Zodarion alentejanum Pekar & Carvalho 2011
Creators: name: Shafaie, Sepideh
name: Pekár, Stano
name: Ortiz, David
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Zodariidae
Zodarion
Zodarion alentejanum

description: Zodarion alentejanum Pekár & Carvalho, 2011
Figs 17K, 18, 33A–F, 38A, 39A
Zodarion alentejanum Pekár et al. 2011: 21, figs 1–2 (♀).
Material examined. PORTUGAL: 10♀, 2 juv., Lagoa da Sancha (Reserva Natural das Lagoas de Santo André e da Sancha), Sines (type locality), 6.VI.2009, J. C. Carvalho leg., CMU; 31♂, 1♀, Fonte do Cortiço Beach (Reserva Natural das Lagoas de Santo André e da Sancha), Santiago do Cacém, 19.III.2022, S. Pekár et al. leg., CMU.
Diagnosis: This species is morphologically similar to Z. merlijni based on the carapace pattern, and by the epigyne with a single median copulatory opening. However, it can be distinguished from males of Z. merlijni by a tibial apophysis with a boomerang-shaped terminal arm (vs. truncated tibial apophysis, with a recurved tip; cf. Fig. 33C and Fig. 33I), and a sickle-shaped median apophysis with a shorter, blunt end (vs. scythe-shaped median apophysis with a longer, tapering end; cf. Fig. 33B and Fig. 33H). In females, it differes by a different epigynal plate length/width ratio (approximately 1.3 vs. approximately 0.8; cf. Fig. 38A vs. Fig. 38H), as well as a smaller copulatory opening (Figs 17K, 38A vs. Figs 17L, 38H). Zodarion alentejanum can be distinguished from all members of the styliferum group by its paler body (Fig. 18 vs. Figs 19–32, 43).
Description
Male (specimen from Fonte do Cortiço Beach). Total length 4.57 mm, carapace 2.87 mm long, 2.2 mm wide. Prosoma (Fig. 18A–B): Carapace light, with brownish, V-shaped lateral band. Clypeus black; chelicerae yellowish-orange; mouthparts yellow to greyish with pale anterior part; sternum yellow. Eyes: AME 0.1, ALE 0.09, PME 0.08, PLE 0.08, AME–AME 0.07, ALE–ALE 0.35, PME–PME 0.37, PLE–PLE 0.26. Abdomen (Fig. 18A–B): dorsum dark with several, whitish patches in which the dorsal patches touching each other; venter and lateral pale except for a light greyish epigastric area and black patches surrounding the light brownish spinnerets. Legs: All leg segments pale except for dorso-lateral dark patches on Fe I–II. Leg lengths: 4.96 (1.31, 0.49, 1.06, 1.23, 0.87), II 4.56 (1.23, 0.49, 0.9, 1.15, 0.79), III 4.01 (0.79, 0.49, 0.76, 1.23, 0.74), IV 8.03 (2.1, 0.63, 1.94, 2.46, 0.9). Palp (Fig. 33A–F): Palpal segments entirely yellow except for the yellowish-brown cymbium; cymbium with no cymbial pit. Tegulum swollen in lateral view. Tibial apophysis longer than wide, stout basally and narrowing gradually, ending to an obtuse angled, boomerang-shaped outgrowth with blunt arms: the short arm declining and the long arm rising upward. Median apophysis oblique, sickle-shaped with a rounded and stout distal end. Embolus terminally bifid with a shorter front arm and a longer back arm.
Female. Habitus and copulatory organ as in Figs 17K, 18, 33A–F, 38A, 39A. For details, see Pekár et al. (2011). Epigyne (Fig. 17K): Epigynal plate bell-shaped, posteriorly slightly extended, anteriorly semi-circular, sides slightly S-shaped. Epigyne with a small, single median copulatory opening. Pits invisible.
Variation: Total length: males 3.31–3.40 (n=10), females 3.33–4.10 (n=10).
Molecular data:
COI mitochondrial barcodes (Genbank accession): PP373356.
Minimum interspecific divergenc (to Z. fuscum): 6.8%. Consensus COI distance to the closest species (to Z. styliferum): 4.2%.
Comment: Judging from the female epigyne structure, Z. alentejanum was initially classified into the elegans group (Pekár et al. 2011). Here, we have examined additional females and, for the first time, the males of this species. Both habitus and copulatory organs suggest a close affinity between Z. alentejanum and Z. merlijni. Given that Z. merlijni is closely related to Z. styliferum (Ortiz et al. 2022), we hereby transfer Z. alentejanum to the styliferum group.
Distribution: Known only from narrow coastal fringe in southwestern Portugal.
description: Published as part of Shafaie, Sepideh, Pekár, Stano & Ortiz, David, 2025, Integrative taxonomy of the Iberian Zodarion species of the rubidum and styliferum groups (Araneae: Zodariidae), pp. 1-69 in Zootaxa 5624 (1) on pages 26-30, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5624.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/15324823