Evarcha dena Zamani & Hosseinpour & Azizi & Soltani 2017, sp. n.

Evarcha dena Zamani, sp. n.

Figures 1-2

Type material. Holotype ♂ (JAZM), IRAN: Kohgiluyeh & Boyer-Ahmad Province: 35 km of Yasuj, Rahmali, 30°28′27″N, 51°14′01″E, alt. 1699 m, April 2016 (A. Hosseinpour); Paratype ♂ (EMSUMS), IRAN: Kohgiluyeh & Boyer-Ahmad Province: Yasuj, Park-e Jangali, 30°24′27″N, 51°21′24″E, alt. 1944 m, April 2016 (A. Hosseinpour).

Etymology. The specific epithet is a noun in apposition, and refers to Mount Dena, a well-recognized mountain in the area of the type localities and in the Zagros Mountain Range.

Diagnosis. This new species belongs to the flavocincta species-group, and closely resembles Evarcha kirghisica Rakov, 1997 (Kyrgyzstan), E. acuta (Blackwall, 1877) (the Seychelles) and E. bulbosa Żabka, 1985 (SE Asia), by the presence of a filamentous embolus and a deeply-bifurcated apex of the RTA. This new species can be distinguished from E. kirghisica by the different position of the embolic base (near 11:30 o’clock in the new species (Figure 2A), vs. near 9 o’clock in E. kirghisica, cf. Rakov 1997: figure 10), and by differences in the shape of the RTA apex (narrowing, with slimmer bifurcations in the new species (Figure 2B), vs. not narrowing and with strong bifurcations in E. kirghisica, cf. Rakov 1997: figure 11). It clearly differs from E. acuta by having a bulb lacking a posterior lobe and by the different shape of the bifurcations of the RTA (in E. acuta a distinct posterior lobe of bulb is present, and the RTA is shorter with stronger and asymmetrical tips, cf. Wesołowska 2006: figure 24). Finally, the new species differs from E. bulbosa by the less-wavy embolic tip and deeper bifurcation of the RTA apex, with more symmetrical tips (distinctly wavy embolic tip and RTA with asymmetrical tips in E. bulbosa, cf. Żabka 1985: figures 173- 175).

Description. Male (holotype): body length 8.08; carapace 3.84 long, 3.31 wide. Eye sizes and interdistances: ALE 0.32, AME 0.60, PLE 0.25, PME 0.05, AME-AME 0.11, AME-PLE 0.19. General appearance as in Figures 1 A-C. Carapace blackish, with a wide patch of greyish setae starting behind the AME and narrowing in the interdistances of PLE-PLE, leading to a greyish median line; lateral marks unclear (Figure 1A); clypeus and the area beneath the anterior eye row light reddish brown, with long white hairs below AME (Figure 1C); labium and sternum oval and blackish; maxillae slightly converging, blackish (Figure 1B); chelicerae blackish, with long, white hairs projecting from the frontal base (Figure 1C), with two small promarginal teeth and one large retromarginal tooth. Abdomen oval, dorsally blackish in the margins, with a distinct, wide longitudinal patch of white hairs medially (Figure 1A); ventrally cream-colored, with 4 unclear longitudinal lines of indistinct light patches (Figure 1B). Legs dark brown (lighter in the ventral side), covered with white hairs and numerous spines.

Palp as in Figure 2 A-B. Bulbus simple and rounded, occupying about 2/3 of the cymbium. Embolic base (eb) located at about 11:30 o’clock, projecting in a clockwise manner and leading to a filamentous embolus (e), which encircles the bulbus and ends near the cymbial apex, slightly waving toward the ventral side. RTA distinct, extending to about half of the length of cymbium, with a lower ventral curve (vcRTA) and an upper dorsal curve (dcRTA), narrowing near the apex and deeply-bifurcated with symmetrical tips (ba).

Length of leg segments (holotype): Female: unknown.

Comments. Although the female of this species is currently unknown, we assume that it should have wide and long insemination ducts, correlating with the long embolus of the male as seen in the closely related Evarcha kirghisica, and according to a suggested general rule by Żabka (1993).

Habitat and distribution. Both specimens were collected from high altitudes, in relatively open habitats with sparse vegetation and rocky ground. Although this species is currently known only from the type localities in Kohgiluyeh & Boyer-Ahmad Province, SW Iran, it is probably widespread in the Zagros Mountain Range (Figure 3).