Tegenaria maelfaiti Robert Bosmans 2011, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Bosmans, Robert
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2011
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Agelenidae
Tegenaria
Tegenaria maelfaiti

description: <i>Tegenaria maelfaiti</i> sp. nov. (Figs. 1-5). <b> <i>Type</i> material.</b> Holotype male, 2 paratype males from Greece, Lesbos, Nomos Mandamados: road Klio-Sykaminia (N 39°22’33” E 26º10’59”), 350 m, litter and stones in small <i>Pinus</i> forest, 27.III.2008, R. Bosmans leg.; paratype female from Greece, Lesbos, Nomos Agiasos, Agiasos S. (N 39°05’53” E 26°21’57”), 550 m, stones in <i>Castanea</i> forest, 2.IV.2008, L. Baert leg. (KBIN). Deposited in KBIN. : <b>Etymology:</b> The species is dedicated to my good friend and excellent ecologist the late Jean-Pierre Maelfait. Diagnosis: Males of the species are readily distinguished from other <i>Tegenaria</i> species by the combined characters of the tibial apophyses and the bifid median apophyses. <i>Tegenaria longimana</i> Simon, 1879 from Turkey is a related species, with similar but differently shaped tibial apophysis and distal parts of the median apophysis. Females are recognized by the absence of sclerotisation in the epigyne and the course of the copulatory ducts. <i>Description</i> <b>Measurements</b> (males n=27, females n=4): Male: Total length 3.8-6.2; prosoma 1.59-2.79 long, 1.46- 2.06 wide. Female: Total length 4.8-5.0; prosoma 1.87-1.98 long, 1.34-1.43 wide. Leg measurements as in Table 1. <b>Colour:</b> Prosoma yellowish brown to brown, with submarginal stripe, touching at level of fovea, and narrow grey margin; chelicerae yellowish brown; sternum grey with median stripe and 3 lateral whitish spots. Legs pale yellowish, Fe, Ti and Mt greyish at ends, Fe with 2 grey annulations, Ti and Mt with 1 median annulation. Abdomen dorsally greyish black, with anteromedian area and 5 -6 chevrons whitish, ventrally whitish with scattered greyish black spots, anastomising in some specimens. Spinnerets whitish, dorsal side of dorsal spinneret and ventral side of ventral spinneret greyish black. Leg spination as in Table 2. Male palp (Figs. 1 -3) Tibia elongated, dorsal apophysis long, with parallel margins and rounded terminally, retrolateral apophysis a large, rounded lobe. Median apophysis bifid, with shorter, pointed anterior tooth and longer, less pointed posterior tooth. Conductor slightly shorter than alveolus, rounded, folded along its entire retrolateral margin, terminal part pointing in posterior direction. Embolus filiform, semi-circular, arising on mesal side of bulbus. <b>Epigymun and vulva</b> (Figs. 4-5): Epigynal plate slightly protruding over epigastric furrow, posterior margin with two indistinct concavities, with a pair of posteriorly directed teeth but without exterior sclerifications; copulatory ducts wide; spermathecae rounded. <b>Further material examined</b> Agiasos: Oros Olympos (N 39°04’01” E 26°21’30”), 800 m, 1 female, stones in <i>Platanm</i> forest, 2.VI.2008 (CRB); - Kalloni: Anemotia, E. of Moni Voukolon (N 39°04’00” <i>E</i> 26°07’18"), 400 m, 1 female, stones in grassland, 29.III.2008 (KBIN); road Anemotia-Skala Kallonis, Karyo (N 39º13’36” E 26°07’50”), 100 m, litter and herbs along rivulet, 29.III.2008 (CRB); - Mandamados: road Klio-Sykaminia (N 39°22’33” E 26°10’59”), 350 m, 24 males, litter and stones in small <i>Pinus</i> forest, 27.III.2008 (CHDK, CJVK, CRB); - Mithymna: road Argenos-Vafios (N 39°21’06” E 26°14’29”), 320 m, 3 males, stony grassland and shrubs, 28.111.2008 (CHDK, CJVK, CRB). <b>Ecology:</b> Males were collected in March and April, females in March, April and June. It was mainly found in forest (pine, chestnut and plane forests), but also in shrubs and olive groves and along rivulets. <b>Distribution:</b> Only known from Lesbos. As <i>Tegenaria</i> species tend towards small distribution areas, this species is possibly endemic to the island.
description: Published as part of <i>Robert Bosmans, 2011, On some new or rare spider species from Lesbos, Greece (Araneae: Agelenidae, Amaurobiidae, Corinnidae, Gnaphosidae, Liocranidae), pp. 15-22 in Arachnologische Mitteilungen 40 (1)</i> on pages 16-17, DOI: 10.5431/aramit4003, http://zenodo.org/record/814865