Poecilochroa kuljitae ( Tikader, 1982 ) Sankaran & Caleb & Sebastian, 2019

Sankaran, Pradeep M., Caleb, John T. D. & Sebastian, Pothalil A., 2019, On the taxonomic validity of Indian ground spiders: I. Genus Scopoides Platnick, 1989 (Araneae: Gnaphosidae), Zootaxa 4648 (1), pp. 155-164 : 156

Poecilochroa kuljitae ( Tikader, 1982) comb. nov.

Figs1–6

Scopodes kuljitae Tikader, 1982: 367 , figs 170–174.

Scopoides kuljitae Platnick, 1989 .

Type material. Holotype female from INDIA: Maharashtra: Naykal village near Ratnagiri (16 o 59’24.77’’N, 73 o 18’43.28’’E), 77 m alt.; G.M. Yazdani leg.; 19 January 1974; repository NZC-ZSI, Kolkata (5013/18), examined (only the genitalia. Specimen’s body presumably lost) . Paratype female from INDIA: Karnataka: Panambur near Mangalore (12 o 53’01.98’’N, 74 o 48’12.11’’E), 11 m alt; B.K. Tikader leg.; 7 February 1964; repository NZC-ZSI, Kolkata (5014/18), examined .

Justification of the transfer. Tikader (1982) described S. kuljitae based on female specimens collected from Karnataka and Maharashtra. The original genitalic illustrations ( Tikader 1982: figs 171–172) of this species clearly indicated that it is misplaced within Scopoides . Detailed study of the types of S. kuljitae showed that the genitalia of this species has similarity with that of both Poecilochroa Westring, 1874 and Sergiolus Simon, 1892 . But the absence of promarginal cheliceral carina makes this species unfit to Sergiolus . On the other hand, epigyne with a small, single anterior hood and vulvae consisting of spermathecae oriented ventrally to hyaline bursae ( Figs 2–3 ) are consistent with the species being a Poecilochroa as illustrated by Platnick and Shadab (1981: figs 8–9) for Poecilochroa variana (C. L. Koch, 1839) , the type species of the genus. Considering these observations, we propose to transfer S. kuljitae to Poecilochroa .

Supplementary description. Female (paratype, Fig. 1 ): Body length 5.27. Prosoma length 2.10, width 1.60. Opisthosoma length 3.17, width 1.95. Eye diameters: ALE 0.13. AME 0.14. PLE 0.12. PME 0.11. Eye interdistances: AME–ALE 0.03. AME–AME 0.08. AME–PME 0.13. PME–PLE 0.09. PME–PME 0.10. Measurements of legs. I 4.96 [1.53, 0.89, 1.05, 0.96, 0.53], II (right) 4.90 [1.43, 0.83, 1.06, 1.02, 0.56], III 4.85 [1.46, 0.73, 1.02, 1.05, 0.59], IV 6.07 [1.64, 0.91, 1.34, 1.66, 0.52]. Leg formula: 4123. Genitalia (holotype; Figs 2–3 ): Epigyne with clavate atrium bordered anteriorly by thick, smoothly curved hood ( Fig. 2 ). Copulatory openings small, situated postero-medially. Spermathecae small, sclerotized, sac-like, situated dorsally, with small spherical lobes bridged with narrow tubes ( Fig. 3 ). Bursae pyriform, hyaline, diverging anteriorly ( Fig. 3 ). Fertilization ducts narrow, diverging ( Fig. 3 ).

Male. Unknown.

Remarks. The ZSI collection has two glass bottles for this species. The bottle labeled as ‘holotype’ (5013/18) contains one female with the genitalia intact and a small vial containing dissected female genitalia. The bottle labeled as ‘paratype’ (no voucher number) contains one juvenile gnaphosid with detached opisthosoma. Since the original description mentions one holotype and one female paratype, and there is an illustration of the internal genitalia, we assume that the dissected out genitalia may be of the holotype female, which may be lost, and the female specimen with genitalia intact may presumably be the paratype of this species.

Figures

FIGURES 1–6. Scopodes kuljitae Tikader, 1982 (NZC-ZSI-5013/18). 1 paratype female habitus, dorsal view; 2 epigyne of holotype female, ventral view; 3 vulvae of the same, dorsal view; 4 epigyne of paratype female, ventral view; 5–6 labels from type bottles. Scale bars: 1, 2 mm; 2–4, 0.2 mm.