Eusparassus tuckeri Moradmand 2013, comb. nov.
Creators: name: Moradmand, Majid
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Sparassidae
Eusparassus
Eusparassus tuckeri

description: Eusparassus tuckeri (Lawrence, 1927) comb. nov.
Figs 37–39, 56b, 65a–b
Olios tuckeri Lawrence, 1927: 42, pl. 3, fig. 67 (description and illustration of male) [holotype ♂, examined]. New combination.
Olios furcatus Lawrence, 1927: 41, pl. 2, fig. 29 [syntype ♀ examined and designated as lectotype] [paralectotype ♂, undescribed genus] New synonymy (for justification see remarks).
Type material. Holotype of Olios tuckeri (designated by Lawrence 1927): male, NAMIBIA: Kunene Region: Kunene River [label: Type, 1♂, Sparassidae, Eusparassus tuckeri lawr., South West Africa, Kunene R., c1712BC, R.F. Lawrence 1922, Shelf no. SAM/Aran 2639] (SAMC B7124); Lectotype of Olios furcatus (designated here): female, NAMIBIA: Kunene Region: Kunene River [label: South West Africa, Kunene R. c 1712BC, March 1923, R.F. Lawrence, Acc.no. B6625, Shelf no. SAM/Aran 2427] (SAMC B6625).
Other material examined. NAMIBIA: Kunene Region: 1♂, Epupa Falls, DK 334, 22 February 2005, D. Kunz leg. (SMF); 1♂, 1♀, 1sub ♀, 1 juvenile, Etosha National Park, Sprokieswoud, 19˚ 05' S, 15˚ 37' E, 10 October 1986, under stones, E. Griffin leg. (NMNW 40564); 1♀, Etosha Pan, 18˚ 50' S, 16˚ 20' E, 4 March 1969, B. Lamoral & R. Day leg. (NMSA 12519); 2♂, Etosha National Park: Halali, 19˚ 01' S, 16˚ 29' E, 16 December 1993, B.M. Ullig leg. (ZMB); 2♀♀, SW of Windhoek, December 1929, R. Tucker leg.(SAMC 5162). Oshikoto Region: 2♀♀, Tsumeb, 1920, E. Koodig leg. (SAMC 4810). Otjozondjupa Region: 2♀♀, Road B 8, S 19˚16.962', E 18˚26.935', 1233 m, 19 October 2009, M. Forman leg. (SD 802 & 803, SMF); 2♀♀, Grootfontein, 1919, R. M. Lightfoot leg. (SAMC 4625); ANGOLA: Namibe Province: 1♂, Parque Nacional de Iona (Iona National Park), 31 km S of Tombor, S 16˚20'36.1'', E 12˚26'21.1'', 241m, 11 January 2006, under stones, dense silk retreats, T. & C. Bird leg. (NMNW 45826); 1♀, 30–45 km NE of Namibe, 14˚ 55' 25.6'' S, 12˚ 22' 11.7'' E, 316 m, 12 January 2006, TB 06/36, T. & C. Bird leg. (NMNW 45828); 1♀, Parque Nacional de Iona, 52 km NW of Espinheira, S 17˚04'26.9'', E 12˚03'40.9'', 564 m, 10 January 2006, dense silk retreats under stones, T. & C. Bird leg. (NMNW 45829); 1♀, Iona district, “Espaniera” (Espinheira), mountainous desert on grassy plain in between, 14 July 1996, R. Harris leg. (PPRI 96 /595).
Diagnosis. Males easily distinguishable by long and slender ET directed proximad and by folded process of EM extending beyond ET retrolaterally (Figs 37a–c); females vulva with simple and straight CD and TL (Figs 38b–c, 39c) [compared to E. educatus spec. nov. with complicated vulvas] [see also diagnosis for tuckeri species group above].
Description. Male (ranges: n=6, single measurement: holotype):
Measurements (holotype first). Total length 8.7–10.1, prosoma length 4.2–5.1, prosoma width 3.5–4.7, anterior width of prosoma 1.8–2.6, opisthosoma length 4.5–5.0, opisthosoma width 3.0–4.1. Eye diameters: AME 0.32, ALE 0.25, PME 0.23, PLE 0.27. Eye interdistances: AME-AME 0.20, AME-ALE 0.06, PME-PME 0.36, PME- PLE 0.30, AME-PME 0.24, ALE-PLE 0.20, clypeus height at AME 0.09, clypeus height at ALE 0.17. AME largest, ALE and PME subequal and smaller than PLE (Fig. 37d).
Chelicerae. Chelicerae with 2 anterior and 3 or 4 posterior teeth; cheliceral furrow without intermarginal denticles (Fig. 37e).
