Lobizon Piacentini & Grismado, 2009, gen. nov.
Creators: name: Piacentini, Luis N.
name: Grismado, Cristian J.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Lycosidae
Lobizon

description: Lobizon gen. nov.
Type species. Pardosa corondaensis Mello-Leitão, 1941.
Etymology. The “ Lobizón ” is the Argentine version of the widespread folkloric myth of the werewolf or lycanthrope (a man becoming a wolf at night during the full moon). This legend is very popular in rural areas of Argentina. The generic name is an elliptical allusion to the wolf spiders. Gender masculine.
Diagnosis. The only putative synapomorphy proposed for Lobizon gen. nov. is the conspicuous retrolateral patch of erect setae on the male palpal femur (Fig. 79, less dense in L. otamendi sp. nov.). Otherwise, this genus is distinguished by the following combination of characters: only two teeth on the cheliceral retromargin in both sexes (Fig. 81); males with partially divided tegulum, covering the whole subtegulum in the unexpanded palp; median apophysis enlarged and oriented longitudinally, flattened and weakly sclerotised, embolus very long resting in a very large and complex terminal apophysis grooved along all its length, and a broad lamellate outgrowth on the base of embolus (Figs 3–8, 23, 25, 26, 41, 43, 44, 57–58, 67–68). Females differ from those of Navira gen. nov. by having well developed vulval chambers (Figs 10, 12) and by lacking the transverse pattern of bands on the opisthosoma.
Description. Small wolf spiders (TL, 2.82–5.96 mm). Females larger than males.
Dorsal shield of prosoma brown with a light brown median band and submarginal bands (except L. otamendi sp. nov., with marginal bands). Eyes surrounded by black area. Dorsum of opisthosoma brown to dark olive-grey, with light yellow lanceolate mark in the cardiac area and a pattern of spots laterally and posterior to the cardiac mark. Carapace longer than wide, dorsal line straight in lateral view (Figs 17–18). Caput flanks in frontal view steep in males, but a gentle slope in females.
Four long bristles anterior of the AER. AME larger than ALE, AER procurved in anterior view. Prominent clypeal condyle, especially in males. Chelicerae with three promarginal and two retromarginal teeth. Leg formula IV> I> II> III or IV> I> III> II. Femur I with three dorsal spines, tibia I with three ventral pairs of spines.
The male palp of Lobizon gen. nov. species has an inconspicuous palea region (Fig. 41) and a relatively long embolus, especially L. corondaensis and L. ojangureni sp. nov. (Figs 26 and 58), with a prolateral or prolateral-distal origin. The embolus describes a strong counter-clockwise curve (left palp, ventral view) and rests terminally on the terminal apophysis, that is always a large, grooved and complex sclerite with a pointed or curved tip (Figs 4, 7). At the embolic base, there is a broad lamellar outgrowth (Figs 6–8, 23, 41). The tegulum has a ventral deep incision delimiting a large retrolateral lobe, which has a membranous distal portion and sometimes a small ventral protrusion with several small peaks (PP, Figs 8, 43, 67). The median apophysis is flattened and longitudinally oriented, sometimes scarcely surpassing the tegular border, subtegulum not visible in unexpanded palps.
Epigyne variable, usually a median plate with a shallow septum (Fig. 9) or without septum (Fig. 11), with a median lip directed posteroventrally (also variable, from large to inconspicuous) and copulatory openings on the lateral margins. Internally, they have the typical structures known in lycosids (see above, Material and methods): the copulatory ducts are medium to long, describe a pronounced curve to end in the base of the spermathecae. The spermathecal heads are always in medial position, while the vulval chambers are usually large, sometimes pedunculate.
Remarks. The species here assigned to Lobizon do not fit in the pardosine genus Pardosa, nor in the lycosine genus Alopecosa, where they were originally placed, because they lack the morphological features well known of these Holarctic genera; see, for example, Dondale (1986, 2005); Dondale and Redner (1979); Kronestedt (1975, 1981) and Vogel (2004).
Roewer (1960) transferred Alopecosa anomala (here considered a junior synonym of P. corondaensis) and Alopecosa minor to his genus Trochosippa Roewer, 1960, and Pardosa corondaensis to Pardosella di Caporiacco, 1939, both containing mostly African species. The type species of Trochosippa is Lycosa urbana meruensis Lessert, 1926, which has an epigyne and a palp typical of the subfamily Lycosinae (e.g., the epigyne with a median septum as an inverted “T” and a transverse median apophysis, with a spur directed ventrally; Lessert 1926: figs 6B and 7B). Hence, the placement of the Argentine species in Trochosippa is incorrect. Similarly, the type species of the African genus Pardosella (P. zavattarii di Caporiacco, 1939) has an epigyne typical of a pardosine (e.g., an anteriorly elongate septum; di Caporiacco, 1939: fig. 9a).
Composition. Five species, L. corondaensis (Mello-Leitão, 1941), L. minor (Mello-Leitão, 1941), L. humilis (Mello-Leitão, 1944). L. ojangureni sp. nov., and L. otamendi sp. nov.
Distribution. Northern and central Argentina, from Jujuy, Salta and Misiones to Buenos Aires and Mendoza (Figs 83–86).
description: Published as part of Piacentini, Luis N. & Grismado, Cristian J., 2009, Lobizon and Navira, two new genera of wolf spiders from Argentina (Araneae: Lycosidae), pp. 1-33 in Zootaxa 2195 on pages 5-6, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.189469