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| Eresus rubrocephalus Gál, Kovács, Vincze, Keve, Páll-Gergely, Bagyó, Fehér, Bali & Kaszab, 2025. |
Abstract
According to our current knowledge, the prothorax of male spiders belonging to the genus Eresus is covered with black hairs. However, during our collection activities in Morocco, we found male specimens showing habitus that can be clearly distinguished from the previously known species based on their pars cephalica of prosoma covered with distinct red hairs. Diagnostic drawings and digital photographs of male copulatory organs, alongside DNA and COI barcoding results, are also presented.
Keywords: velvet spiders; North Africa; genetic analysis; COI analysis; species delimitation
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| Prosoma shape in Eresus rubrocephalus sp. n. holotype (lateral view). |
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| Habitus photo of the Eresus rubrocephalus sp. n. (A) Dorsal view, (B) ventral view, and (C) frontal view. |
Eresus rubrocephalus sp. n.,
Diagnosis: The habitus of males was like the European and some Asiatic Eresus sp. of the same sex.
In our specimens, as in the Eresus sp. males, the clypeal hood forms a clearly acute angle, and the cephalic region of the prosoma does not overhang the thoracic region posteriorly (Figure 2, Figure 3 and Figure 4) [31]. Our two male specimens differ from all known species males in that the carapace dorsally and ventrally, as well as the chelicerae, are most uniformly carmine red (Figure 4). In the previously known ladybird spider species (E. gharbi, E. solitarius, E. moravicus, E. sandaliatus, E. transcaucasicus, and E. agrinus), pars thoracica is predominantly black compared to the species we described.
Etymology: Unlike the previously known coloration of the Eresus genus (sandaliatus group), the prosoma of the examined specimens is uniformly red in color; see “rubrocephalus”.
Simple Summary: In our work, we provide a description of the habitus of a species of ladybird spider found in Northern Africa, specifically Morocco, based on microscopic examination of the palpus and genetic delimitation analysis. The cephalothorax and abdomen of the male spider are both covered with carmine red hairs on the dorsal and ventral sides as well as on the chelicerae. The palpus exhibits several characteristic distinguishing features, such as the course of the palpus conductor plate, the characteristic U-shaped groove, and the uniquely shaped terminal tooth. Both phylogenetic and species delimitation analyses supported the establishment of the new species Eresus rubrocephalus sp. n.
János Gál, Gábor Kovács, Zoltán Vincze, Gergő Keve, Barna Páll-Gergely, Richárd Bagyó, Enikő Fehér, Krisztina Bali and Eszter Kaszab. 2025. The Red-Colored Oddball—A New Ladybird Spider with Unusual Coloring from Morocco, Eresus rubrocephalus sp. nov. (Araneae: Eresidae). Animals. 15(18), 2707. DOI: doi.org/10.3390/ani15182707 [16 September 2025]
