Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 April 2022 | 14(4): 20939–20942
ISSN 0974-7907
(Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7890.14.4.20939-20942
#7890 | Received 21
February 2022 | Final received 18 April 2022 | Finally accepted 20 April 2022
First record of the jumping
spider Pancorius changricus Żabka, 1990 from India (Araneae: Salticidae)
Anushka Gurung 1, Aita Hang Subba Limboo 2, Bhoj Kumar
Acharya 3 & Dhruv A. Prajapati 4
1–3 Department of Zoology, School of
Life Science, Sikkim University, Tadong, Gangtok 737102, Sikkim, India.
4 GEER Foundation, Indroda Nature Park, Gandhinagar, Gujarat 382007, India.
1 anushkagurung29@gmail.com, 2
aitalimboo20@gmail.com, 3 bkacharya@cus.ac.in, 4 dhruvspidy215@gmail.com
(corresponding author)
Editor: John T.D. Caleb, ERI, Loyola College, Chennai, India. Date of publication: 26 April 2022
(online & print)
Citation:
Gurung, A., A.H.S. Limboo, B.K. Acharya & D.A.
Prajapati (2022). First record of the jumping spider Pancorius
changricus Żabka,
1990 from India (Araneae: Salticidae).
Journal of Threatened Taxa 14(4): 20939–20942. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7890.14.4.20939-20942
Copyright: © Gurung et al. 2022. Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction,
and distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to
the author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: Ministry of
Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of
India under National Mission on Himalayan
Studies (Grant No: NMHS-2017/MG-01/477).
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: This paper is an outcome of the research project
funded by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of
India under National Mission on Himalayan Studies (NMHS) through G B Pant
National Institute of Himalayan Environment (GBPNIHE), Uttarakhand (Grant No:
NMHS-2017/MG-01/477).The authors are thankful to the Forest and Environment
Department, Government of Sikkim for providing necessary permission to carryout
field work on spiders in Sikkim along with collection of samples (Permit
No.78/GOS/F&ED/BD-R-2015/122 dated 05 January 2021). We are also thankful
to Miss Priyal Prajapati for her generous help in
preparation of figure plates.
The genus Pancorius Simon, 1902 comprises a
total of 40 described species mainly distributed in the Oriental region with
the exception of P. crassipes (Karsch, 1881) which may have been introduced in Poland (WSC
2022). There are six species known from India: Pancorius
daitaricus (Prószyński,
1992), P. darjeelingianus Prószyński, 1992, P. magnus Żabka,
1985, P. nagaland Caleb, 2019, P. submontanus Prószyński,
1992, and P. tagorei Prószyński, 1992 (WSC 2022). All these species are
distributed in eastern Himalaya or its proximity except for P. daitaricus in Odisha (eastern India). The
present paper aims to add one more species, P. changricus
Żabka, 1990 to the Indian list, which is
previously known only from its type locality in Bhutan (Żabka
1990).
The specimen was hand collected
and studied under a Leica M205 A stereomicroscope and the microphotographic
images were taken by Leica DFC2900 digital camera attached to the same
stereomicroscope enabled with the software package Leica Application Suite
(LAS), version 4.5.0. Drawings were made with the aid of a drawing tube
attached to the microscope. All measurements are in millimeters
(mm). The examined specimen has been deposited in the reference collection of
the Department of Zoology, Sikkim University, India.
Genus Pancorius Simon,
1902
Type species: Ergane
dentichelis Simon, 1899
Diagnosis: For detailed
diagnostic features of the genus see Żabka (1985).
Pancorius changricus Żabka, 1990
Images 1–10; Figures 1–2
Pancorius changricus Żabka,
1990: 164, figs. 7–12
Material examined: SU9895A,
22.v.2021, 1 male, India, Sikkim, Labdang (27.390N,
88.286E), 1,798 m, from foliage, leg. A. Gurung.
Diagnosis: For detailed
diagnostic features see Żabka, 1990.
Description: Male (Images 1–7).
Carapace length 2.90, width 2.27, height 1.63. Abdomen length 2.91, width 1.94,
height 1.56. Pedipalp (Images 8–9; Figures 1–2): palpal
segments brownish; tegulum nearly circular with very
small postero-median outgrowth (Image 8; Figure 1);
sperm duct encircles the tegulum before reaching the
spine-like embolus (Image 8; Figure 1); embolus without any curve, with sharp
tip, directed at 1 o’clock position (Image 8; Figure 1); tibia nearly half of cymbium, with small, slightly curved RTA, broad at the base
and narrowed at tip, resembles canine teeth (Image 9; Figure 2).
Distribution: India (Sikkim) and
Bhutan (Image 10).
Variation: The studied specimen
has the following variations when compared to the holotype male from Bhutan:
apical and postero-median patches of whitish setae
present on abdomen (Image 1) (apico-median light grayish longitudinal belt in holotype; see fig. 9 in Żabka 1990); embolus slightly broader (narrow, spiniform in holotype); posterior tegular
outgrowth much pronounced than in holotype (cf. Image 8; Figure 1 with fig. 7
in Żabka 1990); RTA without apical notch (present in
holotype) (Image 9; Figure 2) (cf. fig. 8 in Żabka
1990).
Habitat and feeding habit: The
specimen was collected from a large cardamom-based agro-forestry
system (LCAS) in West Sikkim located at the temperate zone in the eastern
Himalaya. The forest cover in the area consists of broadleaved forests
comprising of trees such as oak, birch, maple, chestnut, magnolia,
rhododendron, along with several species of shrubs and grasses. The terrain is
hilly and remains cool during summer and very cold during the winter. The
spider seems to feed mainly on book-lice, hoverfly, black fly, cluster fly, and
thrips.
For figures &
images - - click here
References
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