In addition to the genus diagnosis, the following features characterize the species:FEMALECephalothorax light brown with sparse, adpressed, dark setae and with two lighter streaks along dorsal edge; eye field, dark; indistinct spots of white setae antero-medially and laterally on eye field and also along lighter, thoracic streaks; sides of cephalothorax light brown, lighter ventrally; ventral edge of carapace dark with dense but inconspicuous, minute whitish setae. Abdomen with dense brown pigmented dots of darker setae on lighter yellow pigmented background with colourless setae; median light row of 7 small, whitish chevrons (containing both pigmentation and setae, the latter denser on the arms of the chevrons), about 1/4 abdomen width, also a few indistinct spots posteriorly. Frontal aspect: face light brown; eyes I surrounded with short whitish setae; on O. Pickard- Cambridge’s specimen, these setae are entirely white, whereas on the fresh specimen there are reddish setae dorsally, on rims of AME and the ALE; these setae are shorter than in Ph. ferberorum and Ph. levyi; ventral to both AME and ALE, the setae are sparser, short and inconspicuous. Clypeus is light fawn with colourless setae and a few brown bristles, not giving impression of being bald; also, white setae on clypeal margin of the old specimen are not so distinct as on the fresh one; chelicerae, light brown; lighter areas at extremities of pedipalpal segments as seen in Ph. levyi, here expand over almost whole segments, leaving narrow brown rings basally on tibia and metatarsus. Legs I brown with broad, transverse, lighter spots on the tibia and patella. Ventral aspect: sternum and coxae brownish yellow; abdomen light whitish yellow with small darker, grey spots, more concentrated along the median line; in O. P.- Cambridge’s specimen there is, ventrally on abdomen, a brown, median streak with some 4–5 pairs of spots of the same colour, connected by thin lines with streaks, all on a whitish grey background; margins, like the sides of the abdomen, dark brown with lighter grooves. Legs I–II similar to Ph. ferberorum, with their retrolateral surfaces brown and little differentiated, whilst prolateral and dorsal surfaces are much more differentiated with dark and light stripes and annuli appearing distinctly more contrasting; legs III–IV with yellow and dark brown annuli, particularly striking on femora, patellae and tibiae. Epigynum with two large grooves, oval anteriorly, opening broadly posteriorly; divided by a broad elevated space, slightly narrowing posteriorly; copulatory opening very broad, rounded and divided by a median spur; a narrowing, funnel-like, copulatory duct leads to a large spherical chamber located anterior to the openings, from whence a narrow passage leads to a much smaller anterior chamber, the first in a median chain of several convoluted chambers which ends midway along the spermathecae.Measurements (mm). Female. Length of cephalothorax 2.70–2.85; length of abdomen 2.83–3.40. © PRÓSZYŃSKI 2003 Body: Markings: dark or bright vertical stripes. Eyes: AER: dorsal edge procurve. Labium: Length: wider than long. Distribution: Geographical Distribution: Europe. Middle East. COMMENTSDiagnosis. Species without typical striped abdominal pattern. Face light brown, orbital setae above eyes I reddish, whitish laterally and medially; clypeus light fawn without contrasting setae. Epigynal depressions long and broad, with only antero-median rims sclerotized, openings very broad, first chamber of spermathecae particularly large, globular.Seasonal appearance of adult specimens. Females – IV, V. © PRÓSZYŃSKI 2003 |