearance as in Fig. 61 . Carapace yellowish brown to brown, darkened marginally, covered with white hairs laterally. Ocular area dark brown or black, shiny, covered with brown hairs, white hairs forming transverse band and thin longitudinal median line ( Fig. 61 ). Sternum brownish yellow. “Cheeks” and clypeus yellowish brown, sparse white scales on clypeus. Chelicerae stout, with two promarginal teeth and single tooth on retromargin ( Fig. 62 ), brown with sparse white scales proximally. Abdomen with mottled pattern composed of dense short white and brown hairs, darker spots forming median brown streak, broken into chevrons posteriorly ( Fig. 61 ), venter light brown. Book-lung covers and spinnerets brownish. First pair of legs longest, brown (except yellow tarsi), patellae, tibiae and metatarsi clothed in dense long brown hairs. Other legs yellow, with brown rings. Pedipalps yellow, only cymbium brown. Palpal femora and patellae covered with dense white hairs, tibiae and cymbium with brown hairs. Tibial apophysis broader than in the majority of congeners ( Fig. 65 ). Bulb with very long proximal lobe, embolic spiral placed parallel to the long axis of the cymbium ( Fig. 64 ).

Female. General appearance as in Fig. 66 . Larger than male. Carapace brown, ocular area darker, clothed in dense shining hairs. Sternum yellowish brown. “Cheeks” and chelicerae yellowish brown, covered with dense white hairs. Abdomen yellowish with brownish pattern composed with small patches ( Fig. 66 ), clothed in white and brown hairs. Legs yellowish brown, with brown patches and rings. Leg spines numerous, long, hairs dense, brown. Epigyne as in Figs 67, 69 , copulatory openings with small flaps. Seminal ducts very long, forming three loops in initial part ( Figs 68, 70 ).

Distribution. Species known from the arid western parts of South Africa.

Remarks. The male of this species is described here for the first time.

Figures

FIGURES 61–65. Euophrys leipoldti Peckham et Peckham, 1903. 61 male, dorsal view; 62 cheliceral dentition; 63 palpal organ, prolateral view; 64 palpal organ, ventral view; 65 palpal organ, retrolateral view.

FIGURES 66–70. Euophrys leipoldti Peckham et Peckham, 1903. 66 female, dorsal view; 67, 69 epigyne, 68 internal structure of epigyne, ventral view; 70 internal structure of epigyne, dorsal view.