Mastigusa macrophthalma (Kulczyński, 1897)

Mastigusa macrophthalma (Kulczyński, 1897) View in CoL

Figs 3 View FIGURES 1–3 , 8, 9 View FIGURES 4–9 , 12 View FIGURES 10–12 , 19–21, 22

? Mastigusa macrophthalma : Deltshev & Blagoev, 1992 [not examined]

Material examined. Bulgaria: 1♂, West Balkan Mts. , near Druzhevo Vill. 43.13906, 23.38246, Fagus forest, 18 September 2022, leg. Simeon Indzhov (CSI) GoogleMaps ; 1♂, 1♀ (pair, female DD198), 3♀♀, West Balkan Mts. , Vrachanski Balkan, Borov Kamak 43.1654, 23.5040, Fagus forest, 24 September 2022, leg. Simeon Indzhov (NMNHS, CSI) GoogleMaps ; 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀, West Balkan Mts. , near Gara Lakatnik 43.08916, 23.38098, Carpinus-Quercus forest, 07 September 2023, leg. Simeon Indzhov (CSI); (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/185178787) GoogleMaps .

Diagnosis. Diameter of conductor of male palp below 1.5 mm; conductor diameter / cephalothorax length ratio <1 (see Castellucci et al. 2024), RTA with a blunt tip ( Fig. 9 View FIGURES 4–9 ). Female vulva approximately 0.27 mm long, copulatory ducts with less dense coils and narrower lumen than in arietina (Figs 20, 21). Posterior eyes variable but usually large separated by less than one eye diameter ( Figs 3 View FIGURES 1–3 , 12 View FIGURES 10–12 )

Remarks. This species likely shows a contiguous distribution in Bulgaria across the karstic parts of the West Balkan Mt. ( Fig. 22 View FIGURE 22 ). There it lives on the forest floor of Carpinus and Fagus forests under stones and can be locally common. None of the specimens observed were found in ant nests.