Troglohyphantes vignai

Troglohyphantes vignai is a species of cave spider of the family Linyphiidae. It is endemic to Italy.

Troglohyphantes vignai
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Linyphiidae
Genus: Troglohyphantes
Species:
T. vignai
Binomial name
Troglohyphantes vignai
Brignoli, 1971

Morphology

Troglohyphantes vignai is a small sized spider with a body length ranging from 3.05 mm to 3.35 mm.[1] It shows remarkable adaptations to the subterranean life, namely loss of pigmentation, reduction of the eye apparatus, thinning of integuments and heavy spination.[2]

Synonymy

Troglohyphantes vignai was described by Brignoli from specimens collected by Augusto Vigna Taglianti (to whom the species was dedicated) in the cave Buco di Valenza. In the same publication, Pier Marcello Brignoli also described a second Troglohyphantes species (T. rupicapra [2]), which is distinguished from T. vignai by small morphological features. In recent years, the species validity of T. rupicapra was questioned by Pesarini,[3] who proposed the synonymy T. rupicapra = T. vignai. Such synonymy was recently confirmed on genetic base,[4] and its currently accepted in the World Spider Catalog.[5]

Distribution

Troglohyphantes vignai is endemic to the Western Italian Alps, distributed from the Cottian to the Maritime Alps.[6] Populations of T. vignai are highly isolated from genetic point of view. The diversification of extant T. vignai lineages occurred during the Pleistocene glaciations.[4]

Habitat

Preferentially found in caves and other mad-made subterranean habitats.[6] The species show a preference for prey-rich areas of the cave, where the climatic stability is higher.[7]

Phenology

Females and juveniles are found through the whole year. Males are commonly found from August to January, with a sex ratio (females:males) of 2.4:1.[7]

References
  1. "Troglohyphantes vignai - araneae". www.araneae.unibe.ch. Retrieved 2015-12-20.
  2. Brignoli, P. M. (1971). "Note su ragni cavernicoli italiani (Araneae)". Fragmenta Entomologica. 7 (3): 129–229.
  3. Pesarini, C. (2001). "Note sui Troglohyphantes italiani, con descrizione di quattro nuove specie (Araneae, Linyphiidae)". Atti della Societa Italiana di Scienze Naturali e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano. 142 (1): 109–133.
  4. Mammola, Stefano; Isaia, Marco; Arnedo, Miquel A. (2015). "Alpine endemic spiders shed light on the origin and evolution of subterranean species". PeerJ. 3: e1384. doi:10.7717/peerj.1384. PMC 4699788. PMID 26734503.
  5. "NMBE - World Spider Catalog". www.wsc.nmbe.ch. Retrieved 2015-12-20.
  6. Isaia, M.; Paschetta, M.; Lana, E.; Pantini, P.; Schönhofer, A. L.; Christian, E. & Badino, G. (2011). "Subterranean arachnids of the western Italian Alps. Museo Regionale Scienze Naturali". Monografie 47, Torino, Xi+325 Pp.
  7. Mammola, Stefano; Isaia, Marco (2016-01-01). "The ecological niche of a specialized subterranean spider". Invertebrate Biology. 135: 20–30. doi:10.1111/ivb.12113. ISSN 1744-7410.
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