Nemaspela kotia Martens & Maghradze & Barjadze 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Martens, Jochen
name: Maghradze, Eter
name: Barjadze, Shalva
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Opiliones
Nemastomatidae
Nemaspela
Nemaspela kotia

description: Nemaspela kotia sp. nov.
(Figs 1–16, Map 1, Table 1)
Type material: Holotype: Male, ISIZU-TO-T-00001, leg. 8.x.2021, GEORGIA, Kotia Cave (= Kotiasklde Cave), close to the village Sveri, Chiatura Municipality, Zemo Imereti plateau, Imereti Region, western Georgia (42°12'47.9"N 43°19'27.9"E, 725 m a.s.l.).
Paratypes: The same locality as holotype. 1 female, 1 male CJM; 1 female, ISIZU-TO-T-00002; 8.x.2021. All specimens were collected by E. Maghradze, Sh. Barjadze and L. Shavadze.
Diagnosis. A minute, long-legged species with pale soft cuticle, generally similar in size and habitus to three other closely related Nemaspela species from the Georgian caves, i.e. N. femorecurvata Martens, 2006, N. melouri Martens, Maghradze & Barjadze, 2021, and N. prometheus Martens, Maghradze & Barjadze, 2021 characterized by specific genital morphology, i.e. extremely slender truncus and small size of basal inflated part of truncus, glans penis in dorsal/ventral view and lateral view markedly slenderer than in N. melouri and N. prometheus, truncus below glans slightly inflated, glans distinctly separated from truncus.
Description. Male (n = 2). Body length: 1.8, 2.0. Body, dorsal side (Figs 1, 10): Prosoma and opisthosoma forming two well discernible body parts because of a depression between them, opisthosoma strongly globular, less so the prosoma, eyes and Tu oc absent; dorsal scutal parts of prosoma and opisthosoma uniformly light yellowish, smooth, difficult to distinguish from neighbouring exoskeletal parts, without any distinct spots or markings, no setae present on dorsal side except for few minute ones on rear end of opisthosoma.
Body, ventral side (Fig. 2): Op gen and the Cx I–IV brownish contrasting with the much lighter remaining ventral side, irregularly dark brown to blackish spots on Op gen and Cx I–IV depending on interval from final moult, all sternites with a single row of black setae contrasting with light cuticle, Op gen with a few scattered setae.
Chelicera (Figs 12–13): Very slender and elongated; basal article slightly constricted close to its proximal end, from there slightly and continuously widened distally, distal third slightly bent on ventral side, several setae on dorsal side at proximal portion, additionally two long setae dorsal sub-distally, no dorsal Apo on basal article present; 2 nd cheliceral article slender and longish, slightly inflated and nearly parallel-sided (in pro-lateral view, Fig. 13) but slightly enlarged toward movable third article, with a loose tuft of long and strong setae all over the frontal surface, several shorter ones densely packed ventro-distally. On second article pro-laterally a group of few shorter setae.
Pedipalp (Figs 2, 4): Very slender and extremely long (in terms of Nemaspela morphology), all articles nearly parallel-sided, Fe slightly widened towards distal end, distal end slightly more enlarged and bent downwards, Pt slender, slightly tapering towards distal end, distal fifth slightly bent to ventral side, Ti slightly shorter than Fe, tapering towards distal end, distal half slightly curved upwards, Ta slightly curved to ventral side, slightly enlarged toward distal part, all articles except Tr bearing scattered clavate setae, these most conspicuous on Fe ventrally, few on dorsal side, on Pt, Ti and Ta on all sides and densely packed. Setae on Fe longer than breadth of article at the position, generally slightly shorter on dorsal side; on Ti and Ta of the same length. No article with special armament in males (but see female).
Legs (Figs 1–2): Light brownish tending to yellowish brownish and yellowish toward distal end, Tr mottled dark brownish, articles (in comparison to body size) extremely long and slender, thread-like, round in crosssection, armed with some scattered short black setae. Many pseudo-articulations on Fe I–IV (Figs 1–2), densely packed near basis of articles, towards distal end of article distances between them consecutively more extended; no pseudo-articulations near distal end. Number of femoral pseudo-articulations: Fe I 15, Fe II 19, Fe III 13, Fe IV 18. Measurements are given in Table 1.
Male genital morphology (Figs 6–9): Truncus penis (Figs 6–7) extremely slender; basis forming a small inflated part (occupying about one fifth of whole penis length) and markedly separated from the rest of the truncus; inflated part slender, evenly broad, laterally rounded and deeply split medially, completely filled by two penial muscles, their tendons spanning the hole truncus length up to the basis of the glans. Truncus nearly parallel-sided in dorsal/ ventral view nearly all over its length (Fig. 6), but slightly narrower subterminally, than broadening up close to the glans from where slightly narrowed to glans basis; in lateral view (Fig. 7) truncus narrow as well, strictly parallel-sided over most of its length.
Glans (Figs 8–9) conspicuously separated from truncus (dorsal/ventral view), distinctly fusiform, just slightly broader than truncus at mid-part (Fig. 9), short, starting where two tendons are attached to inner truncus wall, lateral outline only evenly rounded, continuously tapering toward stylus, stylus short, a continuation of the glans, tapering to a distinctly pointed distal tip. Glans in lateral view (Fig. 8) a continuation of the distal part of truncus, but slightly enlarged dorsally for most of its length, short stylus distinctly bent to dorsal side. A few inconspicuous short unspecialized spicules forming the armament of glans, their arrangement symmetrical in ventral, dorsal and lateral views; one double row each on dorsal, ventral and lateral sides, distally extended to the basis of stylus, there slightly closer to each other than on glans proper.
Description. Female (n=2). Body length: 1.9, 2.0. External morphology of body generally similar to male, opisthosoma more elevated than in male (Figs 1, 3, 11). Ventral side similar to male, light yellowish, only Op gen more sclerotized and thus darker, irregular blackish spots on Op gen, apparently dependent on age after final moult; spots lacking in younger specimens. Chelicera (Figs 14–15) similar to male, proportions of 1 st and 2 nd articles and their setation similar to male (in retro-lateral view, see Fig. 14). Pedipalp (Figs 1, 3, 11) very similar to male including setation, all articles of equal size (see Table 1). On Ti retro-lateral at distal end a small apophysis surrounded by few clavate setae (Fig. 16). Number of femoral pseudo-articulations (n=1): Fe I 19, Fe II 24, Fe III 17, Fe IV 22. Measurements are given in Table 1.
Variation. The available specimens are rather homogeneous in size including appendages and coloration. Coloration of appendages and body depends on age after final moult; older specimens appear to be darker. For minor differences between sexes see above.
Relationships. See Discussion.
Etymology. The name is given according to the type locality, Kotia Cave, the single known locality of this species. Noun in apposition.
Distribution (Map 1). Known only from the type locality, the Kotia Cave in Chiatura Municipality, Imereti Region, West Georgia.
description: Published as part of Martens, Jochen, Maghradze, Eter & Barjadze, Shalva, 2023, An additional species of the genus Nemaspela Šilhavý, 1966 from a cave in Georgia with a note on Nemaspela melouri (Opiliones: Nemastomatidae), pp. 361-370 in Zootaxa 5293 (2) on pages 362-368, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5293.2.9, http://zenodo.org/record/7960306