Lycosa undetermined
Creators: name: Steinpress, Igor Armiach
name: Cohen, Mira
name: Pétillon, Julien
name: Chipman, Ariel D.
name: Gavish-Regev, Efrat
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Lycosidae
Lycosa
Lycosa undetermined

description: Lycosa sp.
Figs 1, 6E, 7E, 9A, 10A, 11A–B
Diagnosis
Female
Epigyne: septal pedicel absent, septum trapezoidal, broader proximally, as wide as long. Copulatory openings not visible in ventral view (only Lycosa in the Levant without visible copulatory openings!) (Figs 6E, 7E, 9A, 10A, 11A–B).
Male
Unknown.
Material examined
ISRAEL – Arava Valley • ♀; Nahal Amatsyahu; [30.835° N, 35.275° E]; 13 Nov. 1988; B. Shalmon leg.; HUJ INV-AR20573.
Description
Female
FEMALE MEASUREMENTS. AME diameter: 0.45; ALE diameter: 0.3; PME diameter: 1.1; PLE diameter: 1; carapace length: 7.1; carapace width: 5.2; carapace maximal height: 3; abdomen length: 10.7; leg I (Fe, Pa, Ti, Mt, Tr): 5.7, 2.7, 4.2, 3.7, 2.4; leg II: 5.4, 2.7, 4, 3.9, 2.3; leg III: 5.1, 2.5, 3.7, 4.9, 2.4; leg IV: 6.6, 2.4, 5.2, 7, 2.9.
CARAPACE. Ocular area>⅓ length of carapace, distinctly raised, making the carapace between PLE and fovea appear slightly concave in profile.
COLOR. Carapace cream colored, darker on margins, with chocolate brown median bands, connecting to dark ocular area. Sternum yellow. Chelicerae reddish-brown. Abdomen cream colored with light brown chevrons dorsad. Abdomen venter with black patch posterior to epigastric fold, connecting to two parallel black bars stretching towards spinnerets (Π shaped patch). Spinnerets yellow. Legs yellow, infused with brown dorsad, yellow ventrad with two black bands on tibia, to reddish-brown distad, Coxae and trochanters yellow. Pedipalps yellow, to dark brown distad (Figs 6E, 7E).
GENITALIA. Epigyne longer than wide. Septal pedicel absent, septum connects directly to epigyne. Septum trapezoidal, wider proximally, about as long as proximal part of epigyne. Copulatory openings not seen in ventral view. Spermatheca spiral-shaped, distal part arching laterally. Head of spermatheca slightly wider than sperm duct, oval, positioned anterior to copulatory opening (Figs 9A, 10A, 11A–B).
LEGS. Metatarsus I ventral spination: 2 pairs + apical triplet. Tibia I ventral spination: 2 pairs + apical pair. Tarsus with scopula.
Natural history
A single female was collected in the hyperarid desert (annual precipitation <75 mm) of the ‘Arava valley, ~ 200 m below sea level (Fig. 1, Table 4). No ecological data is available.
Records
ISRAEL: ‘Arava Valley (Nahal Amatsyahu).
Relationships
As of the writing of this paper, we have not succeded in collecting fresh specimens, and therefore we could not test its relationship using molecular methods. Somatically, it resembles L. gesserit sp. nov. and L. hyraculus sp. nov. Additionally, it is the only other specimen in our dataset, apart from the L. gesserit male, to exhibit a ventral patch on the abdomen shaped like the letter Π. As we could not know whether this is a new species or the female of L. gesserit, it is described here as Lycosa sp. only.
Notes
We executed at least five field trips to the locality where this specimen was collected, at different dates, and couldn’t find a single specimen of Lycosa any more. Since 1988, when the specimen was collected, intensive agriculture has changed the area, and this might have eradicated the habitat of this species.
description: Published as part of Steinpress, Igor Armiach, Cohen, Mira, Pétillon, Julien, Chipman, Ariel D. & Gavish-Regev, Efrat, 2022, Lycosa Latreille, 1804 (Araneae, Lycosidae) of Israel, with a note on Geolycosa Montgomery, 1904, pp. 1-54 in European Journal of Taxonomy 832 (1) on pages 25-27, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2022.832.1877, http://zenodo.org/record/6916850