Spermophore Morphology Reveals a New Synapomorphy of Oecobius and Uroctea (Araneae, Oecobiidae)

2 Pages·1994·1.7 MB·English

by  Bernhard A Huber

1994. TheJournal ofArachnology 22:73-74
RESEARCH NOTES
SPERMOPHORE MORPHOLOGY REVEALS A NEW
SYNAPOMORPHY OF OECOBIUS ANY) UROCTEA
(ARANEAE, OECOBIIDAE)
The cribellate spider genus Oecobius Lucas related taxa were also investigated. Uroecobius
1846 and the ecribellate genus Uroctea Dufour ecribeiiatus Kullmann & Zimmermann 1976,
1820 had long been considered as distantly re- which was regarded as the sister taxon ofOec-
lated taxa, according to Bertkau’s (1882) basal obiinae + Urocteinae by Kullmann & Zimmer-
division of araneomorphs into cribellate and mann (1976), does not show any spermophore
ecribellatespiders.Theirremarkablesimilarities constriction.NeitherdoHersiliaand Tama(both:
were considered as convergences, until the in- sp. indet.), representatives ofthe family Hersi-
vestigations of Millot (1931), Gerhardt (1928, liidae, which is considered as sister family of
1933), Glatz (1967)andBaum (1972)clearlyin- Oecobiidae(Coddington&Levi 1991).Thissup-
dicatedaclosephylogeneticrelationshipbetween ports the placement of Uroecobius outside of
the two genera. Both morphological (anal cone, Oecobiinae{OecobiusSLndPlatoecobius) + Uroc-
mouthparts,femaleinternalgenitalia)andetho- teinae {Uroctea only), but gives no hint with re-
logicalcharacters (webconstruction, preycatch- spect to Hersiliidae.
ing, sperm induction) united the genera. Baum
(1972), who investigated the genitalia ofOeco-
biidae, found a constriction of the male pedi-
palpal sperm-reservoir (spermophore. Fig. 1) in
the“medianapophysis”inthefour Urocteaspe-
cies examined as well as in Oecobius annuiipes.
Nevertheless she stated several times that there
wereno directsynapomorphiesinthe maleped-
ipalps ofthe two genera.
In the course ofa current investigation ofthe
palpi of male spiders, representatives of more
than 50 spiderfamilieshavebeenanalyzedafter
preparation of histological serial sections (em-
beddingmedium:ERL-4206epoxyresin;section
thickness: Ifim; staining with a mixture of 1%
azure 2 and 1% methyleneblue in a 1%aqueous
borax solution at 80 °C for 10 sec.). This study
hasshownthatonly Oecobius[examined: O. cel-
lariorum (Duges 1836)] and Uroctea [examined:
U. durandi(Latreille 1809)] haveaspermophore
constriction (Fig. 1) and that the fundi (which
Baum could not see) are highly enlarged. The
fact that this constriction in both genera is sit- Figure l.=Spermophore morphology offive repre-
uatedin the median apophysis (oecobiidtegular sentativesofEresoideasensuCoddington&Levi(1991).
lobe II ofCoddington 1990) strengthens its ho- ThedendrogrammisderivedfromCoddington&Levi
mology. (1991) and Kullmann & Zimmermann (1976). Given
In order to evaluate the phylogenetic signifi- is the inner surface (the cavity) ofeach spermophore.
canceofthischaracter,representativesofclosely Arrows indicate constricted region.
73
74 THEJOURNALOFARACHNOLOGY
The functional significance of the spermo- chischen, corsischen und deutschen Spinnen. Z.
phore constriction is not clear. Morph. OkoL Tiere, 10:576-675.
I thankA. Dippenaar(Pretoria, South Afrika) Gerhardt, U, 1933. Neue Untersuchungen zur Sex-
and F, Gasparo (Trieste, Italy) fordonating spi- ualbiologiederSpinnen, insbesondereanArtender
dersusedinthisstudy. M. LandolfaandG. Pass MittelmeerlanderundderTropen.Z. Morph.Okol.
made valuable comments on a previousdraftof Tiere, 27:1-75.
Glatz, L. 1967. Zur Biologic und Morphologic von
the manuscript.
OecobiusannulipesLucas(Araneae,Oecobiidae).Z.
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Genitalstrukturen der Oecobiinae und Urocteinae schreibungvon Uroecobiusecribellatusn.gen.n.sp.
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