Hersiliola sternbergsi Marusik &amp; Fet 2009, sp. n.
Creators: name: Marusik, Yuri
name: Fet, Victor
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Hersiliidae
Hersiliola
Hersiliola sternbergsi

description: <i>Hersiliola sternbergsi</i> sp. n. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 5D8AF1B1-75A1-4512-8E59-EFEAA36294D6 Figs 1.1, 2.1, 3.2, 4.3, 5.3, 6.4-5, 7.7-9, 8.2 <i>H. maculata</i>: Vlassov and Sytchevskaya 1937: 248 (Turkmenistan: Ashgabat); Kaplin 1978: 35 (Turkmenistan: Repetek); Krivokhatsky and Fet 1982: 69-70 (Repetek); Fet 1983: 837; Fet 1984: 259; Krivokhatsky 1987: 96 (Repetek). Misidentification and misspelling. <i>H. pallida</i>: Spassky 1952: 196, 200 (in part); Sabirova 1975: 79 (Repetek); Ovtsharenko and Fet 1980: 443 (Turkmenistan: Badghyz). Misidentification. <i>H.</i> sp. 2: Mikhailov and Fet 1994: 504 (in part). <b>Type material</b> (49 specimens). Holotype: ♁ and paratypes 3&amp;female;, 4 juv. (ZMMU) with a label “ TURKMENISTAN, Lebap Area, Karakum Desert, Repetek Reserve, NW environs of Repetek, 200 m, sands, 38°33’57-59”N 63°09’46”–10’13”E, 14.04.2002, A.V. Gromov coll.” Paratypes. TURKMENISTAN: 1♁, 1&amp;female;, 2 subad.&amp;female;, 5 juv., Balkan Velayati (= Province), Turkmenbashi (= Krasnovodsk), 21.01.1978, K.G. Mikhailov coll. (ZMMU, Ta- 3091); 3 juv., Balkan Province, Tuarkyr Mts., Kafigshem Plateau, 7.11.1982, V. Fet coll.; 1&amp;female; (ZMMU), Lebap Province, East Karakum, Repetek Reserve, 170 m a.s.l., 05- 06.1914, N.N. Plavilshchikov coll. (ZMMU); 1 subad.&amp;female;, attracted by light, 6.05.1972, V.I. Kuznetsov coll. (ZMMU); 2&amp;female;, 13.05.1981 (SMF); 1♁, 7.03.1982 (SMF); 1♁, 8.06.1982 (ZMMU), V.A. Krivokhatsky coll.; 1♁, 2&amp;female; ZMMU), 18.04.1993, S.V.Ovtchinnikov coll.; 2♁, 2&amp;female;, Lebap Province, Karakum Desert, Repetek Reserve, Repetek, 170 m, 38°33’55”N 63°10’46”E, 17.04.2002, A.V. Gromov coll. (ZMMU); 1♁, Lebap Province, Amudarya Reserve, Kabakly, 4- 14.05.1987, F. Zeleev coll. (ZMMU); 2&amp;female; (ZMMU), Mary Province, Sultanbent, 05.1929, V.I. Sytchevskaya coll. (ZMMU); 1&amp;female;, 1juv., Mary Province, NE vicinities of Serhetabad (= Kushka), Kushka River left bank, 645 m a.s.l., 35°17’24”N 62°20’58”E, 12.04.2002, A.V. Gromov coll. (ZMMU). UZBEKISTAN: 1♁, 1&amp;female;, Navoiy (= Navoi) Viloyati (Province), Kyzylkum Desert, near Gazli, 21.05.1994 (S.V. Ovtchinnikov coll.) (ZMMU); 1&amp;female;, Buxoro (= Bukhara) Province, Kyzylkum Desert, near Gazli, 3.05.1998, S.V. Ovtchinnikov coll. (ZMMU); 6&amp;female;, 2 juv., Buxoro Province, Yagzakkum Sands, ca 7 km S of Nayumetan, 39°37’30”N 64°23’30”E, 20.04.2002, A.V. Gromov coll. (ZMMU). <b>Etymology.</b> The species name is a patronym honoring our late colleague and friend Maris Šternbergs (1940-1996), of Riga, Latvia, the only Latvian araneologist of his generation, who also instructed VF in spider studies during his visit to Badghyz (Turkmenistan) in April 1977. <b>Diagnosis.</b> <i>Hersiliola sternbergsi</i> sp. n. is most similar to <i>H. simoni</i>, from which it can be distinguished by a longer terminal portion of the cymbium, thicker seminal ducts, lower position of the tegular ridge, and position of the base of the embolus (at almost 12 hrs). Females of <i>H. sternbergsi</i> sp. n. differ by a wider septum, thicker lateral arms, and only one coil of the insemination duct around the fertilization duct. The epigyne of <i>H. sternbergsi</i> sp. n. is also similar to that of <i>H. afghanica.</i> These two species have an almost identical septum shape, but in <i>H. sternbergsi</i> sp. n. the epigyne is smaller in size, has smaller spermathecae, and fertilization ducts terminating on the ventral wall of the spermatheca (on the dorsal wall in <i>H. afghanica</i>). <b>Description.</b> Male. Total length 4.6-5.4. Carapace 1.85 long, 2.0 wide, femur I 3.5, femur I/carapace length ratio 1.89. Colouration as in female. Palp as in Figs 3.2, 4.3, 5.3, 6.4-5, tip of cymbium as long as height of tegulum; seminal duct thick; embolus filiform, makes one coil (360°); embolus base located at 11-11:30 hrs; tegular apophysis located almost at the center of the tegulum. Female. Total length 5.0-5.2. Carapace 1.6-1.95 long, 1.8-2.05 (wider than long), femur I 2.5-2.85, femur I/carapace length ratio 1.46-1.56. Pattern distinct, composed by wide dark marginal bands, radial spots, transverse spot on median grove and V- shaped mark behind eyes. Abdomen with a heart spot and four pairs of transverse bands. The upper transverse band originates from the heart spot. Sides of abdomen with dark spots. Epigyne as in Figs 7.7-9, 8.2, with a distinct median plate and windows, proportions of median plate and windows variable; insemination duct makes one coil around fertilization duct; insemination duct terminates on ventral side of the spermatheca. <b>Comments.