Harpactea popovi Dimitrov & Deltshev & Lazarov 2019, sp. n.
Creators: name: Dimitrov, Dragomir
name: Deltshev, Christo
name: Lazarov, Stoian
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Dysderidae
Harpactea
Harpactea popovi

description: Harpactea popovi sp. n.
Figs 1– 9, 24.
Type material: Holotype: 1 ♂, Bulgaria, Strandzha mountain, Kachul place, 0 4.08.1999, leg. V. Popov. Paratype: 1 ♂, Strandzha Mts, Gramatikovo village, 0 4.08.1999, leg. V. Popov.
Etymology: Named after the Bulgarian mammalogist Vasil Popov who collected the material.
Diagnosis: Similar to H. ice and H. sturanyi from which it is distinguished by the lack of male palp accessory apophysis, larger and wider conductor, embolus wider at its base, with a distal projection bent almost 90 degrees at its middle part, which is narrower and curved in the other 2 species. (Figs 1 –18).
Description: Male (holotype): Measurements: Total length 6.00; carapace, length 2.78, width 2.03; sternum length 1.65, width 1.13; chelicerae, length 1.13, width 0.53; abdomen, length 3.23. Coloration: Carapace and chelicerae red-brown (Figs 1, 3). Sternum red-brown, a little lighter than carapace. Abdomen grey to light grey. Legs of the same color as sternum. Chelicerae of the same color as carapace. Eyes (Fig. 2): AE separated by 1 ½ of their diameter. PME closer to each other, almost touching. Chelicerae: The whole dorsal surface covered with small black seta-bearing tubercles. Anterior margin with 2 teeth, retromargin with 2 teeth. Proximal tooth on retromargin opposite the space between the teeth on promargin. Leg chaetotaxy and measurements given in Tables 1 and 2.
Palp (Figs 4–9): Bulb long and narrow, of irregular shape. Its apical part ends with an extension bearing the embolus and conductor. Conductor with rectangular shape. Embolus bent in a right angle at the middle.
Female unknown.
Distribution: As the species is known only from the type locality, it is tentatively considered a Bulgarian endemic. However, the locality is situated near the Turkish border and it is probable that it could be found in Turkey too (Fig 24).
Comments: Somatic (presence of spines on coxae IV and patellae III) and genital characters (shape of the male palps) suggest that Harpactea popovi sp. n. belongs to the rubicunda species-group, as defined by Deeleman- Reinhold (1993). The group is abundant in the Eastern Mediterranean, Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor, rather heterogeneous and probably includes several phyletic lines (Deeleman-Reinhold 1993). Out of the 51 Harpactea species reported from the Balkan Peninsula, 33 species can be assigned to the rubicunda group. A complete review of the biogeographic patterns and phylogeny of Balkan Harpactea is beyond the scope of this paper, but the Balkan Peninsula has probably played a key role in the diversification of the genus and especially the rubicunda group.
description: Published as part of Dimitrov, Dragomir, Deltshev, Christo & Lazarov, Stoian, 2019, Description of Harpactea popovi sp. n. from Bulgaria with further taxonomic notes on related species (Araneae, Dysderidae), pp. 593-596 in Zootaxa 4568 (3) on page 594, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4568.3.13, http://zenodo.org/record/2601596