Legs. Leg formula: II IV=I III. Measurements of palp and legs: Palp 5.5 [1.7, 0.8, 0.9, 2.1], I 19.4 [5.5, 1.9, 5.1, 5.3, 1.6], II 23.2 [6.3, 2.2, 6.1, 6.7, 1.9], III 17.1 [5.0, 1.7, 4.1, 4.5, 1.8], IV 19.4 [5.5, 1.7, 4.9, 5.7, 1.6].
Spination. Palp 131, 001; Legs: Femur I – III 323, IV 322; Patella I – IV 101; Tibia I–IV 2124 /2224; Metatarsus I–III 2024, IV 3034.
Palp. As in diagnosis with cymbium ~2.5 times longer than tibia; dRTA shortened and vRTA hump-like (Figs 37a, b).
Female (ranges: n=14, single measurement: lectotype):
Measurements (lectotype first). Total length: 12.2–14.3 prosoma length 4.6–6.1, prosoma width 3.9–5.0, anterior width of prosoma 3.0–3.3, opisthosoma length 7.6–8.2, opisthosoma width 4.0–5.2. Eye diameters: AME 0.36, ALE 0.26, PME 0.25, PLE 0.31; eye interdistances: AME-AME 0.24, AME-ALE 0.05, PME-PME 0.42, PME-PLE 0.43, AME-PME 0.21, ALE-PLE 0.17, clypeus AME 0.15, clypeus ALE 0.20.
Chelicerae. Chelicerae with 2 anterior and 3 posterior teeth, cheliceral furrow with intermarginal denticles; one bristle at distal end of cheliceral basal segment.
Legs. Leg formula: II IV=I III. Measurements of palp and legs: Palp 5.4 [1.4, 0.7, 1.0, 2.3], I 16.5 [4.7, 2.1, 4.1, 4.2, 1.4], II 19.1 [5.4, 2.3, 4.8, 5.1, 1.5], III 14.0 [4.2, 1.7, 3.3, 3.4, 1.4], IV 16.9 [4.7, 2.2, 4.0, 4.6, 1.4].
Spination. Palp 131, 001, 1111, 1013; Legs: Femur I – III 323, IV 321 /322; Patella I –IV 000/001; Tibia I–IV 2024; Metatarsus I–III 2024, IV 3034.
Epigyne/vulva. As in diagnosis with EF slightly longer than wide (Fig. 38a), but in some specimens clearly longer than wide (Figs 39a, b); AMLL arch-shaped and LL enlarged laterally (Figs 38a, 39a, b); vulva with part of glandular pores shifted close to TL (Figs 38b, c; 39c).
Colouration [in ethanol]. Yellowish brown with uniform body colour in prosoma and legs; dorsal opisthosoma with a darker band and surrounding dark patches (Fig. 56b).
Remarks. The type specimens were collected during the museum (SAMC) expedition to Kunene River in 1923. Lawrence (1927) described male and female of a single species under two different specific names. He classified them in the genus Olios. At that time, usage of the generic names Eusparassus and Olios was a subject of disputes, as the genera were not explicitly diagnosed. Simon (1932) was the first reviewer who distinguished between the genera Olios and Eusparassus (for more details see Moradmand and Jäger 2012b). However, this problem existed until recently as these two genera are very similar in terms of somatic characters and many transfers have been proposed (Moradmand & Jäger 2012a). Lawrence (1927) found two different male morphs and one female morph from the same locality, Kunene River. He described a male under the name tuckeri using a single male specimen. For some unexplained reason he described the female of tuckeri under the name furcatus along with a different male. This strange male (Lawrence 1927: fig. 68) belongs to a different, undescribed genus of Eusparassinae. According to the original description by Lawrence (1927), specific name furcatus is clearly assigned to the female. There are two main reasons for this judgment: first, Lawrence (1927) didnot list the accession number of the male (SAMC B6751) in the description, second he gave differential diagnosis just for the female. Thus, O. furcatus sensu Lawrence, 1927 is explicitly the female. Accordingly, the female and male of O. furcatus are designated as lectotype and paralectotype, respectively. The female (lectotype of Olios furcatus) was misidentified by Lawrence and is clearly the conspecific female of E. tuckeri comb. nov. Finding of several sympatric males and females confirms this decision. Consequently, O. furcatus is proposed to be the junior synonym of E. tuckeri comb. nov. The paralectotype male of Olios furcatus resembles the genus Eusparassus in many somatic and genital characters but belongs to an undescribed genus. The vial of these specimens contained several male and also a female with a pre-epigyne, this female was probably overlooked by Lawrence.
Known geographical distribution and habitat. Northern Namibia and southern Angola (new country record) (Fig. 71b).
description: Published as part of Moradmand, Majid, 2013, The stone huntsman spider genus Eusparassus (Araneae: Sparassidae): systematics and zoogeography with revision of the African and Arabian species, pp. 1-108 in Zootaxa 3675 (1) on pages 61-66, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3675.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6422593