Metellina merianae (Scopoli, 1763)

Metellina merianae (Scopoli, 1763) View in CoL

Fig. 2 C, D View Figure 2

Meta merianae (Scopoli, 1763): Spassky 1927: 4; Charitonov 1932: 123; Charitonov 1939: 197; Charitonov 1947 a: 45–46; Charitonov 1947 b: 1; Birstein 1963: 128; Tyshchenko 1971: 23.

Metellina merianae (Scopoli, 1763): Amelichev et al. 2004: 136; Evtushenko 2004: 66, 68; Kovblyuk 2004 a: 245; Zagorodniuk and Vargovitsh 2004: 207; Turbanov et al. 2016 b: 1283; Prokopov and Turbanov 2017: 101; Samokhin et al. 2019: 247; Turbanov et al. 2019 a: 218. View in CoL

Material examined.

• 5 ♀♀ ( TNU 10193/2 ), Crimea, nr Sevastopol, Khomutovaya Gorge, Maksimova Datsha , abandoned aqueduct carved into an unnamed cave-spring, 11. III. 2014, I. S. Turbanov leg. • 1 ♀ ( TNU 10190/2 ), same cave, 23. V. 2015, A. A. Nadolny leg. • 1 ♀ ( TNU 10287/4 ), Crimea, nr Sevastopol, canyon of the Tshernaya River, Tshernoretshenskaya Cave , 3. VI. 2021, I. S. Turbanov, A. A. Nadolny leg. • 1 ♀ ( TNU 10184 ), Crimea, nr Sevastopol, northeastern slope of Baidarskаya Yaila, Baidarskaya Valley, nr Kizilovoye Vil., Mamut-Tshokrak Cave , 10. VIII. 2010, I. S. Turbanov leg. • 1 ♂ 1 ♀ ( TNU 10191/1 ), same cave; 1–2. VI. 2013, I. S. Turbanov leg. • 1 ♀ ( TNU 10238/2 ), Crimea, nr Sevastopol, northwestern slope of Ai-Petri Yaila, Baidarskaya Valley, nr Rodnikovskoye Vil., entrance to Skelskaya Cave , 25. IX. 2018, I. S. Turbanov, A. A. Turbanova leg. • 1 ♀ ( IT), same cave, 27. XII. 2019, I. S. Turbanov leg. • 2 ♂♂ 6 ♀♀ ( IT), same cave, 1. VI. 2021, I. S. Turbanov, A. A. Turbanova leg. • 1 ♀ ( TNU 10261/2 ), Crimea, Bakhchisarai Distr., northern part of Ai-Petri Yaila, Ayu-Teshik Mt., Ayu-Teshik Cave , 8. V. 2015, I. S. Turbanov leg. • 1 ♂ 1 ♀ ( TNU 10258 ), same cave, 16. VII. 2017, O. V. Kukushkin leg • 4 ♂♂ ( TNU 10195/2 ), Crimea, Simferopol Distr., northern part of Tshatyr-Dagh Yaila, Binbash-Koba Cave , 12. II. 2015, I. S. Turbanov leg.

Distribution.

West and Central Palaearctic polyzonal: from Portugal to the Altai Mts and from Scandinavia to Iran ( Kovblyuk and Kastrygina 2015; Nentwig et al. 2024).

Records from the Crimean caves.

Map (Fig. 17 A View Figure 17 – green circle). Caves of the southwestern and central parts of the Crimean Mountains: Tshernoretshenskaya, Azis-Koba (= Kara-Koba), Mamut-Tshokrak, Skelskaya, Ayu-Teshik, Daniltsha-Koba, Binbash-Koba, and Kizil-Koba, as well as abandoned aqueduct of Maksimova Datsha nr Sevastopol ( Spassky 1927; Charitonov 1947 a; Samokhin et al. 2019; Turbanov et al. 2019 a; present data).

Ecology.

A troglophile ( Mammola et al. 2018). In Crimea, the species inhabits broad-leaved forests of northern macro-slopes of the mountains ( Kovblyuk and Kastrygina 2015). In the Crimean caves, M. merianae can be classified as a subtroglophile.