Hersiliola artemisiae, Zamani & Mirshamsi & Marusik, 2017

Zamani, Alireza, Mirshamsi, Omid & Marusik, Yuri M., 2017, Description of a new species of Hersiliola and the male of Duninia rheimsae Marusik & Fet, 2009 from Iran (Araneae: Hersiliidae), Turkish Journal of Zoology 41 (4), pp. 624-629 : 626-628

Hersiliola artemisiae sp. nov.

( Figures 3A, 3B , and 4A–4D )

Type material: Holotype ♀ ( SMF), IRAN: Kerman Province, Jiroft, Ramoon , September 2015 (B. Zadhoush) . Paratype ♀ ( SMF), IRAN: Isfahan Province, Shahreza County, March 2015, March 2015 (A. Zamani) .

Etymology. This species is named after Artemisia I of Caria (fl. 480 BC), queen of Halicarnassus, who fought as an ally of Xerxes I, King of Persia, against the independent Greek city states during the second Persian invasion of Greece.

Diagnosis. This species is closely related to H. afghanica Roewer, 1960 from Afghanistan, from which it can be distinguished by a much narrower septum (septum as wide as lateral arms of median plate in H. afghanica ) and the position of the upper loop of the duct on the inner ventral wall of the receptacle and its different shape (duct located on the upper side of the receptacle in H. afghanica ).

Description. Female (paratype): Body 4.1 long; carapace 1.9 long, 1.8 wide; clypeus height 0.42. ALE 0.08, AME 0.15, PLE 0.11, PME 0.10. Measurements for segments of leg I: coxa 0.75, femur 2.65, patella 0.85, tibia 2.40, metatarsus 2.80, tarsus 0.95; femur I/carapace length ratio 1.39. General appearance as shown in Figures 3A and 3B . Carapace light yellowish-brown with dark margins, radial dark stripes and median dark band; cephalic part separated from the thoracic part by a dark V-shaped spot, with dark feather-like extensions in the upper part, behind PLE. Ocular area dark brown with black eye borders ( Figure 3A ); labium, endites, and sternum light yellowish-brown. Abdomen light brown with a brown cardiac mark with darker margins, transverse stripes, and dark sides. Venter of abdomen without pattern. Legs yellowish-brown, femora without distinct dark annulations; coxae IV separated from each other by less than one diameter ( Figure 3B ). Vulva and epigyne as in Figures 4A–4D . Insemination duct relatively short with 2.5 coils ( Figure 4A ); windows distinct ( Figure 4B ). Upper loop of coil located on the inner ventral wall of the receptacle ( Figure 4C ); accessory glands digitiform ( Figure 4C ); septum less than half as wide as lateral arms of median plate ( Figure 4D ).

Male: Unknown.

Distribution. Known only from Isfahan and Kerman provinces of Iran.

Comments. There is a minor difference in the epigynes of the two examined specimens: the lower epigynal margin is straight in the Kerman specimen ( Figures 4A and 4B ), while it is slightly convex in the specimen from Isfahan ( Figures 4C and 4D ); to us, it seems like an intraspecific variation, but findings of more specimens and especially males is necessary to confirm this.

ZAMANI et al. / Turk J Zool

Nomenclatural acts

This work and the nomenclatural acts it contains have been registered in ZooBank. The ZooBank Life Science Identifier (LSID) for this publication is: http://zoobank. org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:186D7C40-770C-4CC0-BBED-64B105482CEB

Acknowledgments

Financial support was provided by the Office of Research Affairs, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, and the Iran National Science Foundation (INSF-90001780), which is gratefully acknowledged. We are grateful to Naiem Moradi and Behzad Zadhoush for providing us with their collected material.

Figures

Figure 3. Habitus of the paratype of Hersiliola artemisiae sp. nov.: A) dorsal; B) ventral.

Figure 4. Epigyne of Hersiliola artemisiae sp. nov.: A, D) dorsal; B, C) ventral. A, B- holotype, before coloration; C, D- paratype, after coloration.