Coreodrassus murphyi Liu & Zhang 2023, sp. n.
Creators: name: Liu, Bo
name: Zhang, Feng
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Gnaphosidae
Coreodrassus
Coreodrassus murphyi

description: Coreodrassus murphyi sp. n.
Figs 1‒6
Type material. Holotype ♁, CHINA: Gansu Province, Linze County, Pinchuan Town, Yigongcheng Village, 20 October 2015, leg. Jiliang Liu. Paratype: 2♀, same data as holotype, but date is 29 March 2018; 1♀, same data as holotype, but date is 29 March 2019; 1♁, No detailed data, collected from desert.
Etymology. The specific epithet is honor of Prof. John A. Murphy (1922–2021), the British arachnologist who made great contributions on the taxonomy of Gnaphosidae.
Diagnosis. Males resemble Coreodrassus lancearius (Simon, 1893) in shape of palp, but can be distinguished from the latter by the RTA and PRTA without crossing each other (vs. the RTA and PRTA crossing each other), the relatively small nail-like EBP (vs. the larger tube-like EBP), the relatively small, well sclerotized conductor (vs. the bigger membranous conductor) (Figs 2‒4). Females resemble Coreodrassus infletus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1885) comb. n. in epigyne structures, but differ in the large, wide, directed anteriorly FD (Fig. 6), rather than slender, laterally directed FD.
Description. Males. Total length 8.49–8.68. Holotype total length 8.49; carapace 4.31 long, 3.12 wide; abdomen 4.37 long, 2.98 wide. Eye sizes and interdistances: AME 0.22, ALE 0.16, PME 0.18, PLE 0.12, AME‒AME 0.12, AME‒ ALE 0.02, PME‒PME 0.07, PME‒PLE 0.29, ALE‒PLE 0.17; Measurements of legs: I 10.81 (3.08, 1.54, 2.74, 2.01, 1.44), II 9.10 (2.55, 1.35, 1.94, 1.90, 1.36), III 8.38 (2.36, 0.85, 1.60, 2.14, 1.43), IV 5.27 (2.66, 1.13, 2.27, 2.40, 1.54). Leg formula: 1234. Chelicerae red brown, promargin with three teeth, retromargin with two teeth (Fig. 1D). Color in alcohol (Fig. 1A–C): carapace red brown. Fovea distinct, longitudinal. Legs yellow brown. Abdomen light grey, with a dorsal scutum anteriorly and a cardiac mark with three pairs of muscle impressions medially.
Palp (Figs 2–4). A long, curved RPA, with membranous base and hook-like distal end. Tibia with a dorsaly curved horn-shaped RTA, distal part dorso-posteriorly curved; and a slightly dorsal curved horn-sharped PRTA, distal part dorso-anteriorly curved, without crossing each other. Cymbium with a notch retrolaterally. EB wide, with a nail-like EBP. Long and curved embolus, edge with two projection distally. Conductor leaf-shaped, well sclerotized, hides behind the embolus. MA curved retrolaterally. U-shaped SD visible. ST with a big lobe distally.
Females. Total length 10.90–13.79. One paratype total length 13.79; carapace 4.42 long, 3.45 wide; abdomen 8.41 long, 5.63 wide. Eye sizes and interdistances: AME 0.26, ALE 0.17, PME 0.19, PLE 0.11, AME‒AME 0.06, AME‒ALE 0.03, PME‒PME 0.04, PME‒PLE 0.23, ALE‒PLE 0.12; Measurements of legs: I 8.81 (2.62, 1.15, 2.27, 1.51, 1.26), II 8.11 (2.45, 0.94, 1.97, 1.47, 1.28), III 7.55 (2.25, 1.00, 1.32, 1.71, 1.27), IV 10.73 (3.03, 1.46, 2.26, 2.46, 1.52). Leg formula: 4123. Chelicerae (Fig. 5D) as in male. Color in alcohol (Fig. 5A–C) as in male but abdomen without anterior dorsal scutum.
Epigyne (Fig. 6A–B). Epigynal plate heart-shaped. Trapezoidal fovea, almost 3 times as wide as high, with short TE of the epigynal plate and eyeglasses-shaped SE anteriorly. Posterior part of AF as hoods. Septum hides copulatory openings. Posterior part of fovea extends posteriorly, passing the lateral hoods, fovea and FF covering partly posterior part of epigynal plate. FF and posterior margin of plate form pockets. PS big, oval. SS small, globular. FD slender, leaf-shaped, laterally directed.
Notes. The conductor of this species is hard to see except if bulb is expanded or in some special angles because it is hidden behind the embolus (Figs 3–4). It is well sclerotized compared with Corecodrassus lancearius (Fig. 3C–D).
Distribution. China (Gansu).
description: Published as part of Liu, Bo & Zhang, Feng, 2023, A new species of Coreodrassus Paik, 1984 from China, with proposal of a new combination (Araneae: Gnaphosidae), pp. 288-296 in Zootaxa 5306 (2) on pages 288-295, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5306.2.8, http://zenodo.org/record/8058895