Liocranum atlasicum, Zamani & Marusik, 2025

Zamani, Alireza & Marusik, Yuri M., 2025, New taxonomic and faunistic data on Moroccan spiders (Arachnida: Araneae), including the description of five new species, Zootaxa 5692 (2), pp. 321-337 : 332-333

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5692.2.6
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:BB63E053-84F3-45C9-AA08-EE0E573868F1
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17321650
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/AC608784-FFFD-1B68-25E1-0814AD4A8BC1
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Liocranum atlasicum
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Liocranum atlasicum sp. nov.

Figs 1C View FIGURE 1 , 6A–B View FIGURE 6

Material. Holotype ♀ ( ZMUT) and paratypes 3♀ ( ZMUT): MOROCCO: Al Haouz Prov . : Oukaïmeden, High Atlas, 31°10'25.1"N, 7°50'40.0"W, 2900 m, 29.V–11.V.2024 (leg. C. Reuter). GoogleMaps

Etymology. The specific epithet refers to the type locality of the species in the Atlas Mountains.

Diagnosis. The epigyne of the new species resembles the illustration for that of Liocranum majus Simon, 1878 by Bosselaers (2024), a species distributed from the Iberian Peninsula to Italy. It differs by having almost oval receptacles that extend to the lateral margins of the epigyne ( vs. round and not reaching the lateral margins).

Description. Female ( holotype). Habitus as in Fig. 1C View FIGURE 1 . Total length 9.55. Carapace 3.6 long, 2.9 wide. Carapace and sternum light brown; chelicerae, maxillae and labium reddish brown, chelicerae with 3 pro- and 2 retromarginal teeth. Palps light brown, legs yellowish brown. Abdomen greyish beige. Spinnerets pale beige. Measurements of palp and legs: palp: 4.5 (1.5, 0.85, 1.1, -, 1.05), I: 13.5 (3.65, 1.95, 3.5, 2.8, 1.6), II: 12.15 (3.4, 1.8, 3.0, 2.6, 1.35), III: 11.0 (3.0, 1.5, 2.55, 2.75, 1.2), IV: 15.7 (4.0, 1.6, 3.85, 4.7, 1.55). Ventral spines of tibiae: I: 7 pairs, 1; II: 6 pairs; III: 3 pairs; IV: 2 pairs, 2.

Epigyne as in Fig. 6A–B View FIGURE 6 ; epigynal plate 1.2× longer than wide; anterior hood wide, ~0.4 of epigynal plate’s width; lateral margins of fovea strongly sclerotized, slightly diverging, with roundly bent anterior part, distance between anterior parts equals width of anterior hood; receptacles ( Re) suboval, converging anteriorly, 2× longer than wide, spaced by ~0.5 their width.

Male. Unknown.

Comment. Illustrations of the epigyne of L. majus provided by Barrientos et al. (2019: fig. 2b) and Bosselaers (2024: fig. 6L) differ considerably and may in fact represent different species. Liocranum majus was originally described from a juvenile specimen, and the species currently treated as its junior synonyms— L. segmentatum Simon, 1878 and L. pallidulum Simon, 1878 —lack published figures of the epigyne.

Habitat. Semi-arid rocky mountain with sparse vegetation ( Fig. 14A View FIGURE 14 ).

Distribution. Known only from the type locality in Al Haouz Province, Morocco.