Ovtsharenkoia pallida ( Kroneberg, 1875 )

Marusik, Yuri & Fet, Victor, 2009, A survey of East Palaearctic Hersiliola Thorell, 1870 (Araneae, Hersiliidae), with a description of three new genera, ZooKeys 16 (16), pp. 75-114 : 105-108

Ovtsharenkoia pallida ( Kroneberg, 1875)

Figs 2 .3-8, 3 .6, 4 .8, 5 .8, 6 .9, 12 .1-5

Hersiliola p. Kroneberg, 1875: 13-14, pl. 5, f. 41 (D ♀).

Hersiliola p.: Kroneberg 1885: 545-547; Kroneberg 1888: 189-190; Simon 1893: 445; Reimoser 1919: 188; Charitonov 1932: 23; Caporiacco 1935: 142 ( Pakistan); Spassky 1952: 196-200 (in part); Bonnet 1957: 2180; Andreeva and Tyshchenko 1969: 382; Andreeva 1976: 30-31 ( Tajikistan).

Type material. Lectotype: ♀ (designated here): UZBEKISTAN: Samarkand, A.P. Fedchenko coll. ( ZMMU, Ta-1323); paralectotype ♀ (designated here): KYRGYZSTAN: Osh, A.P. Fedchenko coll. ( ZMMU, Ta-1324). Vial with paralectotype female contains also adult female of Oecobius nadiae (Spassky, 1936) . This species and specimen were not mentioned in Kroneberg’s text. It seems that he considered this specimen a juvenile Hersiliola .

Additional material examined (48 specimens). KAZAKHSTAN (first country record): 1♁, Zhambyl Province, environs of Djambul (= Zhambyl , = Taraz ), 11.04.1994, S.V. Ovtchinnikov coll. ( ZMMU) . KYRGYZSTAN: 1♁, Bishkek (= Frunze ), in a house, 17.07.1979, S.L. Zonstein coll. ( ZMMU) ; 1♁, 6♀, 2 subad. ♁, 1984, same locality, in buildings, S.V. Ovtchinnikov coll. ( ZMMU) ; 1♁, 1♀, 1984, same locality, S.V. Ovtchinnikov coll. ( SMF) ; 1♁, Bishkek, 8.06.1994, S.V. Ovtchinnikov coll. ( ZMMU) ; 2♁, 1♀, Bishkek, in house, 1.07.1994, S.V. Ovtchinnikov coll. ( ZMMU) ; 4♁, 3♀, Bishkek, 2.06.1994, S.V. Ovtchinnikov coll. ( ZMMU) ; 5♁, 4♀, Bishkek, waste ground, 17.06.2005, S.V. Ovtchinnikov coll. ( ZMMU) ; 3♁, 1♀, Bishkek, waste ground, 23.06.2005, S.V. Ovtchinnikov coll. ( ZMMU) . PAKISTAN: “Karakoram”, no exact locality, 1 subad.♀, L. di Caporiacco coll. ( MZUF) [locality published by Caporiacco (1935) as “ Chongo, Hot Sulpur Spring, 3000 m ”, located in Braldu Valley of Karakoram Mts., Baltistan , Pakistan; collected 07.1929] . TURKMENISTAN (first country record): 1♁, Badkhyz, Zyulfagar Mt. Range , 13.04.1993, S.L. Zonstein coll. ( ZMMU) . UZBEKISTAN: Samarkand Province, Amankutan, 14.07.1967 and Bokhara Province , Ayakagitma , 7.06.1970 (a combined label from two localities), 1♁, 3♀, 5 juv.♀, A. Murtazaev coll. ( ZMMU) .

Diagnosis. Same as for the genus.

Description. Male (described here for the first time). Total length 4.8. Carapace 2.0 long, 2.25 wide, femur I 4.25 long, femur/carapace length ratio 2.13. Carapace light brown with dark margins, radial dark stripes and median dark band; cephalic part separated from the thoracic part by a dark V-shaped spot. Abdomen light brown with a brown heart spot, transverse stripes and dark sides. Dorsal pattern variable. Venter of abdomen without pattern. Palp as in Figs 3.6, 4.8, 5.8, 6.9, femur and cymbium equal in length, patella+tibia almost as long as cymbium or femur; tegulum round, basal part extended; embolus whip-like, arched; embolus makes a half loop, base of embolus located on retrolateral side; tegulum with two apophyses: apical (?tegular) and basal. Basal apophysis (outgrowth) complicated, subdivided into three parts: lamellate, digitiform retrolateral, and mesal. Embolus passes below mesal part of basal apophysis. Apical apophysis perpendicular to the cymbial axis.

