3

3 - Pellenes (Pelmultus) nigrociliatus

4 5 -

4 - Pellenes (Pelpaucus) ostrinus, 5 - Pellenes (Pellevii) levii subgen. n. 6 - Pellenes (Pellap) lapponicus subgen. n.

Pellenes (Pellenes) Simon, 1876 (4 species)

Type species of the genus and of this subgenus: Pellenes (Pellenes ) tripunctatus.
DIAGNOSIS. Embolus hidden inside stumpy, fleshy sheath set transversally in front of bulbus, emerges anteriorly over flattened but partially folded anterior plate of the sheath. Tibial apophysis tightly pressed to depression in the wall of cymbium, limited posteriorly by either huge swelling of wall, or small protuberances. Epigyne with pocket narrowed to a thin edge, located well ahead, followed by prominent ridge bisecting epigyne and separating grooves and sclerotized lips of copulatory openings at their bottom. Color pattern: dark abdomen bisected by thin white line, continuous or broken into small dots, sometimes crossed posteriorly by dotted line. Color pattern of face has diagnostic significance. Drawings below constitute integral part of the genus definition.

Pellenes(Pellenes) tripunctatus : Proszynski 1984c. Atlas ...: 103 + ©Photo J. Lissner. By courtesy.

>

Pellenes seriatus [compared with tripunctatus] :Logunov, Marusik 1994. Arthr. Sel., 5 (1/2): 106, f. 4A-E + ©Photo A. Noordam. + A. Senglet. By courtesy. Pellenes sibiricus : Logunov, Marusik 1994. Arthr. Sel., 5 (1/2): 108, f. 6A-C, 7A-B, 8A-D. By courtesy.

+b)

+++

Pellenes [laggani - syn?] +b) ignifrons : Peckhams 1909: 532, 560 + Levi, Levi 1951. Zoologica 36(4): 232, f 47, 49 +b) Proszynski 1971d. Annales zoologici: 214-218, ff. 20-27 +1979: 314, f 228 + Logunov, Marusik, Rakov 1999: 105, f 18, 19, 23.. By courtesy. Pellenes lagrecai :Cantarella, Alicata, 2002. Boll. Accad. Gioenia Sci. Nat. Catania, 35, 361: 577-579, figs 8-11. By courtesy.

Pellenes (Pelmirus) Logunov, Marusik, Rakov, 1999 (5 species)

Representative species: Pellenes (Pelmirus) hedjazensis
DIAGNOSIS. Characterized by stumpy embolus split apically into two processes, of which lateral one is shorter and spine like, seems to be sclerotized, the other is longer and waving, runs transversally . Drawings below constitute integral part of the genus definition.

+b)

+ +

Pellenes (Pelmultus) Logunov, Marusik, Rakov, 1999 (34 species)

Representative species: Pellenes ( Pelmultus) nigrociliatus.
DIAGNOSIS. Embolus hidden inside stumpy sheath, its tip, of diagnostic importance, is forked with thin, twisted plate emerging between terminal rami; these details are visible only under strong microscopic magnification (x 200). Bulbus almost round, tibial apophysis moderately thin, reaches half length of bulbus level, articulates with depression in the lateral wall of cymbium, the latter often with indistinct posterior swelling. In females prominent medial pocket is usually located in anterior half of epigyne, well ahead of a pair of prominent sclerotized groves, it is followed by a prominent medial groove, running towards posterior end of epigyne. Copulatory openings, often with prominent, sclerotized lips at the bottom of sclerotized grooves, are followed by a tight and compact knot of strongly sclerotized ducts and spermathecae, whose course is difficult to trace. Color pattern is characteristic: thin medial line running along posterior half of dark abdomen, followed laterally by two pairs of oblique white lines, dark carapace has often a pair of large spots of white setae, sometimes fused into single transverse area. Drawings below constitute integral part of the genus definition.

+

+b)

+

+

+

+

+++

++

++

++

+

+++

b)+

b) c)d)

++b)

++

+ +

b)

b)c) c)

Pellenes (Pelpaucus) Logunov, Marusik, Rakov, 1999 (12 species)

Representative species: Pellenes (Pelpaucus) ostrinus
DIAGNOSIS. Epigyne with broad oval depression and rudimentary pocket anteriorly and ducts in a form of compact, integrated body, with internal convoluted chambers. Embolus hidden inside sheath stretching in front of bulbus, straight or diagonal. Posterior retrolateral edge of cymbium drawn into characteristic tail. Drawings below constitute integral part of the genus definition.

+

++

+

++

Pellenes (Pellap) Prószyński, 3016 subgen. n. (1 species)

Representative species: Pellenes (Pellap) lapponicus .

Diagnosis of the subgenus Pellenes (Pellap) (new) (Figures 121-126). Epigyne elongate with prominent, broad medial groove, running from rudimentary anterior pocket, somewhat like in Habronattus. Spermathecae and ducts form elongate compact bodies, consisting of spiral structures, stretching along the whole length of epigyne. Sheath encircles embolus ventrally and laterally, opened dorsally - as demonstrated on excellent SEM scan of dorsal side of bulbus, separated from cymbium, provided by Logunov & Marusik (see figure 126, below). Tibial apophysis large and unusually expanded apically, trapezium like, articulates with prominent swelling of dorsal wall of the cymbium. Drawings below constitute integral part of the subgenus definition.

Remarks. Splitting the genus Pellenes Simon, 1876 into four subgenera: nominal Pellenes, Pelmirus, Pelmultus and Pelpaucus, differing by such characters as shape of palpal organ, especially by embolus structure, and by epigyne, was done by Logunov and Marusik 2000, which left outside holarctic species Pellenes lapponicus (Sundevall, 1833). Since that species has some strikingly outstanding structures, it seems useful that to create a separate subgenus - Pellap for it, to keep records straight. Among peculiar structures of that subgenus, special attention deserves robust and thick embolus, being in fact composite structure, consisting of external sheath and internal sclerotized, hair like (but apparently strong and presumably elastic) embolus proper, discovered by Logunov, Marusik 1999 (Figure 126). That structure coincides well with emboli in other subgenera of Pellenes, but may have much broader significance - in many salticidae "embolus" appears thick, semitransparent, with indistinct thin dark streak, sometimes protruding from the tip of "embolus". Therefore I assume, provisionally, that such "emboli" have composite structure of external sheath and split from it internal, hair like, embolus proper.
The placement of this species is rather special and deserves, perhaps, separate genus status. Palpus is not similar to remaining Pellenes, epigyne could be compared with such species as Pellnes ostrinus (Simon, 1868), P. diagnonalis (Simon, 1868) and P. turkmenicus Logunov, Marusik & Rakov, 1999, and with the genus Habronattus F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1901, which unfortunately is insufficiently known.

++

Pellenes (pending classification) (13 species)

+

+

+

b)c)d)

b)c)d)

Pellenes diagonalis vs. P. ostrinus controversy

One of innumerable controversies on interpretation of taxa separation or merging resulting from expressing perdonal beliefs instead of documentation. Which opinion is correct - I do not know yet, problem requires reexamination of all specimens and other data. with reliable "dots" put over all relevant "i". J. Prószyński.

R14

Figure - R14 -Facsimile Pellenes diagonalis (Simon, 1868) - World Spider Catalog, ver. 19,5, accessed on August 4th, 2018.

S2 S4 S5S6

S7 S3