Funnel web spiders from Sardinia: Taxonomical notes on some Tegenaria and Malthonica spp. (Araneae: Agelenidae)

Abstract

Funnel web spiders from Sardinia: Taxonomical notes on some Tegenaria and Malthonica spp. (Araneae: Agelenidae). - Based on specimens collected by hand during several field trips to Sardinia and on specimens examined in several collections, the female of Tegenaria henroti Dresco and the male of Malthonica sardoa Brignoli are described for the first time. Malthonica eleonorae (Brignoli) is redescribed. It can be distinguished from T. henroti, which we regard as its sister species without yet proposing a new combination, by the number of teeth on the upper margin of the cheliceral groove and by the spine formulae of all leg tibiae. Additionally, the rim of the atrium, the form of the spermathecae, as well as the shape of the tegular apophysis and the ridge on the male bulb are important characters for separating these species. The female described under T. henroti by Wunderlich actually belongs to M. dalmatica (Kulczynski). The latter species would be new to Sardinia but has been recorded before on this island under the name T. drescoi Brignoli, which we consider as a new junior synonym of M. dalmatica. In addition, Malthonica sicana Brignoli is recorded for the first time from Sardinia, and the species is redescribed here. Males of the three species, M. sardoa, M. sicana and M. arganoi (Brignoli), can be distinguished by the shape of their retrolateral tibia apophysis, the shape of the terminal end of the conductor and the shape of the median apophysis.