Loxosceles smithi Simon 1897
Creators: name: Lotz, L. N.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Sicariidae
Loxosceles
Loxosceles smithi

description: Loxosceles smithi Simon, 1897
(FIGS. 15, 34)
Loxosceles smithii Simon, 1897: 386. Loxosceles smithi — Lotz, 2012: 32.
Specimens studied. ETHIOpIA: ♂ LEcTOTYpE fROM SHEIkH HUSEIN [SHEk HUSEN], GALLARUM REGION [07°45’N, 40°42’E], (BMNH); KENYA: 1♀, 49.6KM SOUTHWEST OF NAIROBI, [CA. 01°37’S, 36°24’E, 20.XI.1969, IRWIN & ROSS LEG. (CAS); 1♂, COAST PROVINCE, TIWI BEACHES, CA. 17KM SOUTH OF MOMBASA, 04°14’S, 39°36’E, 24–26.VI.1999, W.J. PULAWSKI & J.S. SCHWEIKERT LEG. (CAS); 1♀ AND 1 IMM., TEITA PROVINCE, 17.6KM SOUTH OF MAKTAU, [CA. 03°32’S, 38°09’E], 2.XI.1957, E.S. ROSS & R.E. LEECH LEG. (CAS); MALAWI: 1♀, 17.7KM NORTH OF EKWEDENI, [CA. 11°12’S, 33°53’E], 20.VII.1972, E.S. ROSS LEG. (CAS); TANzANIA: 1♀, 20.8KM WEST OF NGARE NANYUKI, 03°08’S, 36°42’E, 10.I.1970, IRWIN & ROSS LEG. (CAS); 1♂, TANGA, EAST OF USAMBARA MOUNTAINS, AMANI FOREST, 05°06’S, 38°38’E, 27.X–9.XI.1995, C.E. GRISWOLd, N. ScHARff & D. UbIck LEG. (CAS).
Diagnosis. FEMALE dIffERS fROM OTHER SpEcIES IN THE SHORT, ANTERIOR pROcEEdING cOpULATORY TUbES, WHIcH ARE SLIGHTLY SEpARATEd fROM EAcH OTHER AT THE bASE (FIG. 34). MALE pALpAL cYMbIUM ANd TIbIA SHORT, MOST SIMILAR TO L. bergeri (FIG. 1), dIffERING fROM L. bergeri IN THE pALp fEMUR LENGTH bEING SHORTER THAN THE pATELLA+TIbIA LENGTH ANd THE THINNER EMbOLUS (FIG. 15).
Description. Female: (N = 4): TL = 7.5 (7.3–7.7); CL = 3.05 (2.7–3.4); CW = 2.63 (2.4–2.9); CLL = 0.38 (0.30–0.40). AME-LE 0.10; LARGEST EYE dIAMETER 0.2. CARApAcE YELLOW-bROWN, dARkER pARS cEpHALIcA ANd ALONG THE EdGES; STERNUM LIGHT YELLOW-bROWN; LEGS bROWN; pALpS MOSTLY LIGHT bROWN, WITH dARkER bROWN TARSUS. AbdOMEN LIGHT YELLOW WITH bROWN MARkINGS ALONG THE SIdES ANd dOWN THE cENTERLINE. INTERNAL GENITALIA WITH TWO, SHORT, ANTERIOR pROcEEdING cOpULATORY TUbES ON EAcH SIdE, WHIcH ARE SLIGHTLY SEpARATEd fROM EAcH OTHER AT THE bASE, ENdING IN SMALL SpERMATHEcAE, SLIGHTLY LARGER IN dIAMETER THAN THE TUbES (FIG. 34). LEG fORMULA II:I:IV:III. LEG MEASUREMENTS: I: fEMUR 5.9, pATELLA 1.1, TIbIA 6.5, METATARSUS 6.6, TARSUS 1.2, TOTAL 21.3; II: 5.9, 1.1, 6.4, 6.8, 1.2, 21.4; III: 4.7, 1.0, 5.0, 6.2, 1.1, 18.0; IV: 5.6, 1.0, 5.7, 7.5, 1.2, 21.0. PALp: fEMUR 1.0, pATELLA 0.4, TIbIA 0.6, cYMbIUM?, TOTAL?.
Male: (BMNH 511): TL = 6.0; CL = 2.7; CW = 2.3; CLL = 0.4. AME-LE 0.10; LARGEST EYE dIAMETER 0.15. COLOUR ANd MARkINGS AS IN fEMALE. PALpAL cYMbIUM ANd TIbIA SHORT, fEMUR LENGTH SHORTER THAN pATELLA+TIbIA LENGTH; bULb LARGE ANd EMbOLUS THIN ANd cURvEd, AbOUT AS LONG AS bULb WIdTH (FIG. 15). LEG fORMULA II:I:IV:III. LEG MEASUREMENTS: I: fEMUR 7.0, pATELLA 1.1, TIbIA 8.5, METATARSUS 8.4, TARSUS 1.6, TOTAL 26.6; II: 7.0, 1.0, 8.6, 8.6, 1.6, 26.8; III: 6.1, 1.0, 6.3, 6.7, 1.3, 21.4; IV: 7.0, 1.0, 7.5, 9.0, 1.6, 26.1. PALp: fEMUR 0.8, pATELLA 0.5, TIbIA 0.55, cYMbIUM 0.7, TOTAL 2.55.
Natural History. COLLEcTEd fROM SAvANNA ANd FOREST. THE ONLY OTHER dATA AvAILAbLE IS THAT ONE SpEcIMEN WAS cOLLEcTEd fROM THE ROOTS Of A LARGE TREE.
Distribution. EASTERN AfRIcA, fROM ETHIOpIA TO MALAWI (FIG. 41).
description: Published as part of Lotz, L. N., 2017, An update on the spider genus Loxosceles (Araneae: Sicariidae) in the Afrotropical region, with description of seven new species, pp. 475-494 in Zootaxa 4341 (4) on pages 489-491, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4341.4.2, http://zenodo.org/record/1040541