Kryptonesticus deelemanae gen. et sp. nov. (Araneae, Nesticidae), with notes on the Mediterranean cave species

Abstract

Abstract. This paper describes and illustrates a new genus and a new species belonging to the family Nesticidae based on morphology and supported by molecular data. The new genus, Kryptonesticus gen. nov., groups eight species spread from Bulgaria and Turkey to Croatia, including Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Crete. As a result, seven new combinations are proposed: K. eremita (Simon, 1879) comb. nov., K. arenstorffi (Kulczyński, 1914) comb. nov., K. fagei (Kratochvíl, 1933) comb. nov., K. beroni (Deltshev, 1977) comb. nov., K. beshkovi (Deltshev, 1979) comb. nov., K. henderickxi (Bosselaers, 1998) comb. nov. and K. dimensis (López-Pancorbo, Kunt & Ribera, 2013) comb. nov., all ex Nesticus. Kryptonesticus deelemanae gen. et sp. nov. is described on the basis of both sexes and its phylogenetic relationships with closely related species are discussed based on morphological and molecular data (the cox1, rrn and H3 genes). In addition, the species of this new genus (except for K. eremita) are clear candidates for protection: they have highly restricted ranges and some of them show a high degree of adaptation to the subterranean environment.

Kryptonesticus georgescuae spec. nov. from Movile Cave, Romania (Araneae: Nesticidae)

“…The recently defined genus Kryptonesticus currently includes eight species. With the exception of the widespread K. eremita (Simon, 1880), all other species are endemic in Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece (Crete) and Turkey (Pavlek & Ribera 2017). The species described here from Movile Cave is the ninth belonging to this group.…”

“…But also in this respect, K. georgescuae seems to be closer related to these two troglobitic spiders from Crete. The females of K. beroni (Deltshev, 1977) from a cave in Bulgaria (only 370 km air-line distance from Movile Cave) appear rather closely related to the western Balkan species K. deelemanae Pavlek &Ribera, 2017 andK. arenstorffi (Kulczyński, 1914), and show no resemblance to K. georgescuae.…”

“…Nomenclature follows the WSC (2017). Terminology for the copulatory organs follows López-Pancorbo et al (2013) and Pavlek & Ribera (2017). Measurements are given in millimeters (mm).…”

A synthesis on cave-dwelling spiders in Europe

“…In the last few years, several new species have been described in southern Europe (e.g., Bosmans & Gasparo, ; Deltshev & Ćurčić, ; Gasparo, ; Isaia, Mammola, Mazzuca, Arnedo, & Pantini, ; Isaia & Pantini, , ; Mammola, Hormiga, Arnedo, & Isaia, ; Pavlek & Ribera, ; Ribera & López‐Pancorbo, ; Ribera & Mas, ; Wang & Li, , ; Wu, Wang, Zheng, & Li, ), including the first European record of Symphytognathidae (Cardoso & Scharff, ). Studies on European subterranean spiders continue to gain momentum, and it is reasonable to expect that new species will be discovered in the future, as proven by the accumulation curve of species descriptions, which is far from reaching the asymptote (Figure ).…”

New data on Aituaria pontica (Spassky, 1932) (Aranei: Nesticidae)

“…The terminology of the nesticid palp follows Lopez-Pancorbo, Ribera [2011] and Pavlek, Ribera [2017].…”