In addition to the genus diagnosis, the following features characterize the species:MALEColour pattern of cephalothorax variable, due to setae easily falling off, in better preserved specimen covered with long whitish setae which easily fall out leaving bald, blackish brown tegument; there are remnants of orange setae on median streak of thoracic slope. When cephalothorax bald, the tegument of eye field is almost black (in long preserved specimens faded to light brown with dark encircled lateral eyes), darker pigmentation along posterior eye field followed by slightly lighter belt; dorsal thoracic area darker with still darker lines radiating from fovea to ventral margin, posteriorly and laterally; sides lighter brown with indistinct whitish setae, passing into yellow, lightest near dark-pigmented, thin, ventral margin. Abdomen dorsally covered with silvery white setae with scattered darker spots; there is a broad dark median streak, smooth, finely serrated (in Jordanian specimens more complicated), sides appear darker due to sparser whitish and yellowish setae. Ventral aspect: sternum dark brown with long colourless setae; coxae whitish or yellowish; abdomen whitish with median area dark grey, with two lines of grey dots narrowly spaced. Frontal aspect: entire face orange, including setae surrounding eyes I; there are a few longer brownish setae in upper half of face, in some specimens clypeus has admixture of colourless setae, longer near its ventral edge; chelicerae black, arising vertically, in plane of face, forming indistinct, median space between them, their antero-median walls with transverse (stridulatory?) ridges. Pedipalps and patella – tibia I light brown, darker annulated. Legs distinctly lighter than in M. neglectus: ventral and lateral surfaces of majority of segments whitish or yellowish, dorsal surfaces light with darker annuli on tarsi-metatarsi III–IV; femora I–IV dorsally light brown with median longitudinal darker line, laterally light greyish; patellae and tibiae I–IV brown lighter in the middle of dorsal surface; metatarsitarsi I–IV brown annulated. Palpal organ: bulbus beanshaped, set slightly diagonally across posterior half of cymbium, protuberance at 1 o’clock position, broad basis of embolus stretches from roughly 3 to 6 o’clock position, more distally embolus thin; tibial apophysis thin, long, in apical half slightly bent dorsally, then half way along bent very slightly in the opposite direction.In some specimens minute apical bifurcation of embolus, also shown in Hadjissarantos (1940: Fig. 35). © PRÓSZYŃSKI 2003Eyes: AER: dorsal edge recurve. Labium: Length: longer than wide. Distribution: Geographical Distribution: Europe. Afrika. Middle East. FEMALEEyes: AER: dorsal edge recurve. Labium: Length: longer than wide. Distribution: Geographical Distribution: Europe. Afrika. Middle East.COMMENTSDiagnosis. Face covered with dense setae, orange to whitish yellow. Male abdomen silvery white with dark median streak, female abdomen dark with white delimited black median streak with prominent angular extensions. Bulbus protuberance at 1 o’clock position, apophysis bent. Epigynum sclerotized, with posterior ends of semicircular groove broadly spaced; spermatheca half the size of that of M. neglectus, on top of prominently bent anterior channel.Remarks. Resembles Mogrus frontosus (Simon, 1871) from Corsica (Andreeva, Kononenko and Prószyński, 1981, Figs. 12–14), from which it differs by tibial apophysis broader and posteriorly bent, slightly different proportions of epigynum and longer channels. One male and female collected in March or April 1996 in the Negev cohabited and mated (personal communication from Dr R. R. Jackson). Females easily found during breeding season (IV–VI) in white silk retreats (about 1.5 cm in diameter) on twigs of small thorny shrubs, occurring together with M. neglectus on the same shrubs, in a border zone between Mediterranean and desert vegetation; males dwell on the ground. Seasonal appearance of adult specimens. Males – II, III, IV, XI, XII; females – II, III, IV, V, VII, VIII, IX, X, XII. Remark. Specimens from Jordan differ from Negev by abdominal pattern: in female lighter, with shorter angles protruding from median streak, in male by slightly different shape of median streak. However, genital organs do not seem to be different (Figs 427–432). Etymology. Named for Dr. D.V. Logunov, formerly of the Zoological Museum, Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals, Novosibirsk, Russia, in gratitude for his valuable co-operation and useful suggestions. © PRÓSZYŃSKI 2003 |