Jerzego Maddison
Creators: name: Maddison, Wayne P.
name: Piascik, Edyta K.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Salticidae
Jerzego

description: Jerzego Maddison, gen. nov.
Type species: Jerzego corticicola Maddison, sp. nov.
Jerzego corresponds to the bipartita group of Hispo (Wanless 1981), and is here considered to include three species, J. corticicola sp. nov., J. alboguttatus (Simon), and J. bipartitus (Simon).
Etymology. This phylogenetically and biogeographically important genus is named in honor of Prof. Dr. Jerzy Prószyński, whose works have provided the first comprehensive view of salticid diversity worldwide since Eugène Simon, a synthesis on which our work in the family is built. The name is taken directly from the Polish, in which it is the genitive form of “Jerzy”. The “J” is to be pronounced as the “Y” of English. For nomenclatural purposes, the name is to be treated as nominative and masculine. The name is apt also because, in the course of this study, Jerzego and other hisponines were found to have unusual copulatory ducts in the female, a character system that Prószyński has shown to be valuable in salticid systematics.
Diagnosis. Elongate and flat salticids, like a small Holoplatys, but with a constriction between the small eyes and posterior eyes (Figs 6, 7) that separates it from all known southeast Asian salticids. Differs from the similarly elongate and flat Hispo by the short terminally-pointing embolus and by four characters noted by Wanless (1981): the presence of a fovea on the carapace, the narrowness of the sternum anteriorly, the extreme flatness of the carapace (Fig. 6), and the anteriorly placed epigynal openings. From Massagris differs by the very flat carapace, and the simpler and much smaller embolus.
While Wanless considered his bipartita group (i.e., Jerzego) to be closely related to Massagris, and this is consistent with the molecular results (Fig. 20), the distinct body form and simpler embolus warrant its separation into a different genus. The molecular phylogeny places Jerzego in the same clade as Massagris and Tomomingi, but Jerzego appears to be separated from the other two by considerable molecular divergence (Fig. 20).
Jerzego corticicola Maddison sp. nov. Figs 1–13
Type material. Holotype: male, MALAYSIA: Sarawak: Lambir Hills Nat. Pk., headquarters area, 4.1985° N, 114.0425° E, elev. 74 m, 3 April 2012, coll. E. Piascik, WPM#12-126 (photo and DNA voucher #SWK12-4454; UBC-SEM AR00212). Paratype: 1 female, MALAYSIA: Sarawak: Mulu National Park, headquarters area, 4.0414° N, 114.8128° E, elev 50 m., 25–27 March 2012, coll. E. Piascik. WPM#12-094 (photo and DNA voucher #SWK12-2900; UBC-SEM AR00213).
Etymology. Latin for “bark dweller”.
Diagnosis. Flat and dark grey, unlike the orange and black and spotted J. alboguttatus (Figs 14–17), from which it also differs in DNA sequence (Fig. 20). From J. bipartitus differs in the smaller epigynal openings (see Wanless 1981 Fig. 12 F).
Description. Male (holotype, UBC-SEM AR00212). Carapace length 2.1; abdomen length 2.3. Chelicerae: small, somewhat recessed posteriorly; pluridentate with at least 4 small retromarginal teeth (not examined closely to avoid damaging the specimen). Palp (Figs 1–2): with small erect embolus standing above a hematodocha compacted so as to make fingerprint-like wrinkles. Median apophysis absent or so reduced as to be unrecognizable. Retrolateral tibial apophysis a delicate flap (Fig. 2). Tibia of first leg swollen but abruptly flat dorsally, lacking ventral macrosetae. Carapace flat, as in female. Color in alcohol: dark brown to black with sparsely scattered white scales, some of which are concentrated in a few patches on the abdomen. Clypeus with a few white setae on margin. Chelicera black to brown. Legs dark except pale areas on the trochanter of the fourth leg, the distal half of tibia 2, and tarsi 2, 3 and 4.
Female (paratype, UBC-SEM AR00213). Carapace length 2.3; abdomen length 2.7. Chelicera: as in male, with 6 very small retromarginal teeth. Carapace flat (Fig. 6). Epigynum (Figs 3–5): openings anterior, beneath sclerotized flaps. A weak central septum separates the openings. Copulatory ducts extraordinary: from the openings are two separate ducts, a larger more dorsal one and a smaller more ventral one (Figs. 4, 5). The dorsal one goes into a large chamber bearing the accessory glands then continues twisting toward the fertilization duct. The second, smaller duct short-circuits the large chamber and proceeds directly to a chamber just before the fertilization duct, rejoining the path of the first duct there (see also comments under Phylogeny). Tibia of first leg as in male, lacking ventral macrosetae. Color in alcohol: as in male, except no white setae on clypeus.
Natural history. Both specimens were found on trees at the peripheries of human-made clearings. They were found by using a paintbrush to brush the surface of the tree trunk onto a beating sheet. The bark had flakes, and the spiders may have been either on the surface on in cracks between the flakes. They were found within 2 meters of the ground, although their rarity (despite intense effort to look for more) and forest-edge occurrence could indicate that they are normally canopy-dwellers. Figure 18 shows the trunk, approximately 15 cm diameter, at Lambir Hills where the holotype was found; Figure 19 shows the trunk, approximately 30–40 cm diameter, at Mulu where the female paratype was found. Figures 8–13 show the living specimens.
Jerzego alboguttatus (Simon) NEW COMBINATION Figs 14–17
Hispo alboguttata Simon 1903b. Hispo alboguttata Wanless 1981.
Specimens examined. One juvenile, Malaysia: Sarawak: Lambir Hills Nat. Park N4.2012° E114.0320° to N4.2014° E114.0317° elev. 210 m. 4 April 2012, coll. Maddison, WPM#12-133. One juvenile (Figs 14–17), Malaysia: Sarawak: Lambir Hills Nat. Park. N4.2005° E114.0341° elev. 200 m. 6 April 2012, coll. W. Maddison,WPM#12-141.
Remark. The only previously-known specimen of Hispo alboguttata is a juvenile from Sumatra. At Lambir Hills, two juveniles were found that appear to be the same species, based on the close match in their distinctive markings and body form (see Wanless 1981: figure 13 and Figs. 14–17 here). Although we cannot rely on genitalic characters to place this species, it has a narrowed sternum, extremely flat carapace, and a fovea like Jerzego. Based on these features and molecular data reported here for a Lambir Hills specimen, Hispo alboguttata is transferred to Jerzego.
Natural history. Both specimens at Lambir Hills were found under bark of trees. These trees, unlike those on which J. corticicola was found, were inside the forest. The trees were large (60 cm or more diameter) and near hilltops.
Jerzego bipartitus (Simon) NEW COMBINATION
Hispo bipartita Simon 1903a. Hispo bipartita Wanless 1981.
Remark. This species is known only from a juvenile and a female, from Sri Lanka and India. The epigynum shows two anterior openings, like J. corticicola, but differs in that each opening is within a large spiral atrium. It is possible that J. bipartitus and J. corticicola are closely related, as J. corticicola shares the former’s rugose carapace and small setal tufts beside the ALE. Wanless (1981) noted the many differences between Hispo bipartita and the other Hispo species, and suggested it may need to be moved out of the genus. We here agree, as H. bipartita has the diagnostic morphological features of Jerzego.
description: Published as part of Maddison, Wayne P. & Piascik, Edyta K., 2014, Jerzego, a new hisponine jumping spider from Borneo (Araneae: Salticidae), pp. 569-578 in Zootaxa 3852 (5) on pages 571-574, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3852.5.5, http://zenodo.org/record/253373