Leptopilos digitus Haddad & Booysen 2022, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Haddad, Charles R.
name: Booysen, Ruan
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Gnaphosidae
Leptopilos
Leptopilos digitus

description: Leptopilos digitus sp. nov.
Figures 89, 90, 93–120, 126–130
Type material. Holotype ♀: SOUTH AFRICA: Northern Cape: Namaqua National Park, Koeroebees, 30°08.683’S, 17°42.177’E, 240 m a.s.l., 27.III.2022, leg. C. Haddad & R. Booysen (leaf litter, dry river bed) (NMBA 18534).
Paratypes: SOUTH AFRICA: Free State: Erfenis Dam Nature Reserve, 28°30.134’S, 26°48.427’E, 22.XI– 23.XII.2005, leg. C. Haddad (pitfalls, burnt site 2), 1♂ (NMBA 13573). Northern Cape: Namaqua National Park, Koeroebees, 30°08.683’S, 17°42.177’E, 240 m a.s.l., 27.III.2022, leg. C. Haddad, R. Booysen, L. Malope & S. Sibisi (leaf litter, dry river bed), 2♂ 3♀ (NMBA 18533); Prieska district, Green Valley Nuts, 29°34’S, 22°55’E, 950 m a.s.l., 15.I.2001, leg. C. Haddad (canopy fogging, pistachio orchard), 1♂ (NCA 2004/196). Western Cape: Tankwa Karoo National Park, Tanqua Guesthouse, 32°23.911’S, 19°50.713’E, 355 m a.s.l., 19.I.2021, leg. C. Haddad & R. Booysen (hand collecting, at night around houses), 1♀ (NCA 2021/1016).
Etymology. The species name is Latin for finger or toe (digit), referring to the shape of the apical tegular sclerite.
Diagnosis. This species is very distinct in the genus by the short finger-like apical tegular process (Fig. 129) and the short, slender dorsal tibial apophysis (Figs 120, 130) of the male palp. Females can be distinguished from congeners by the paired, weakly sclerotized recurved ridges anteriorly in the epigyne, as opposed to a single median hood, and the paired longitudinal ridges forming the lateral margins of the atrium (Fig. 126).
Description. Female (holotype, Namaqua, NMBA 18534). Colouration (Fig. 89): carapace and chelicerae creamy-white; endites and labium pale yellow-brown; sternum creamy-white, margins brown at coxae; femora creamy-white, remaining segments creamy-yellow, metatarsi and tarsi slightly darker; abdomen white dorsally and ventrally.
Measurements: CL 1.06, CW 0.87, AL 1.71, AW 1.25, TL 2.80. Eye diameters and interdistances: AME 0.10, ALE 0.07, PME 0.08, PLE 0.07, AME–AME 0.05, AME–ALE 0.01, PME–PME 0.06, PME–PLE 0.04, ALE–PLE 0.01. Leg measurements: I 0.86, 0.40, 0.67, 0.57, 0.44 = 2.94; II 0.81, 0.37, 0.62, 0.56, 0.43 = 2.79; III 0.67, 0.35, 0.49, 0.48, 0.30 = 2.29; IV 1.05, 0.40, 0.84, 0.97, 0.30 = 3.56.
Leg spination: femora: I do 1, II do 1, III do 1, IV do 2 rl 1; patellae spineless; tibiae: I plv 1, II spineless, III pl 2 rl 2 plv 1, IV pl 2 rl 2 plv 1 vt 2; metatarsi: I plv 1 rlv 1, II plv 1 rlv 1, III pl 2 rl 1 plv 1 rlv 1 vt 3, IV pl 3 rl 2 plv 2 vt 3; palp: femur do 1, patella pl 1 do 1, tibia plv 1, tarsus pl 1 rl 1 plv 3 rlv 2.
Epigyne with paired, recurved, weakly sclerotized ridges anteriorly, longitudinal ridges laterally forming margins of atrium, with further funnel-shaped ridges medially (Fig. 126); copulatory openings small, beneath anterolateral corners of funnel-shaped ridges; copulatory ducts short, looping laterally, then anteriorly and posteriorly, entering teardrop-shaped spermathecae along their anterior margin (Fig. 127); fertilization ducts on posterior margin of spermathecae, directed posteriorly.
Male (paratype, Prieska, NCA 2004/196). Colouration (Fig. 90): carapace and chelicerae light yellow; endites and labium creamy-yellow; sternum creamy-yellow, margins brown at coxae; femora to tibiae creamy-yellow, metatarsi and tarsi slightly darker; abdomen creamy-white dorsally and ventrally.
Measurements: CL 1.05, CW 0.79, AL 1.81, AW 1.02, TL 2.98. Eye diameters and interdistances: AME 0.11, ALE 0.08, PME 0.09, PLE 0.08, AME–AME 0.06, AME–ALE 0.01, PME–PME 0.05, PME–PLE 0.04, ALE–PLE 0.01. Leg measurements: I 0.87, 0.38, 0.67, 0.57, 0.51 = 3.00; II 0.83, 0.37, 0.62, 0.56, 0.48 = 2.86; III 0.65, 0.32, 0.48, 0.46, 0.33 = 2.24; IV 1.06, 0.41, 0.83, 0.95, 0.33 = 3.58.
Leg spination: femora: I do 1, II do 1, III do 1 rl 1, IV pl 1 do 2 rl 1; tibiae: I plv 1 rlv 1, II spineless, III pl 2 rl 1 plv 1, IV pl 2 rl 2 plv 1 vt 2; metatarsi: I rlv 1, II rlv 1, III pl 2 rl 1 plv 1 vt 3, IV pl 2 rl 2 plv 1 vt 3; palp: femur do 1, patella and tibia spineless, tarsus plv 1 rlv 1.
Palpal tibia very slightly longer than broad, with small spike-like dorso-retrolateral apophysis (Figs 115, 116, 130); tegulum oval, with narrow finger-like prolateral apical tegular process, lobate mesal retrolateral tegular process with additional smaller subtriangular lobe, and slender strongly curved median apophysis (Fig. 129); embolus very slender, originating proximally and entering S-shaped groove in prolateral subtegulum, continuing along prolateral margin distally (Fig. 128), before entering groove in apical tegular process.
Additional material examined. SOUTH AFRICA: Northern Cape: Namaqua National Park, Koeroebees, 30°08.683’S, 17°42.177’E, 240 m a.s.l., 14.I.2021, leg. C. Haddad, R. Booysen, R. Christiaan & A. Stander (leaf litter, dry river bed), 1♀ (NCA 2021/726; epigyne lost in preparation); Same locality, 27.III.2022, leg. C. Haddad, R. Booysen, L. Malope & S. Sibisi (leaf litter, dry river bed), 2♂ 2♀ (S.E.M. preparations).
Variation. Total length: females 2.78–3.32 (average 2.98, n = 7); males 2.05–2.98 (average 2.36, n = 4).
Habitat and biology. All of the females collected had the epigyne plugged (Fig. 114). Recorded from the Succulent Karoo, Nama Karoo and Grassland biomes. At the type locality, it was a common species collected in the litter of short shrubs in a dry river bed, with adults far more common in autumn (March) than midsummer (January) or winter (July).
Distribution. Widespread in the western half of South Africa (Fig. 136).
description: Published as part of Haddad, Charles R. & Booysen, Ruan, 2022, The ground spider genera Leptodrassex Murphy, 2007 and Leptopilos Levy, 2009 (Araneae: Gnaphosidae) in southern Africa, including the description of a new genus and seven new species, pp. 1-32 in Zootaxa 5194 (1) on pages 26-27, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5194.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7141932