Arachnologische Mitteilungen 35

Arachnol. Mitt. 35: 35-44 Nürnberg, Juli 2008 First record of Hypsocephalus dahli in Switzerland with a review of its distribution, ecology and taxonomy (Araneae, Linyphiidae) Holger Frick Abstract: The spider species Hypsocephalus dahli (Lessert, 1909) is recorded for the first time in Switzerland from museummaterial collected in 1974.The information given in the literature and unpublished data on this rare species are summarised including an annotated distributionmap.All published pictures of males are compared with the holotype. Figures of the male palp and the vulva of the Swiss specimens are provided. Key words: Cnephalocotes pusillus , Mecopisthes perpusillus , Mecopisthes pusillus , Microneta pusilla , spider. Hypsocephalus dahli (Lessert, 1909) is a rare spider species only known on the basis of a few individuals from Austria (T HALER 1999: 233), the Czech Re- public (B UCHAR & R ŮŽIČKA 2002: 65), Germany (S TAUDT 2008), Poland (S TARĘGA 2004), Romania (W EISS 1980: 377) and Slovakia (G AJDOŠ et al. 1999: 92). Erroneously, it has been mentioned as being present in Switzerland by several authors (B AUCHHENSS 1988: 379, B ONNET 1956: 1169, M ILLIDGE 1978: 120, M ORITZ 1973: 193, T HA - LER 1985: 87). They probably misinterpreted the fact that M ÜLLER & S CHENKEL (1894: 738) and M AURER (1978: 88 as “(BA)”) included sites which are situated in Germany, like the locus typicus of H. dahli, but close to the Swiss city of Basel. Examination of 36 specimens of Glyphesis servulus (Simon, 1881) collected in canton Aargau in 1974 by R. Maurer and stored in the Natural History Museum Basel (NMB), revealed six males and one female belong to H. dahli . This paper reviews the current knowledge of the systematics (Tab. 1), distribution (Fig. 3), ecology and phenology of H. dahli . A critical overview of the literature and some unpublished data are also provided. Systematics The systematics of H. dahli is very convoluted and is therefore presented here briefly and in detail in Tab. 1. M ENGE (1869: 232) described Microneta pusilla which was later moved to Cnephalocotes by S IMON (1884: 706). M ÜLLER & S CHENKEL (1894: 738) found one male that they determined as Microneta pusilla .This specimen was later described by L ESSERT (1909: 80) as a new species, Cnephalocotes dahli . Both spe- cies, Cnephalocotes pusillus and Cnephalocotes dahli , were subsequently confused with Cnephalocotes silus . These three species were transferred to the new genus Mecopisthes by S IMON (1926: 486). M ILLER (1966) described Mecopisthes perpusillus as a close relative of Mecopisthes silus .W UNDERLICH (1972: 300) declared both Mecopisthes perpusillus and Cnephalocotes dahli to be synonyms of Meco- pisthes pusillus . M ILLIDGE (1978: 113) declared Mecopisthes pusillus a nomen dubium due to the lack of type material.The material of Menge’s Microneta pusilla is not stored in the Thorell collection at the SwedishMuseum of Natural History in Stockholm (Kronestedt in litt.). M ILLIDGE (1978: 113) resur- rected Mecopisthes dahli as Hypsocephalus dahli and this has remained valid until today. The type locality of Microneta pusilla in Gdansk (Poland) and the other records in Poland fit the remaining distribution pattern of H. dahli (Fig. 3), indicating that H. dahli is in fact a synonym of M. pusilla . Due to the lack of type material of M. pusilla , it is preferable to follow M ILLIDGE (1978: 113), and keep M. pusilla as nomen dubium. The availability of type material of H. dahli stabilises nomenclature in this respect. Identification H. dahli can best be identified by means of the figures in M ILLER (1966: 151 sub Mecopisthes perpusillus ) and M ILLIDGE (1978: 117, 120), both reprinted as H. dahli in N ENTWIG et al. (2003). Male and female genital organs of the Swiss Holger FRICK, Natural History Museum Bern, Bernastrasse 15, CH- 3005 Bern; University of Bern, Zoological Institute, Baltzerstrasse 6, CH-3012 Bern; holger.frick@gmx.li eingereicht: 28.3.2008, akzeptiert: 2.5.2008