Female. Total length 4.2-6.0. Carapace 2.0-2.5 long, 2.25-2.75 wide, femur I 3.5, femur/carapace length ratio 1.75. Colouration as in male. Epigyne as in Figs 12.1-5, with strongly chitinized small median plate, septum well-developed, its length subequal to length of lateral arms; width of septum variable; windows absent, lateral sides of epigynal plate with small extensions, indicating pockets; aside of median plate epigyne is pale, size of pale part variable; upper part of epigynal plate with a pair of transverse stripes formed by translucent insemination (?) ducts. Distinct spermathecae absent, insemination ducts relatively thin, coils absent; fertilization ducts with globular accessory glands. Insemination ducts have small globular extensions that possibly correspond to spermathecae proper.

Size of epigyne variable, although size of median plate is not variable, as well as position of translucent fertilization ducts. Distance between epigastral fold and ducts is the same in large and small epigynes.

Comments. Details of epigynal structure remain uncertain. It is not clear whether openings on the median plates are real copulatory openings or just fovea, origins of copulatory (insemination) ducts as well as the position of the terminal part of the fertilization ducts. Most probably the insemination duct is weakly sclerotized and originates in pockets lying below the epigynal plate.

This species has been described from the important collections of the famous 1868−1871 expedition of Alexei P. Fedchenko (1844−1873) and his wife Olga A. Fedchenko to Russian Turkestan. The original type series includes two female syntypes; the lectotype from Samarkand and paralectotype from Osh are designated here. Andreeva and Tyshchenko (1969) and Andreeva (1976) reported juveniles of this species from Tajikistan ( Bishkent Valley , Chiluchor-chashma , 4 juv., 8.05.1965, E. Martynova coll.; Khozratisho Range , 13 km from Muminabad along Obisurkh River valley, 1 juv., 9.06.1966, E. Andreeva coll.). Adults from Tajikistan are unknown .

We also examined a juvenile female reported as Hersiliola pallida by Caporiacco (1935) from Karakoram Mts. ( Pakistan) which tentatively belongs to this species. This specimen originates from a single high mountain locality, Chongo in Braldu Valley, Baltistan (in the vicinity of the Baltoro Glacier); see Spoleto (1930) for the 1929 Italian expedition route. Although Caporiacco (1935) reported three adult males, these specimens could not be located in MZUF (L. Bartolozii, pers. comm.).

Earlier records from lowland Turkmenistan were misidentifications and refer to Hersiliola sternbergsi sp. n. (Repetek, Badghyz) or Duninia baehrae sp. n. (Badghyz). However, new material collected by S. L. Zonstein in 1993 shows that this species is indeed found in Turkmenistan. It was collected in the very southwest of Badghyz, in the mountainous area bordering Iran (Zyulfagar Range in the watershed of Tejen, which forms an important zoogeographic boundary between the Turkmeno-Khurassan mountains to the west and all Central Asian/Himalayan mountains to the east; see Fet 1994).

Distribution. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan (Baltistan: Karakoram Mts.), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan (south), Uzbekistan. Unlike most species of Hersililola and other habitually similar genera, this species is restricted exclusively to mountainous areas and seems to be the only species of hersiliids in the Palaearctic that penetrates human settlements and buildings (Bishkek). It could be a petrophilous species that inhabits cliffs and walls.

Figures

Figure 2. Hersiliola sternbergsi sp. n. (1), H. esyunini sp. n. (2), Ovtsharenkoia pallida (3-8). 1 male carapace, frontal 2 carapace, dorsal 3-4 male carapace, dorsal and lateral 5 abdomen of juvenile, dorsal 6-7 habitus of female and male, respectively 8 female abdomen, ventral.

Figure 3. Retrolateral view of the male palp of Hersiliola esyunini sp. n. (1), H. sternbergsi sp. n. (2), Duninia baehrae sp. n. (3), Deltshevia danovi sp. n. (4), D. gromovi sp. n. (5), and Ovtsharenkoia pallida (6). Scale = 0.5 mm.

Figure 4. Retrolateral view of the male palp of Hersiliola macullulata (1), H. simoni (2), H. sternbergsi sp. n. (3), H. esyunini sp. n. (4), Duninia baehrae sp. n. (5), Deltshevia danovi sp. n. (6), D. gromovi sp. n. (7), and Ovtsharenkoia pallida (8). Scale = 0.5 mm.

Figure 5. Prolateral view of the male palp of Hersiliola macullulata (1), H. simoni (2), H. sternbergsi sp. n. (3), H. esyunini sp. n. (4), Duninia baehrae sp. n. (5), Deltshevia danovi sp. n. (6), D. gromovi sp. n. (7), and Ovtsharenkoia pallida (8). Scale = 0.5 mm.

Figure 6. Male palp of Hersiliola macullulata (1), H. simoni (2-3), H. sternbergsi sp. n. (4-5), H. esyunini sp. n. (6-7), Duninia baehrae sp. n. (8), and Ovtsharenkoia pallida (9). 1-2 ventral 3-4, 6 from below 5, 7,‹ from above 8 retrolateral. Scale = 0.5 mm.

Figure 12. Epigyne of Ovtsharenkoia pallida. 1-3 ventral 4 caudal 5 dorsal. Scale = 0.5 mm.