A new spider species of the genus Colopsus Simon, 1902 (Araneae: Salticidae) from the Western Ghats of India

Abstract: A new plexippine jumping spider species, Colopsus peppara sp. nov., is described from males and females collected in the Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve, in the southern part of the Western Ghats of India. The systematic history of the genus Colopsus is presented and its localities in India are mapped as well.


INTRODUCTION
The jumping spider genus Colopsus was established by Simon (1902) based on the type species, Colopsus cancellatus Simon, 1902 from Sri Lanka.The genus belongs to the subtribe Plexippina Simon, 1901 in the tribe Plexippini Simon, 1901 (see Maddison, 2015).The members of the genus are characterized by having a sim ple oval or rounded bulb with or without a posterior lobe, a threadlike or daggerlike embolus, a large membranous 'window' and two lateral blind pockets in the epigyne, and multichambered spermathecae (Kanesharatnam & Benjamin, 2021).This is a poorly known salticid group with seven valid species previously known from Sri Lanka, India, China and Vietnam (World Spider Catalog, 2023).To date two Colopsus species have been reported from India: C. arkavathi Caleb in Caleb et al., 2022 and C. manu (Caleb, Christudhas, Laltanpuii & Chitra, 2014) (see Caleb et al., 2014Caleb et al., , 2022;;Caleb & Sankaran, 2023;Logunov, 2021a).Here we describe a third Indian species of the genus based on specimens collected from the Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary, Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve, Western Ghats, India.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The specimens were handcollected and preserved in 70% ethanol.Morphological examination and morphometry were carried out under a Leica M205A stereomicroscope.The images were taken using a Leica DFC4500 digital camera attached to the stereomicroscope, enabled with the software package Leica Application Suite (LAS), version 4.1.2.The distribution map was prepared using the online mapping software SimpleMappr (Shorthouse, 2010).Lengths of palp and leg segments are given as follows: total length [femur, patella, tibia, metatarsus (except for palp), tarsus].The terminology of general morphology follows Kanesharatnam & Benjamin (2021) and that of leg spination Bossellaers & Jocque (2000).The studied specimens are deposited in the National Zoological Collections of the Zoological Survey of India Wildlife Sanctuary where the types of the new species were collected.The epithet is a name in apposition.Figs 13
Etymology: The species is named after the Peppara  Leg spination: femora I, IV pl 2 rl 1 do 3, II pl 2 rl 2 do 3, III pl 3 rl 2 do 3; patella I pl 1, IIIV pl 1 rl 1; tibia I pl 2 plv 3 rlv 3, II pl 3 rl 2 plv 3 rlv 3, III pl 3 rl 3 plv 2 rlv 2, IV pl 3 rl 3 plv 2 rlv 1; metatarsus I plv 2 rlv 2, II pl 1 plv 2 rlv 2, III pl 3 rl 3 plv 2 rlv 2, IV pl 4 rl 4 plv 2 rlv 2; tarsi IIV spineless.Carapace high, sloping backwards, reddish brown, densely covered with dark brown hairs, laterally with longitudinal white bands extending back from anterior lateral eyes (Fig. 1A); carapace margin with narrow black bands; eye field wider than long, covered with dark brown hairs and few long white hairs, a row of long black setae present above AMEs (Fig. 1A); eyes surrounded with black rings and dull white hairs (Fig. 1A); lateral sides of carapace with tufts of long, stiff, and slightly curved black hairs situated near PMEs (Fig. 1A); anterior corners of carapace with three black longitudinal stripes.Clypeus low, covered with stiff white hairs, its lower margin with long, light orange hairs overhanging chelicerae.Chelicerae redbrown, frontal side with long white hairs; promargin of cheliceral groove with two teeth, retromargin with a single tooth.Palpal coxae and labium light reddish brown, with dull white inner tips (Fig. 1B).Sternum oval, yellowish, sparsely covered with light brown hairs (Fig. 1B).Leg I reddish brown, with light reddish yellow femur and tarsus; patella, tibia, and metatarsus bearing dense ventral fringes of black and dull white hairs, some hairs with white tip; patella and tibia prolaterally with similar hairs with white tips.Leg II light reddish brown, with light yellow metatarsus and tarsus, femur light yellowish brown; patella and tibia bearing weak ventral fringes of black and dull white hairs.Leg III light reddish brown, with light yellow metatarsus and tarsus.Leg IV almost pale yellow.Abdomen elongate oval, narrowing posteriorly, dorsum greyish with broad pale yellow median band (Fig. 1A); anterior side of abdomen with a tuft of pale yellow protruding hairs, dorsal region sparsely covered with long black hairs (Fig. 1A); lateral side of abdomen pale yellow, with dark brown longitudinal lines and patches (Fig. 1C); venter light yellow brown, with several irregular black patches (Fig. 1B).
Anterior spinnerets grey, others yellowish brown.Cymbium (= palpal tarsus) and tibia yellow, other segments yellowish brown, dorsal region of tibia with black patch; tibia covered with several elongated dark brown and dull white hairs; RTA broad, shaped like a fountain pen nib, with its distal tip in 1 o'clock position in retrolateral view; cymbium nearly triangular, with a retrolateralproximal projection; tegulum oval, without any projection; embolus long, needlelike, originating from prolateralproximal portion of tegulum, its tip terminating in 12 o'clock position in ventral view (Fig. 2AB).
Distribution: Known only from the type locality in Kerala, India (Fig. 3).

DISCUSSION
The Oriental salticid genus Colopsus was described as a monotypic genus and synonymized with Evarcha Simon, 1902by Prószyński (1984).Later, Prószyński  (World Spider Catalog, 2023).The Sri Lankan species Colopsus cinereus Kanesharatnam & Benjamin, 2021, reported by Logunov (2021a) to also occur in Andhra Pradesh, was the first representative of this genus to be known from India, but it was later recognized as a junior synonym of Hyllus manu Caleb, Christudhas, Laltanpuii & Chitra, 2014.This species was transferred to Colopsus in a recent paper (Caleb et al., 2022), and another species, C. arkavathi, was at the same time described from Karnataka, India.Currently three valid species of this genus are known from India, all reported from the southern part of the country.Logunov (2021b) suggested that the current concept of Colopsus needs to be revised, and Caleb et al. (2022) stated that the generic placement of all Indian Colopsus species also needs confirmation by molecular data.

:
Colopsus peppara sp.nov. is most similar to C. manu from which it can be distinguished by the following combination of characters: RTA broad, fountainpenniblike, with the distal tip in 1 o'clock position in retrolateral view (narrower, thornlike with the tip in 12 o'clock position in C. manu); cymbium with posterolaterallyoriented projections (laterally Colopsus peppara sp.nov.

Fig. 3 .
Fig. 3. Map of southern India and northern Sri Lanka showing localities of Colopsus species.
Kanesharatnam & Benjamin (2021)is new genus EvacinPrószyński, 2018, butthis was not accepted and Evacin was treated as a subjective junior synonym of Colopsus byBlick & Marusik (2018).Nevertheless, Evacin is not a synonym of Colopsus since the latter does not comprise the type species of Evacin (World Spider Catalog, 2023).Recently,Kanesharatnam & Benjamin (2021)reinstated Colopsus as a distinct and valid genus based on morphological and molecular data.There are currently seven valid species in this genus, five of which are from Sri Lanka, three from India (including the new species described here), and one each from China and Vietnam