Tenkana jayamangali Caleb & Marathe 2024, sp. nov.

Tenkana jayamangali Caleb & Marathe sp. nov. Figs 4–7, 8–15, 16–24 Materials examined. India • Karnataka, Tumakuru; 13.3843 ° N, 77.2069 ° E; 987 m a. s. l.; 23 April 2023; coll. Y. T. Lohit & B. G. Nisha. Holotype: • ♂ (I/SP-48) in ZSIC, Paratypes: • 1 ♀ (I/SP-49) in ZSIC; • 1 ♂ (IBC-BX 512); • 1 ♀ (IBC-BX 513) in NCBS. Paratype: • 1 ♀ (IBC-BX 511) in NCBS, 16 December 2023; coll. B. G. Nisha. Etymology. The specific epithet ‘ jayamangali ’, a noun in apposition, is the name of a river originating in Devarayanadurga, Tumakuru, where this species was observed for the first time. Diagnosis. The phylogenies recover Tenkana jayamangali as a sister species to T. arkavathi and T. manu. In the males of T. jayamangali, pale hairs occupy most of carapace surface area leaving small bald patch posteriorly, while in T. arkavathi and T. manu, pale hairs are gentler on carapace forming narrower bands on carapace laterally, tapering posteriorly. Ocular area of T. jayamangali covered with white hairs uniformly, while T. arkavathi has distinctive V-shaped bands and T. manu has bald ocular area. From ventrally, RTA can be seen extending much more laterally with slight bend sub-apically in T. jayamangali, while T. arkavathi with relatively short with prominent bend and T. manu with longer with no bend. Short sperm duct loop arising at 11 o’clock in T. jayamangali, while much longer sperm duct arising at 10 o’clock in T. arkavathi and T. manu). ECPs laterally placed T. jayamangali, while ECPs medially in T. arkavathi and T. manu). Description. ♂ (I/SP- 48 in ZSIC). Total length 5.18; carapace 2.66 long, 2.09 wide; abdomen 2.52 long, 1.77 wide. Carapace, brown, white hairs laterally traversing posteriorly. In life, white hairs cover most of its surface area leaving small patch of bald black integument on thoracic slope. Tufts of thick bunch of hairs (‘ eye lashes’) behind ALEs and below PMEs. In life, reddish-orange small hairs along the circumference of anterior eyes. Clypeus brown, length 0.19. Chelicerae brown. Legs brown, robust. Leg I and II ventrally fringed thickly with black hairs, but less densely on leg II. White leaf-like hairs interspersed prolaterally on patella and tibia of leg I; similar white hairs retrolaterally on femora of leg I and II and distal end and proximal and distal ends of leg III and IV femora. Leg measurements: I 5.66 (1.68, 1.16, 1.38, 0.88, 0.56); II 4.86 (1.62, 0.89, 1.05, 0.77, 0.53); III 5.54 (1.94, 0.94, 1.06, 0.95, 0.65); IV 5.56 (1.77, 0.76, 1.13, 1.19, 0.71). Leg formula 1432. Palp (Figs 4, 5, 8, 9) medium long membrane-accompanied embolus arising at 6 o’clock. Ovoid tegulum with prominent tegular lobe. RTA short, simple (Figs 5, 9). Abdomen brown and black mottlings on yellow integument, which is pronounced medially with band like appearance. Chevronous markings posteriorly. In life, bright orange coloured. Spinnerets brown, somewhat long. ♀ (IBC-BX 511 in NCBS). Total length 5.24; carapace 2.53 long, 2.19 wide; abdomen 2.71 long, 1.83 wide. Carapace brown, more or less bald. White pale stripe posteriorly on thoracic slope. Tufts of thick bunch of hairs (‘ eye lashes’) behind ALEs and below PMEs. In life, reddish-orange small hairs along the circumference of anterior eyes. Clypeus brown, length 0.16. Chelicerae brown. Legs brown, robust, largely bald. Leg measurements: I 5.36 (1.66, 1.05, 1.23, 0.85, 0.57); II 4.85 (1.60, 0.94, 0.97, 0.80, 0.54); III 5.68 (2.00, 1.02, 1.06, 0.98, 0.62); IV 5.57 (1.78, 0.82, 1.09, 1.21, 0.67). Leg formula 3412. Abdomen comparable as in male. In life, medial yellowish band surrounded by yellow and black mottlings. Epigyne (Figs 6, 7, 10, 11) medially located shallow two ECPs flanked by crescent shaped copulatory openings. Lamellar copulatory ducts join simple spermatheca ventrally. Distribution. In addition to the type locality, iNaturalist observations (e. g. Mohan 2024; Raj 2024) appearing to represent this species are recorded around Bengaluru, Karnataka. Natural history. Tenkana jayamangali was observed commonly in May; however, given the collecting of a female in December and iNaturalist observations, they may be adult year-round. Tenkana jayamangali were collected among dry leaf litter on the ground. A subadult was observed feeding on a bug nymph (Figs 23, 24). Discussion. With Tenkana, the subtribe Plexippina now contains 36 genera; for India, the number of plexippines is 48 species in 19 genera (Maddison 2015; Marathe et al. 2024 b; World Spider Catalog 2024). We continue to include Colopsus in the list of Indian plexippine genera, represented by Colopsus peppara Sudhin, Sen & Caleb, 2023. Colopsus peppara resembles Tenkana and Pancorius in body form; however, the features of the male palp could be attributed to Colopsus and Pancorius (simple round tegulum lacking tegular lobe and short embolus). What makes it puzzling is its epigyne, which has a medially located single ECP and does not match any of the three genera. The puzzling morphological features of C. peppara, along with a lack of clear synapomorphies for Colopsus, Tenkana, and Pancorius, compound the challenge of placing C. peppara definitively within a plexippine genus. Therefore, we propose maintaining the status quo until we can determine its placement using molecular data.

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