Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 March 2020 | 12(4): 15475–15480
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5371.12.4.15475-15480
#5371 | Received 30 August 2019 | Final
received 21 February 2020 | Finally accepted 02 March 2020
Additional morphological notes on
the male of Icius alboterminus
(Caleb, 2014) (Aranei: Salticidae)
with new distribution records from India
Dhruv A. Prajapati 1 & R.D. Kamboj 2
1,2 GEER Foundation, Indroda Nature Park, Gandhinagar, Gujarat 382007, India.
1 dhruvspidy215@gmail.com
(corresponding author), 2 dir-geer@gujarat.gov.in
Editor: John T.D.
Caleb, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, India. Date
of publication: 26 March 2020 (online & print)
Citation:
Prajapati, D.A. & R.D. Kamboj (2020).
Additional morphological notes on the male of Icius alboterminus (Caleb,
2014) (Aranei: Salticidae)
with new distribution records from India. Journal of
Threatened Taxa 12(4): 15475–15480. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5371.12.4.15475-15480
Copyright: © Prajapati & Kamboj 2020. Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction,
and distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to
the author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: Ecology & Environmrnt Scheme by Forest & Environment Department, Government of Gujarat [27/3435].
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The first author is thankful to Dr.
Ketan Tatu, Senior Scientist, GEER Foundation for
providing opportunity for spider study in wetland ecological monitoring at GEER
Foundation. He is also thankful to Dr. Ketan Tatu for critically
going through the manuscript and giving suggestions for improvements. Authors are also thankful to Dr. Vijay Makwana, Laboratory superintendent, GEER
Foundation for providing detailed SEM images used in this work. The first author is thankful to Mr. Soham Bhrambhatt for his support during laboratory work. He is also thankful to Miss Priyal Prajapati for her generous help in preparation of
figure plates. Mr. Kamlesh Srinath’s
help in preparing distribution map is also acknowledged.
Abstract:
This paper includes additional detailed characters and new distribution records
of the male of Icius alboterminus
(Caleb, 2014) from India. A detailed
morphological description based on scanning electron microscopic (SEM) images
and illustrations of the reproductive organ are provided.
Keywords:
Additional characters, Gujarat, jumping spider, new records, taxonomy.
Abbreviations: ALE—anterior
lateral eye | AME—anterior median
eye | AS—anterior spinnerets
| CMS—clypeal marginal scale
| CP—cheliceral pit | E—embolus | OLS—opisthosomal leaf-like scales | OS—ordinary setae | LS—larger leaf-like scale | MS—minute prosomal scales | OS—ordinary setae | PLE—posterior lateral eye
| PME—posterior median eye
| POS—posterior spinnerets | PS—plumose
setae | PSS—plumose setae of spinnerets
| RTA—retrolateral tibial apophysis
| SCP—scattered papillae |
SD—sperm duct | SP—setae on protuberance
| SSB—setae on stout base | TB—tegular bump |
I–IV—1st to 4th legs.
Several new salticid species were described recently
from India (Caleb 2014; Prajapati et al. 2016, 2018; Sanap
et al. 2017; Caleb 2017). All
three Indian species of the genus Icius Simon,
1876—Icius alboterminus
(Caleb, 2014), Icius kumariae
Caleb, 2017 and Icius vikrambatrai
Prajapati, Malamel, Sudhikumar
& Sebastian, 2018—were described within a span of five years (Caleb 2014,
2017; Prajapati et al. 2018). Of
these, I. alboterminus (Caleb, 2014) was
originally described under the genus Phintella
Strand in Bösenberg & Strand, 1906 and was
recently transferred to Icius (Caleb
2017). In the present paper, we provide
additional and previously undescribed morphological characters for the male of I.
alboterminus from Gujarat. The species has been reported only from its
type locality in Chennai, Tamil Nadu (Caleb 2014) and the current record in
Gujarat extends its distribution by about 1,560km from the type locality.
Materials and Methods
Samples were hand collected and preserved in 70% ethyl
alcohol. The specimens were studied
under a Dewinter Zoomstar-II
stereomicroscope. All measurements are
in millimeters (mm).
Length of the palp and leg segments are given as follows: total (femur,
patella, tibia, metatarsus (except palp), tarsus). B/W drawings were made by means of a drawing
apparatus attached to the Dewinter Zoomstar-II microscope.
Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM) images were taken by means of a
ZEISS EVO 18 Scanning Electron Microscope.
The studied specimens are in the personal collection of Dhruv Prajapati
(GJSP).
Taxonomy
Icius Simon, 1876
Type species: Icius
hamatus C.L. Koch, 1846.
Icius alboterminus (Caleb, 2014)
Images 1A–H, 2A–H, 3A–D; Figures 1A–B, 2
Specimens examined: GJSP90243A, 1 male, 2.v.2019,
India, Gujarat, Jamnagar, Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary
(22.523N, 70.139E), 7m, from foliage, coll. D.A. Prajapati; GJSP90243B, 2
males, 8.v.2019, India, Gujarat, Kheda, Pariej wetland (70.139N, 72.610E), 20m, from foliage, coll.
D.A. Prajapati; GJSP90243C 1 male,
9.v.2019, India, Gujarat, Anand, Kanewal wetland
(72.610N, 72.539E), 9m, from foliage, coll. D.A. Prajapati.
