Delimitation and description of 19 new genera, a subgenus and a species of Salticidae (Araneae) of the world
Author
Prószyński, Jerzy
text
Ecologica Montenegrina
2016
2016-05-26
7
4
32
https://doi.org/10.37828/em.2016.7.1
journal article
10.37828/em.2016.7.1
2336-9744
13224403
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:4171B7E1-BE6F-48ED-85B4-4DC2C232A273
Gen.
Nandicius
Prószyński, 2016
,
gen. n.
Removed from the genus
Pseudicius
Informal
group of genera CHRYSILLINES
Figures 6I–J
,
9E–J
Type
species
.
Phintella mussooriensis
Prószynski, 1992
.
Documentation studied
. Comparative diagnostic drawings of 10 species in
Prószyński (2016a)
and original literature.
Etymology
. Name combines name of the Nanda Devi National Park and
Icius
, grammar gender assumed masculine.
Diagnosis
.
Nandicius
differs strikingly from
Pseudicius
and related genera by the absence of subocular row of stridulatory bristles on protuberances and tibia I not modified.
Male palpal organ resembling
Chrysilla
Thorell, 1887
and
Phintella
Bösenberg & Strand, 1906
, embolus base has a form of thin, soft layer laying diagonally over bulbus, narrowing anteriorly and producing anterior embolus short, claw-like and sclerotized. Only the antero-lateral angle of spermophor is visible. Tibial apophysis variable, biramous with ventral ramus thin and gently bent (in
N. pseudicioides
even twisted "S" like), dorsal ramus robust, but in some species modified into a short lobe, or even reduced to a vestigial tooth (
Figs. 9F, I
).
Female. Epigyne with prominent oval depression medially, there is a pair of translucent pockets, spaced at the posterior rim of epigyne, which is somewhat bent anteriorwards, copulatory opening located medially, in the mid-length of epigyne. Spermathecae resembling some
Pseudicius
, with spermathecae slightly elongate oval, set transversally or parallel to main axis, with distal part elongate and duct like, ducts sclerotized, semiarching (
Figs. 6J
,
9E, H–J
).
Body small and fragile, not flattened or elongated, with brown pattern on whitish background
Fig. 6I
). Legs whitish, legs I not strikingly longer or more robust than legs II-IV.
More diagnostic documentation
– see at: http://www.peckhamia.com/salticidae/q6-Nand.html.
Remark
. Taxonomic position of
Nandicius
(known to me from old
type
specimens and a series of drawings of unidentified species from Central Asia) remained enigmatic for 30 years, because of mixture of poorly understood characters resembling other, unrelated genera. The breakthrough is due to photographs received from Miss Shazia Quasin, of a species with epigyne almost identical with the drawings of epigyne, made in 1980s (
Figs. 6J
,
9E
). These structures, with the simultaneous absence of
Pseudicius
-like features, could be accommodated only by erection of a new genus.
Distribution
. Central Asia,
China
,
India
,
Nepal
,
Pakistan
.
Composition
.
The following species are transferred from genus the
Pseudicius
Simon, 1885
:
Nandicius cambridgei
(Prószynski & Żochowska, 1981)
comb. n.
,
N. deletus
(Pickard-Cambridge O., 1885)
comb. n.
,
N. frigidus
(Pickard-Cambridge O., 1885)
comb. n.
,
N. mussooriensis
(Prószynski, 1992)
comb. n.
, [syn.
Phintella
m.
],
N. pseudoicioides
(Caporiacco, 1935)
comb. n.
,
N. szechuanensis
Logunov, 1995
) comb. n.,
N.
sp. [
Bhutan
] Prószynski [unpublished],
N.
2 sp [Shazia]) [unpublished] Shazia Quasin, 2011.