Micaria pallipes (Lucas, 1846)

Haddad, Charles R. & Bosmans, Robert, 2013, Synonymy of the North African spider genus Castanilla Caporiacco, 1936 with Micaria Westring, 1851 (Araneae: Gnaphosidae), Zootaxa 3734 (3), pp. 397-399 : 397-398

Micaria pallipes (Lucas, 1846)

Figs 1– 3

Drassus pallipes Lucas, 1846: 227 , pl. 14, fig. 3.

Castanilla marchesii Caporiacco, 1936b: 110 , fig. 7 (#f lectotype and juvenile #f paralectotype, here designated: LIBYA: el-Tallab, Buema [24°14'N, 23°21'E], 15.II.1933, leg. O. Marchesi, MZUF 271, Mag no. 2552 – examined; #f paralectotype, here designated, misidentified: LIBYA: Ain Doua [21°48'N, 24°52'E], Auenati [el-Auenàt], IV.1933, leg. L. O. Marchesi, MZUF 119, Mag no. 2552—examined) syn. nov.

For a complete bibliography of M. pallipes see Platnick (2013).

Remarks: The material examined of C. marchesii comprised two vials, both labelled as syntypes, as indicated in Berdondini & Whitman (2002). The vial from el-Tallab and Buema (MZUF 271), the localities mentioned in the original description of Caporiacco (1936b), contains a single female and subadult female specimen (not two females, as indicated by Berdondini & Whitman 2002). The adult female is designated here as a lectotype. The specimen is in generally good condition except for several missing legs and the faded colouration ( Fig. 1 ). The lectotype has an eye arrangement typical of Micaria ( Fig. 2 ) and the epigyne ( Fig. 3 ) shares several characteristics with the widespread West Palaearctic species, M. pallipes : the broad transverse anterior ridge, the median ridges that are narrow medially and diverge towards the anterior and posterior, and the oval spermathecae situated medially in the epigyne (see Bosmans & Blick 2000: fig. 11; Levy 2002: fig. 11). We thus consider C. marchesii to be a junior synonym of M. pallipes . Due to the faded colouration of the lectotype specimen, the seven white abdominal spots characteristic of M. pallipes (see Levy 2002: fig. 8) are not visible.

The adult female labelled as a syntype of C. marchesii from el-Auenat, which is designated here as a paralectotype, was mentioned in the last line of the original description under a separate heading, “Hab. el-Auenat” (Caporiacco 1936b), as well as on page 113 (el-Auenat) of the same paper. This specimen is in a terrible condition: all of the appendages are missing except for right leg I and the two pedipalps, the colouration is very faded, and only the AME are clearly distinguishable. The presence of paired spatulate setae on the scopula of the tarsus of the first leg confirm the placement of this species in Micaria , but the epigyne ( Fig. 4 ) is clearly different to that of the lectotype of C. marchesii ( Fig. 3 ), and this specimen is also much smaller. This species is clearly misidentified as C. marchesii and does not conform to any other known Micaria . As such, it may represent a new species, but the very poor condition of the specimen prevents us from formally describing it.

The material mentioned on pages 118 (Hab. Cufra: Ain Dòua and Carcùr Ibrahìm) and 119 (Cufra) could not be traced in any collection, so the conspecificity of these specimens with the lectotype or paralectotype could not be determined. Since these specimens are not mentioned in the description they are not considered to be types.

Description: For redescriptions based on recently collected material see Bosmans & Blick (2000) or Tuneva (2007).

Distribution: Widespread from the central parts of Asia, through the Mediterranean, to the Canary Islands (Platnick 2013). Previously recorded from Libya by Denis (1966) as M. femoralis , which is another synonym of M. pallipes .

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 5. 1 – 3. Micaria pallipes (Lucas, 1846), female lectotype of its synonym Castanilla marchesii Caporiacco, 1936; 4. Micaria sp., misidentified female paralectotype of C. marchesii; 5. M. quinquemaculata (Caporiacco, 1936), juvenile female holotype: 1, 5. Dorsal habitus; 2. Eye region, dorsal view. 3, 4. Epigyne, ventral view. Scale bars: 1, 5 = 1.0 mm; 2 – 4 = 0.1 mm.