Arachnologische Mitteilungen 56

14 M. Isaia, T. Kronestedt, F. Ballarin & A. Chiarle small brownish marks. Clypeus, cephalic flanks and chelicerae yellow-brownish. Sternum uniformly light brown. Opistho- soma dorsally dark brown with a distinct lighter cardiac mark usually bordered by black dots. Pairs of light brown spots, of- ten fused, follow the cardiac mark until the spinnerets. Vent- ral side of the opisthosoma uniformly light brown, sometimes a lighter V shaped strip is present. Legs uniformly yellowish brown with brownish marks clearly visible on femora. Leg I length: Femur 1.74, Patella 0.78, Tibia 1.48, Metatarsus 1.40, Tarsus 0.92. Epigyne as in Fig. 16. Habitat. Meadows, wet meadows, cultivated fields, swampy areas, edge of ponds and lakes. Comparative remarks Males of P. proxima and P. tenuipes show differences in the shape of the embolus (Figs 1–4), yet other morphological fea- tures permit a clear separation of the two species (Tab.1). In addition, the two species can be also well clustered comparing leg I metatarsus length with prosoma length (Fig. 17) and comparing palpal tibia width/length ratio with palpal tibia length (Fig. 18).However, the easiest way to discriminate ma- les of the two species is looking at the hairiness ventrally on the opisthosoma (with numerous short modified hairs in P. proxima and normally developed in P. tenuipes , Figs 19 and 20, respectively) and at femur of leg I (same as other legs in P. tenuipes and darker in P. proxima ; Figs 5 and 11, respectively). Photos with SEM (Figs 19–23) highlight striking differences in the length and the shape of the ventral hairs. As previously observed (Kronestedt 1996, 2005, Chiarle et al. 2013), mo- dified hairs ventrally on the opisthosoma are found in other lycosid species in which the opisthosoma hits the substrate during courtship.Thus, the modified hairs present in P. proxi- ma may be associated with a similar behaviour in this species. On the other hand, females remain hard to distinguish on a morphological basis due to the high intraspecific variability and high overlap with respect to the shape of epigyne and vulva. Although some slight differences in shape and in the proportion between length and width of the epigyne could be considered, we argue that females of the two species cannot be distinguished on a morphological basis. Remarks on Pardosa proxima poetica . Simon (1876) de- scribed Pardosa proxima poetica as a small sized (‘minima’) variety of P. tenuipes (sub P. proxima ). According to the origi- nal description, this variety was characterized i.a. by having very clear unbroken lateral bands on the carapace, and the male palp yellowish brown with the cymbium distally of bul- bus much shorter than the bulbus. A sample with material fitting Simon’s description was available from Spain, Anda- lucia, Fuengirola, ruderal ground, 18.V.1977 (T. Kronestedt, NHRS), 4 ) 5 ( , together with 1 ) and 2 ( of P. tenuipes . We think that the characteristics mentioned by Simon (1876) for P. proxima poetica should be further investigated, and we have therefore not placed Pardosa poetica as a senior synonym of P. tenuipes . It should be mentioned that Simon (1937) regarded P. proxima poetica as an “espèce dominante” in Spain and Portugal. Regrettably, a loan of the type material of P. proxima poetica , probably present in the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris, was not possible. Remarks on WSC entries for P. proxima. In an attempt to assign the correct names to each of the WSC entries referring to P. proxima , several cases remained doubtful (Tab. 2). Des- pite the fact that, in a few cases, descriptions were matching some of the diagnostic features of P. tenuipes or P. proxima , we could not objectively establish whether they were just re- porting Koch’s original description or whether they were re- ferring to multiple specimens from different countries. Distribution According to our data, P. proxima seems to be quite common in Italy and in the south of the Balkan Peninsula (including Macedonia: Komnenov pers. comm.). In Greece, only P. pro- xima has been found (e.g. Bosmans et al. 2013, Bosmans pers. comm.). Contact zones with P. tenuipes are found in north- western Italy and in France (original records by den Hollan- der & Dijkstra 1974).The countries in which the presence of P. proxima is certain are: Greece,Macedonia, France, Bulgaria, Italy, Morocco, Turkey, Canary Islands. Although P. tenuipes is considered widespread in Europe, we examined only a few specimens fromWestern Europe and the Iberian Peninsula.According to our data, P. tenuipes occurs in Spain, Belgium, Great Britain, France, Italy and Portugal. It seems likely that P. tenuipes occurs mostly in western Europe, while P. proxima seems more common in southern and eastern Europe. Most illustrations and or descriptions available in literature do not allow a clear understanding about how names were used by previous authors (see Tab. 2). Far from detailing the precise distribution, we suggest that material previously identified as “ Pardosa proxima” should be checked for establishing the oc- currence of one or both species in different countries. With a certain degree of uncertainty, illustrations and de- scriptions available in literature seems to confirm the occur- rence of P. proxima in France (Simon 1876, Tongiorgi 1966), former Yugoslavia, Italy, Macedonia, Albania, Greece and Austria (Tongiorgi 1966). Concerning P. tenuipes, illustrations and descriptions available in literature seems to confirm its occurrence in Germany, Austria, Italy and Spain (Becker 1882), Hungary (Loksa 1972, Dahl 1908, Dahl & Dahl 1927), Switzerland (Lessert 1910, Dahl & Dahl 1927), Great Britain (Dahl & Dahl 1927, Locket & Millidge 1951, Roberts 1985, 1995, 1998), Belgium (Becker 1882, Dahl & Dahl 1927, Roberts 1998), Netherlands (Becker 1882, Roberts 1998) and France (Becker 1882, Dahl & Dahl 1927). Tab. 1. Morphological characteristics for separating Pardosa proxima and P. tenuipes males Pardosa proxima Pardosa tenuipes Prosoma Eye region with short hairs Eye region with long hairs Opisthosoma Venter covered with short modified (peg-like) dark hairs among short normal white hairs (Figs 7, 19, 21, 22) Venter covered with recumbent white hairs and scattered more erect dark hairs (Figs 13, 20, 23) Leg I Few long hairs on tibia and metatarsus. Femur mostly brown Numerous scattered long hairs on tibia and metatarsus. Femur yellowish brown with dark markings Palp Tibia short and more stumpy, dorsally covered with tuft of thicker hairs Tibia long and slender