</b> Th is species has been collected widely in the lowland deserts of Central Asia (Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan), but constantly misidentified (and misspelled) as “ <i>H. maculata</i> ” or <i>H. pallida.</i> Spassky (1952), who did not list “ <i>H. maculata</i> ”, men- tioned a wide distribution of <i>“ H. pallida</i> ” in the Turanian Zoogeographical Province, thus obviously assuming this name for the population from Ashgabat identified by Vlassov and Sytchevskaya (1937) as “ <i>H. maculata</i> ”. Our study shows that this lowland desert Central Asian taxon is a new species, different from <i>H. macullulata</i> (see above on <i>H. macullulata</i>). <i>Hersiliola sternbergsi</i> sp. n. is widespread in lowland Turkmenistan on various types of desert substrates from clay and gypsum to sand. Krivokhatsky and Fet (1982) provide details on its phenology and ecology as a bothrophile in rodent burrows in the sand desert of East Karakum (Repetek Reserve), where it was most numerous in the entrances of burrows of the gerbil, <i>Rhombomys opimus</i> Licht. In Repetek, adult females of <i>H. sternbergsi</i> sp. n. were recorded from November to May, and adult males, from December to April, indicating a winter-spring mating period. Spiders were active in daytime. <b>Distribution.</b> Turkmenistan (lowland deserts from the Caspian Sea to Amudarya Valley), Uzbekistan (west, Kizylkum Desert).
description: Published as part of <i>Marusik, Yuri &amp; Fet, Victor, 2009, A survey of East Palaearctic Hersiliola Thorell, 1870 (Araneae, Hersiliidae), with a description of three new genera, pp. 75-114 in ZooKeys 16 (16)</i> on pages 86-92, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.16.229, http://zenodo.org/record/576478
description: {"references": ["Kaplin VG (1978) Kompleksy pochvennykh bespozvonochnykh zhivotnykh peschanykh pustyn' yuzhnoi podzony (na primere Vostochnykh Karakumov) [Complexes of Soil Inverebrates in the Sand Deserts of Southern Subzone (East Karakum as an Example)]. Ashkhabad, Ylym, 161 pp. [in Russian].", "Krivokhatsky VA, Fet V (1982) [Spiders (Aranei) from rodent burrows in East Karakum]. Problemy osvoeniya pustyn' [Problems of Desert Development] 4: 68 - 75 [in Russian].", "Fet V (1983) [The fauna of spiders (Aranei) of the southwestern Kopetdagh.] Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie [Revue d'Entomologie de l'URSS] 62 (4): 835 - 845 [in Russian].", "Fet V (1984) [Zoogeographical features of the spider fauna of the southwestern Kopetdagh.] In: VIII Vsesoyuznaya Zoogeograficheskaya Konferentsiya, Leningrad, 6 - 8 fevralya 1985 g. Tezisy dokladov [8 th All-Union Zoogeographical Conference, Leningrad, 6 - 8 February 1985. Abstracts], Moscow, 258 - 259 [in Russian].", "Krivokhatsky VA (1987) [On the optimal relationship between the density of predators and their prey in the arthropod communities in burrows of Rhombomys opimus]. Vestnik LGU Ser. 3, 1 (3): 95 - 98 [in Russian].", "Spassky SA (1952) [Spiders of the Turanian zoogeographical province]. Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie [Revue d'Entomologie de l'URSS] 32: 192 - 205 [in Russian].", "Sabirova O (1975) [On spiders of Repetek Reserve]. Izvestiya Akademii Nauk Turkmenskoi SSR [Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenian SSR] (ser. biol. sci.) 6: 79 - 82.", "Ovtsharenko VI, Fet V (1980) [Fauna and ecology of spiders (Aranei) of Badhyz (Turkmenian SSR).] Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie [Revue d'Entomologie de l'URSS] 59 (2): 442 - 447 [in Russian].", "Mikhailov KG, Fet V (1994) Fauna and zoogeography of spiders (Aranei) of Turkmenistan. In: Fet V, Atamuradov KI (Eds) Biogeography and Ecology of Turkmenistan (Monographiae Biologicae 72). Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 499 - 524."]}