Obscuriphantes bacelarae ( Schenkel, 1938 ) Bosmans & Cardoso & Crespo, 2010

Bosmans, Robert, Cardoso, Pedro & Crespo, Luis Carlos, 2010, A review of the linyphiid spiders of Portugal, with the description of six new species (Araneae: Linyphiidae) 2473, Zootaxa 2473 (1), pp. 1-67 : 34-36

Obscuriphantes bacelarae ( Schenkel, 1938) new combination

( Figs 57–63)

Lepthyphantes bacelari Schenkel, 1938: 6 , fig. 2 (descr. female).

Lepthyphantes ollivieri Denis, 1957: 254 , fig. 7–8 (descr. female); Telfer et al. 2003: 252. New synonymy.

Type material: Holotype female of Lepthyphantes bacelarae Schenkel from Portugal, Sintra (not examined) . Holotype female of Lepthyphantes ollivieri Denis from France, Basses Pyrénées , Bois des Crétets, 1500m, 3.VIII.1956 (MNHNP; examined) .

Comparative material examined: Obscuriphantes obscurus (Blackwall, 1884) : 12 males 2 females ( Figs 64–68) from Belgium, prov. Liège , Elsenborn, 25.V.2003, R. Bosmans leg. (CRB) .

Remarks on synonymy: Lepthyphantes bacelarae was described by Schenkel (1938) from a single female from Sintra ( Portugal). The species has never been cited since then and the type material was not examined. The description is accompanied by good illustrations of the epigynum in ventral and lateral view, which allowed Telfer et al. (2003) to identify females collected in Tapada de Mafra as L. bacelarae . The females were accompanied by the unknown male and this allows us to describe it and classify the species in one of the new genera that recently have been created for species previously placed in Lepthyphantes . The male palp ( Fig. 57) appears to be very similar to the one of Lepthyphantes obscurus ( Fig. 64), in having a cymbium with a conical tubercle and an elongated lamella. The epigynum also shows corresponding characters: the absence of lateral lobes and the short insemination ducts. Lepthyphantes obscurus is the type species of the genus Obscuriphantes and Lepthyphantes bacelarae is hereby transferred to Obscuriphantes .

The first author was also able to examine the type material of Lepthyphantes ollivieri described by Denis (1957) from the French Pyrénées, only known from the female. The epigynes of L. bacelarae and L. ollivieri are identical and L. ollivieri becomes a junior synonym.

Diagnosis: The species is closely related to Obscuriphantes obscurus , especially the males and these can have been misidentified in the past. Males are distinguished from O. obscurus by the more conical cymbial tubercle and the shorter lamella ( Fig. 57 versus fig. 64), females are much easier distinguished by the rounded scape in O. bacelarae ( Figs 59, 60), angular in O. obscurus ( Fig. 66).

Description: Male: Measurements: Total length 1.9–2.0, prosoma 0.90–0.92 long, 0.74–0.76 wide. Colour: Prosoma brown suffused with chestnut brown; legs pale yellowish brown; abdomen with dorsal pattern of brown, grey and white. Legs: Fe I pl, Fe II–IV spineless; Ti I 2 d pl rl, Ti II 2 d rl, Ti III–IV 2 d; Mt d; Tb Mt I = 0.85. Palp ( Figs 57, 58): Femur with long dorsal spine, twice as long as its diameter; tibia with short dorsal spine, as long as its diameter; cymbium with strong conical tubercle; basal branch of paracymbium with two hairs, with basal tooth, distal branch widened, terminally deeply incised; lamella bifid, consisting of two unequally elongated, pointed branches.

Female: Measurements: Total length 2.2; prosoma 0.82 long, 0.66 wide. Colour and spine disposition as in the male. Epigynum ( Figs 59–62): Scape with narrow stalk, in ventral view much wider than long, in an oblique position, in posteroventral view oval and with deep posteromedian incision in which fits the scape. Vulva ( Fig. 63): Spermathecae small and oval, with lateral lobe; insemination ducts short, running from the spermathecae to the anterior parts of the scape.

Previous records: Lisboa: Murgeira ( Telfer et al. 2003); Póvoa de Cima ( Telfer et al. 2003); Sintra ( Schenkel 1938); Tapada de Mafra ( Telfer et al. 2003).

New records: Lisboa: Tapada de Mafra , 1 male, over shrubs, 5.V.2001 (CGT) . Vila Real: Serra do Marão (CBM) .

Distribution: The species is known from several localities in Central Portugal and one in the French Pyrenees (Denis 1957), as Lepthyphantes ollivieri . This species is expected to occur in Spain.

Habitat type: All material was collected by beating or sweeping vegetation, indicating the species lives on trees, like its congener Obscuriphantes obscurus .

Phenology: Adult females were collected from May to September, and the single male in May.