Zodarion ericorum Benhalima & Bosmans 2020, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Benhalima, Souâd
name: Bosmans, Robert
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Zodariidae
Zodarion
Zodarion ericorum

description: Zodarion ericorum Bosmans sp. nov.
Figures 61–62, 74–77, 98–101
Etymology. The first author dedicates this species to Eric Gobbers (Gent, Belgium) and Erika Vanden Bergh (Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek, Belgium), two Belgian biologists, for helping him collect material during his first trip to Morocco in 1984.
Diagnosis. Males are recognized by the large basal knob in the tegulum, which is absent in other species or only poorly developed in Z. jeanclaudeledouxi sp. nov. Females are distinguished by the shape of the transverse oval pit in the epigyne, which is not the same in all other species.
Description. Measurements. Male (n=4): total length 2.4–3.8; carapace 1.30–1.57 long, 0.90–1.1 wide. Female (n=7): total length 3.8–5.5; prosoma 1.76–3.4 long, 1.25–2.49 wide. Colour (Figs 61–62): carapace dark reddish brown to black, posterior part sometimes yellowish orange of variable size; coxae pale yellowish, femora dark brown to black, basal part white; tibiae brown to pale brown, with paler stripes laterally; metatarsi yellowish brown, base often infuscated; tarsi yellowish brown; abdomen in male with scutum, dark sepia, dorsally with two triangular spots and one oval postero-median spot whitish, in some specimens triangular spots absent; venter and oblique lateral stripe whitish. Female as male, but abdomen without scutum. Eyes: AM=1 (0.13); AL=0.78; PM=PL=0.67; a=0.67; b=0.23; c=1.56; d=0.33; MOQ: AW=0.88PW; L=0.81PW.
Male palp (Figs 74–77): tibial apophysis elongated, proximal part nearly rectangular and straight, distal part curved in postero-dorsal direction, terminally rounded; retrolateral margin of cymbium with indentation; tegulum with rounded knob at its base; median apophysis with broad base, rectangular, distal part having the form a bird’s beak; tip of embolus slender, terminally curved in antero-prolateral direction.
Epigyne (Figs 98–101): with large, transverse, oval pit, somewhat more than 2 times as wide as high, posterolaterally acccompied by semi-circular pockets; spermathecae small, separated by more than 3 diameters.
Type material. Holotype Ƌ and 1Ƌ 1♀ paratypes from MOROCCO: Beni Mellal-Khénifra, Oued Zem, 33°51’51’’N, 06°34’12’’W, leg. E. Vanden Bergh, 12.V–23.VI.1984 (pitfalls in young Pinus plantation) (RBINS).
Other material examined. MOROCCO: Marrakech-Safi, Ben Guerir 10 km N, 32°14’32’’N, 07°56’46’’W, 500 m a.s.l., leg. R. Bosmans, 9.II.1996 (grassland with Asphodelus), 1♀ (CRB); 10 km S Chichaoua, 31°15’49’’N, 08°50’38’’W, leg. R. Bosmans, 9.II.1996 (stones in steppe), 2♀♀ (CRB); Marrakech, Gueliz, 31°41’37’’N, 08°00’21’’W, 445 m a.s.l., leg. R. Bosmans, 7.VII.1999 (grass field in flooded hotel garden), 1Ƌ (CRB); 3 km S Imi-’n-Tanoute, 31°09’35’’N, 08°50’38’W, 1200 m a.s.l., leg. J. Van Keer, 9.II.1996 (stones in olive groove), 1Ƌ 1♀ (CJVK); Ounara E, 31°32’33’’N, 09°30’47’’W, 250 m a.s.l., leg. R. Bosmans, 8.VII.1999 (stones in Arganus steppe), 1♀ (CRB); Rabat-Salé-Kénitra, Forêt de Maâmora, Sidi Amira, 34°03’06’’N, 06°43’11’’W, leg. S. Benhalima, 5.XII.1989 (litter in Quercus suber forest), 1Ƌ 1♀ (CSB); idem, 2 km S Sidi Allal El Bahraoui, 34°02’41’’N, 06°35’25’’W, leg. R. Bosmans, 8.II.1996, 1♀ (CRB); idem, Sidi Allal El Bahraoui, leg. S. Benhalima, 15.IX.1989, 1Ƌ, 2.X.1989, 1Ƌ, 6.XI.1989, 1Ƌ and 27.II.1990, 1Ƌ (CSB); Souss-Massa, between Aoulous and Taliouine, 30°34’41’’N, 08°03’11’’W, 600 m a.s.l., leg. R. Bosmans, 4.II.1996 (stones in Arganus steppe), 1♀ (CRB).
Distribution. Central and West Morocco (Map 3).
description: Published as part of Benhalima, Souâd & Bosmans, Robert, 2020, Revision of the genus Zodarion Walckenaer, 1833 (part IV). The species of Morocco (Araneae: Zodariidae), pp. 93-114 in Zootaxa 4899 (1) on pages 103-104, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4899.1.5, http://zenodo.org/record/4400707