Occurrence and redescription of Sipalolasma arthrapophysis ( Gravely , 1915 ) ( Araneae : Barychelidae : Barychelinae ) from India

1 World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF) APSO, 818, Castle Hills, Road No. 2, Near NMDC, Vijayanagar Colony, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh 500057, India 2 Queensland Museum, Grey Street, PO Box 3300, South Brisbane, 4101, Queensland, Australia 3 Eco-Research and Monitoring Laboratories, Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve, Sundipenta, Kurnool District, Andhra Pradesh 518102, India Email: 4 javedwwf2007@gmail.com JoTT CommuniCation 2(5): 867-875

and was rounded off to one decimal where appropriate and were taken with a digital dial calipers with an error of 0.01mm.Photographs of the preserved specimen were taken with a Nikon Coolpix S550 mounted directly on the eye piece of a Lawrence & Mayo stereomicroscope illuminated with a 100 watt light source; only minor colour corrections of the photos has been done.Illustrations were made with camera lucida attached to Olympus SZX 12 stereo zoom microscope.The specimen is deposited in the collections of the Zoological Survey of India, Freshwater Biology Regional Center, Arachnid section (ZSI/ FBRC/A), Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India.

diagnosis
ALE not close to clypeal edge; ocular area as wide as long or slightly wider behind; fovea a deep circular pit or transverse or pro-curved or slightly re-curved; four spinnerets; tibial spur present in male; labium and maxilla with cuspules; claw tufts absent from female palp; body size 15-29 mm (Raven 1985;Dippenaar-Schoeman 2002).
Carapace (Images.2A, 3A, 5B): length to width 1.09; ovate; uniform dark brown (brick red in life) with light brown hairs (golden in life) on margin, uniform cover of short dull brown hairs and short black setae or thorns scattered in between; clypeus 0.40 long, slanting downwards below ALE; fovea prominent, transverse and slightly re-curved; group of long and strong forward projecting black setae present between ALE; long black setae radiates from fovea to carapace edges (impression of tubercles distinct even after some setae were lost), the setae between ocular tubercle and fovea forms a prominent straight line.Eyes (Image 5A, Fig. 1B  Abdomen (Images 4A & B): Longer than wide, dark brown, dorsally covered with thick mat of dark brown hair with large golden hairs (but, after a few days of preservation hair lost and exposed cuticle dorsally), ventrally thick mat of uniform brown hairs and anterior portion above epigastric furrow almost bare with very few light brown hairs; pair of sigilla on anterior dorsal side.

Variation
The new material of Sipalolasma arthrapophysis from Andhra Pradesh differs from that illustrated by Gravely (1915) in morphometry; number of spines on the promarginal area of chelicera and cuspules on labium; embolus of bulb not much twisted; spines near the tibial spurs are little enlarged.

natural history
A male was found under a medium-size (about 1m diameter) boulder on a mountain slope from a well camouflaged U-shaped burrow with two openings (burrow unfortunately destroyed while flipping the boulder).Gravely (1921) described a burrow constructed among stones and more or less loose soil and rubbish among the roots of Ficus bengalensis and Ficus religiosa, etc.It consists of a short and almost straight tube, somewhat wider in the middle and closed at each end by a trapdoor which is always hinged on the lower side, so that it hangs open when not held in place by the spider.Empty burrows are thus somewhat conspicuous objects, the whitish lining of the trap-door contrasting with the mouth of the dark burrow above it.The trapdoor of a full grown spider is about 10mm in diameter.Males were found only up to August (Gravely 1921).dIScuSSIOn Gravely (1915) described S. arthrapophysis based on a single male specimen, and in 1921, he described a female with notes on their natural history.Here information on a second male specimen based on a record from Andhra Pradesh, India is provided.This species seems to be endemic to eastern parts of India.However we recorded several variations between the two specimens, when compared with the description provided by Gravely  1915), and as more specimens become available the level of variation will reveal whether they are one or two species.Presently the specimens recorded were from different heights above sea level and 135km apart with difference in habitat selection.

Figure1:
Figure1: Satellite image showing a map depicting records of Sipalolasma arthrapophysis(Gravely 1915) in two Indian states.Courtesy: Google Earth

Table 1 . Morphometry of legs and palp of S. arthrapophysis, male, ZSI/FBRC/A−25 (measurements in mm)
): Eye tubercle distinct, as long as wide; ALE not close to clypeal edge; AME close to posterior eyes row; anterior eye row strongly procurved; posterior eye row slightly recurved.Eye group 1.20 long, 1.42 wide (ratio width to length 1.88).AME clearly larger than rest, ALE bigger than PLE and PME clearly smaller than others.Almost circular, high in center, sloping gradually, covered with dense, black setae.Posterior angle sharp, but not extending between coxae IV.Setae marginal more dense and thorn-like.Pedicel pallid and not easily seen.