Male of Icius alboterminus can be easily distnguished
from all other Icius species by the dorsal
abdominal pattern (see Fig. 1 in Caleb 2014); claw-shaped embolus directed at 2
O’clock position (Images 3A–B, Figure 1A) (slightly bent in I. kumariae and I. vikrambatrai,
see figs 10, 11, 16 in Caleb 2017; figs 6, 7 in Prajapati et al. 2018);
RTA with narrow tip directed at 1 o’clock position in ventral view (Image 3A,
Figure 1A) (branched in I. kumariae, see figs
10, 11, 16, 17 in Caleb (2017); tridentate in I. vikrambatrai,
see figs 5, 14, 15 in Prajapati et al. (2018)). For diagnosis of female see Caleb (2014).
Description
Male (Images 1A–H, 2A–H): Prosoma pear-shaped,
blackish-brown, with a thin white marginal stripe of uniform thickness; anterio-lateral sides of prosoma with whitish minute
leaf-like scales. Cephalic region
blackish, with scattered pale yellowish minute leaf-like scales and ordinary
setae (Image 1E); eyes encircled by minute orange yellowish plumose setae
(Image 1F), six leaf-like scales (with ribbed surface) located between ALEs and
PLEs on either sides (Images 1A–1D, 1F), scattered papillae visible on lateral
sides of cephalic region, near ALEs (Images 2A–B). Clypeus margin with whitish
leaf-like scales (Images 2A, 2C).
Clypeus, chelicerae, endites, labium and
sternum brownish. Chelicerae with one promarginal and one retromarginal
teeth and with 18–20 small setae dorsally with stout base (Image 2A); apical
region of chelicerae with several pits (Images 2C–D); fangs medium sized,
yellowish-brown. Leg I blackish-brown,
legs II–IV yellowish-brown with black blotches; antero-prolateral region of
femur I with eight setae on protuberance distributed in two rows (five in first
row and three in second row) (Images 1A, 1G–H).
Opisthosoma oval, covered with ordinary setae and leaf-like scales
(Images 2E–F), brownish anteriorly and blackish brown at posterior end; one
anterior and two antero-lateral white dots on each side of abdominal margin,
two white dots on mid-anterior region of abdomen, two on medio-lateral
abdominal margin and single white dot above spinnerets. Spinnerets blackish, covered with plumose
setae (Images 2G–H). Body length
2.59. Prosoma length 1.23, width (at the
middle) 0.93, height (at the middle) 0.51.
Opisthosoma length 1.36, width (at the middle) 0.93, height (at the
middle) 0.78. Eye diameter: ALE 0.17, AME 0.24, PLE 0.11, PME 0.06. Eye interdistances: AME–AME 0.02, AME–ALE 0.01, ALE–ALE 0.52,
ALE–PME 0.23, PLE–PLE 0.61, PME–PME 0.59, PME–PLE 0.16. Clypeus height at ALE 0.23, at AME
0.009. Chelicera length 0.46. Measurements of palp and legs. Palp 1.02 (0.38, 0.11, 0.15, 0.38), I 2.30
(0.64, 0.41, 0.52, 0.39, 0.34), II 1.90 (0.57, 0.32, 0.40, 0.32, 0.29), III 2.06
(0.59, 0.30, 0.45, 0.39, 0.33), IV 2.48 (0.76, 0.35, 0.54, 0.47, 0.36). Leg
formula: 4132. Palp (Images 3A–D, Figures 1A–B): embolus short and resembles
the “claw” of a raptor; embolic tip narrowed and directed at 1 o’ clock
position ventrally (Images 3A–B, Figure 1A).
Bulb protruded posteriorly (not prominent in Caleb 2014; see Figs 9-–10
in Caleb 2014) (Images 3A, 3C, Figure 1A).
Tegular bump can be seen from retrolateral view (Images 3C, Figure 1B). RTA simple, broad at the base and narrow at
its blunt tip (a spiniform tip is shown in the
original illustration; see figs 9–10 in Caleb 2014) (Images 3A, 3C–D, Figures
1A–B). Distribution: Icius alboterminus is endemic to India and known from the
following localities:
Gujarat: Khijadiya Bird
Sanctuary in Jamnagar District; Pariej wetland in Kheda District; Kanewal wetland
in Anand district (new records) (Figure 2).
Tamil Nadu: Thirumullaivoyal
in Chennai (holotype) (Figure 2).
Discussion
Newly collected specimens from Gujarat have a slightly
prominent posterior protrusion of the bulb, which is not significant as seen in
illustrations given by Caleb (2014).
This may be due to the change in angle of view or may be considered as
an intraspecific variation but more specimens need to be examined to confirm this
assumption.
All the collected specimens were from vegetation near
wetlands which may indicate its preference to habitats associated with water
bodies. The type locality of the species
is also near a suburban lake (Araabath Lake) which
may define its preferred habitat (Caleb 2014).
The new localities are Khijadiya Bird
Sanctuary, Pariej wetland and Kanewal
wetland. Habitat of all these localities
are almost similar which include vegetation belonging to Prosopis sp., Ipomoea
sp., Azadiracta indica,
Achyranthes aspera, Cressa
cretica, Aeluropus
lagopoides, Sueada
sp. and Calotropis procera. Since many states have similar habitat, I.
alboterminus might also be found in states such
as Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh. This case might be similar as Chrysilla volupe (Karsch, 1879), which was earlier known from Sri Lanka and
later from Bhutan but no records were there in India. Later many specimens were collected and
recorded from India (Caleb et al. 2018).
For
figures & images - - click here
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