Brigittea latens (Fabricius, 1775)

Figs 31–36, 40–42

Dictyna latens: Wiehle 1953: 91, figs 198–203 (♂♀); Roberts 1995: 85, figs (♂♀). Brigittea latens: Miller & Svatoň 1978: 9, pl. IV, figs 1‒6 (♂♀).

Dictyna latens mutabilis Spassky & Shnitnikov 1937: 268 (♂♀). Syn. n. For the complete list of taxonomic references see Platnick (2014).

Material examined. KAZAKHSTAN: East-Kazakhtsan Area: 3 ♀♀ (PSU-2261), 15 km from Topolyevyi Cape by the road to Akdash, sweeping, 11.07.1936, D.E. Charitonov leg.; 1 ♀ (PSU-2261), 4–5 km N of Alekseyevka Village, grass, 26.07.1936, Kondyreva leg.; 1 ♀ (PSU-2261), Mankarski Mt. Range, steppe on stony slope, bush, 26.07.1936, Kondyreva leg. RUSSIA: Orenburg Area: 19 ♂♂, 22 ♀♀ (PSU-1142), South Urals, Sol-Iletsk Distr., Chybyndy [=Shybyndy] gully, 50°56´N, 54°51´E, steppe, 0 6.2000, S.L. Esyunin leg.; 3 ♂♂, 1 ♀ (PSU-2793), Orenburg Distr., Sulak, 6.06.1988, Kuznetsov leg.; 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀ (PSU-2794), Sol-Iletsk Distr., Ilek River, 20.07.1988, Kuznetsov leg.; 1 ♂, (PSU-2795), Kuvandyk Distr., Aituar, steppe, 30.05.1996, N.S. Mazura leg.; 1 ♂, 1 ♀ (PSU-3139), Sakmara Distr., Grebeni Hill, steppe, 10.05.2002, Korshikov leg. AZERBAIJAN: 7♂, 4♀, 25juv. (IBPN), Lenkoran Dist., N of Lenkoran, 38º50'N, 48º49'E, - 10 m, seashore bog, 22.05.2003, Y.M. Marusik leg.; 1♂ (IBPN), Apsheron Peninsula, Baku, Ganly-Gyol Lake, 40°21.46’N, 49°48.36’E, 20.05 & 0 6.06.2003, Y.M. Marusik leg.

Comments. Spassky & Shnitnikov (1937) described a new subspecies for the population of Dictyna latens occurring near Almaty (“ D. latens Fabr. mutabilis, forma nova”). According to Spassky and Shnitnikov (1937), this population differs from the nominotypical subspecies by the highly variable dorsal abdominal pattern and intensity of colour. No differences have been found in the copulatory organs. Specimens from East Kazakhstan exhibited also variability in the dorsal pattern and the intensity of colour. Specimens examined from Europe also show this variability in pattern, and vary from completely black to whitish with black folium.

Direct comparison of East-Kazakhstan specimens with those from Ural or Azerbaijan has revealed no differences in structure of the copulatory organs, as well as in any somatic characters. Therefore, we synonymize D. latens mutabilis with the nominotypical subspecies.

Note. Dictyna latens mutabilis has been overlooked by arachnologists therefore it was not mentioned in Roewer’s catalogue (Roewer 1942) and subsequent catalogues of Brignoli (1983), Platnick (1993, 1997 and internet versions from 0 to 15, 2000–2014) and World Spider Catalog (2014).

Distribution. This species is known from the Iberian Peninsula (Helsdingen 2014) to East Kazakhstan Area (present data).