Thelcticopis hercules Pocock 1901
Creators: name: Sankaran, Pradeep M.
name: Sherwood, Danniella
name: Jäger, Peter
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Sparassidae
Thelcticopis
Thelcticopis hercules

description: Thelcticopis hercules Pocock, 1901
Figs 8–9, 27
Thelcticopis hercules Pocock, 1901: 487 (♀).
Type material. Holotype ♀, SRI LANKA: Kandy: Ceylon, Peradenia (=Peradeniya): Royal Botanic Gardens [ca. 07°16’N, 80°35’E; 495 m a.s.l.], date unknown, Freeman leg. (NHMUK 1899.12.11.31; examined).
Diagnosis. Females of T. hercules resemble those of T. papuana (Simon, 1880) (Järvi 1912: pl. 3, figs 1−2) in having a long median septum (i.e., 85% of the epigynal field length) with the posterior part extending posteriorly beyond the epigastric furrow and the anterior margin discontinuous. The species can be distinguished from T. papuana by (1) posterior margin of epigynal field with a median incision (vs. without such incision in T. papuana), (2) epigynal posterior projection tips rounded (vs. acuminate in T. papuana), and (3) first winding of internal duct system distinctly laterad (vs. short and anteriad in T. papuana) (Figs 8D–E, 9A–B vs. Järvi 1912: pl.3, figs 1–2).
Supplementary description. Female (holotype; Figs 8A–C, 9C–D). Colouration: dark red-brown [after Pocock 1901: black; carapace, legs, opisthosoma clothed with bright yellow-green setae]. Thoracic striae evident. Fovea deep, longitudinal, straight. Chelicerae with three promarginal and five retromarginal teeth (Fig. 9D). Body length 23.6. Carapace 9.8 long, 8.1 wide. Opisthosoma 13.8 long, 10.62 wide. Chelicerae 2.38 long. Eye sizes and interdistances (Fig. 9C): AME 0.63, ALE 0.35, PME 0.36, PLE 0.40; AME–AME 0.60, AME–ALE 1.20, AME–PME 0.45, ALE–PLE 1.21, PME–PME 1.33, PME–PLE 2.11. Length of legs: I 48.76 (14.08, 8.23, 12.27, 10.40, 3.78), II 47.74 (14.27, 7.15, 11.70, 10.59, 4.03), III 38.15 (12.98, 7.22, 8.36, 6.45, 3.14), IV 31.73 (9.21, 4.93, 7.99, 6.48, 3.12). Leg formula: 1234. Genitalia (Figs 8D–E, 9A–B): epigynal field as long as wide (Figs 8D, 9A). Lateral lobes large, i.e., extending along the entire median septum, sclerotized, more widely separated anteriorly than posteriorly (Figs 8D, 9A). Median septum converging posteriorly, with invaginated posterior margin (Figs 8D, 9A). Copulatory ducts sclerotized, widely separated, with two loops on each side, one anteriorly, the second one medially (Figs 8E, 9B). Fertilisation ducts narrow, roughly anteriad (Fig. 9B).
Male. Unknown.
Distribution. Sri Lanka (Peradeniya) (Pocock 1901) (Fig. 27).
Remarks. The holotype of T. hercules is a female (Fig. 8), which is not noted by the World Spider Catalog (2024). The sex of the holotype can be elucidated from the original description, where Pocock (1901) used the word ‘ Vulva’ at the 9 th line of species description, indicating that the type specimen was female. However, he did not provide the ‘female symbol’ along with the description as in other cases, which is clearly a publisher’s error/ lapsus calami also found with the description of T. ajax (see above).
description: Published as part of Sankaran, Pradeep M., Sherwood, Danniella & Jäger, Peter, 2024, On the identity of species of the huntsman spider genus Thelcticopis Karsch, 1884 (Araneae: Sparassidae: Sparianthinae) from India, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, pp. 301-338 in Zootaxa 5463 (3) on page 312, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5463.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/11611277