﻿Further notes on the Afrotropical genus Festucula Simon, 1901 (Araneae, Salticidae)

﻿Abstract Notes on four Festucula species are provided. One species, F.botswanasp. nov., is described as new to science (♀, Botswana). The name F.monticola is revalidated and the male of this species is assigned. The female of F.lawrencei is described for the first time. A new record of F.leroyae is provided.

Material from a newly studied collection shows that F. monticola Berland & Millot, 1941 is a valid species; the female of this species is redescribed.Males, previously associated with F. lineata Simon, 1901, belong to F. monticola (but see comments under F. monticola, Discussion and conclusion).The female of Festucula lawrencei is described for the first time, while the male previously known only from the holotype is redescribed.Additionally, a single female of Festucula from northern Botswana is diagnosed and described as a new species, Festucula botswana sp.nov.New records of F. leroyae in the north of Botswana are provided.All records are mapped.

Material and methods
The specimens used in this study are kept in the following collections (curator names are in parentheses): A total of 13 specimens were examined.Specimens were studied in 70% ethanol and a description of their colouration refers to that of preserved specimens.All drawings were made with the aid of a reticular eyepiece attached to an MBS-10 stereomicroscope at ISEA.Photographs of preserved specimens were taken with a Canon EOS 550D camera attached to a Zeiss Stemi 2000-C stereomicroscope at ISEA.The epigynes were detached and macerated in 10% KOH overnight.After the photos were taken and drawings were made, dissected parts were stored in microvials with the specimens.The drawings were edited in Adobe Photoshop CS5.
The abbreviations used in the figures and text are as follows: The sequence of leg segments in measurement data is as follows: femur + patella + tibia + metatarsus + tarsus (total).All measurements are in millimetres (mm).Leg setation follows Ono (1988).Terminology follows Azarkina and Foord (2014).The distribution maps were produced using the online mapping software SimpleMappr (Shorthouse 2010).(Lessert, 1925) and F. haddadi Azarkina & Foord, 2014, but differs from them in having longer and thinner accessory glands' copulatory ducts (shorter in former species, cf.Distribution.Known only from type locality in Botswana (Fig. 29).21).Similar to that of male, but legs II-IV and palps brownish-yellow.Epigyne and vulva as in Figs 11-13: Epigyne with two small round copulatory openings located in posterior half submedially.Copulatory ducts and accessory glands long and thin, spermathecae long and thin.Fertilization ducts located apically.
Comments.Palps of specimens from Botswana differ slightly from palps of the type specimen: the lateral tibial apophysis is less concave than the type (cf.Fig. 9, arrowed and Azarkina and Foord 2014: fig.78).The inner edge of the LTA has multiple small teeth in specimen from Botswana vs. one big tooth in type specimen (cf.Fig. 10 Colouration (in alcohol,.Carapace brown, with a broad yellow longitudinal band medially and pair of broad yellow bands marginally.The ocular area is brown, with two dark-brown patches in the middle part, with black patches around eyes.Sternum yellow-brown.Labium and endites yellow-brown, pale apically.Chelicerae are dark-brown.Clypeus and cheeks yellow, covered with white setae.Carapace stridulatory organs with 8 seta-bearing tubercles.Abdomen brown, with one broad yellow longitudinal band medially and two yellow longitudinal bands laterally.Venter white-yellow, with dark yellow longitudinal band, tinged with brown medially; with two narrow longitudinal brownish bands laterally.Spinnerets brownish-yellow.Book-lung covers brownish.Legs I long and robust, brownish.Femora I dark-brown prolatero-apically; patellae I dark-brown prolaterally.Manxunyane Lagoon, -19.90, 23.37, floodplain grassland, sweeping;21.IX.1976;A. Russell-Smith leg.;PCARS • 1♀ nr Maun, Moshi Bridge, -20.10, 23.35, floodplain grassland;10.III.1976
We excluded F. lineata from this classification as Lessert's drawing is too schematic, and we are unable to see the structure of the vulva.Females of F. leroyae and F. robustus differ from other members of festuculaeformis-group in their larger COs, which are located laterally on the epigynal plate, CDs going downward at almost 90° vs 45° in other members of this group except F. lawrencei, and AGs going upward at 45°  vs almost horizontal in others, except F. lawrencei.Females of F. lawrencei are intermediate between F. leroyae, F. robustus and other members of the festuculaeformis-group in the structure of the epigyne, with a small CO located in the medially on the epigyne  43), but the vulva resembles that of F. leroyae and F. robustus.So, we decided not to establish a new species-group for these two species and include them all in the festuculaeformis-group.
Festucula lawrencei was the only species known from a single male type specimen.We found both sexes in northern Botswana -the male resembles the type specimen of F. lawrencei but differs slightly in the shape of dorsal tibial apophysis and number of teeth on the inner edge of the LTA (Figs 52,53).Azarkina and Foord (2014) suggested that the number of teeth are species-specific (contra Wesołowska 1992), but it's probably not.More specimens are required to study intraspecific variation in F. lawrencei and other Festucula species.
The small number of specimens and schematic drawings of Festucula from Western Africa also led to a few taxonomic issues.A single female from Calabar, Nigeria identified as F. festuculaeformis by Wesołowska and Edwards (2012), later placed in F. lineata by Azarkina and Foord (2014) resembles F. monticola and probably belongs to this or a new species.Yet, F. monticola might be a junior synonym of F. vermiformis (Prószyński 2003).Additional material for Festucula from western and northern Africa, preferably both sexes, is required to clarify this issue.Although F. lineata is known only based on a type specimen which seems to be lost, we prefer to keep this name valid, because, based on Lessert's drawing (Lessert 1933: fig. 73), it differs from both F. monticola and F. vermiformis and might be a separate species.This would require further attention.The single holotype specimen of F. botswana sp.nov.resembles two species, F. festuculaeformis from Kenya and Tanzania and F. haddadi Azarkina & Foord, 2014 from South Africa, but differs in the vulva structure.We decided to describe this specimen as a new species, but it might be synonymized with one of the abovementioned species.Males and more specimens are required to resolve this uncertainty.
Tibiae and metatarsi I brown in apical half prolaterally.Remaining legs yellow.Palps yellow.Epigyne and vulva as in Figs 22-24: 1.3 times wider than long.Copulatory openings located in posterior half.Fertilization ducts visible through integument.Copulatory ducts broad, pointed anteriorly.Accessory glands club-shaped, pointed posteriorly.Spermathecae Г-shaped, fertilization ducts located on apical part.
Azarkina and and Foord 2014: figs 80, 81).The female of this species resembles F. australis and F. vermiformis in epigyne and vulva form, but differs from F. australis by having larger epigynal depressions (cf.Figs 30 and 32), and from F. vermiformis in the accessory gland located closer to epigastric furrow (cf.Figs33 and 35).Male resembles that of F. australis (for male's diagnosis seeAzarkina and Foord 2014: 369,  sub F. lineata sensu Fage 1923).