02185nas a2200145 4500008004100000020001400041245010400055210006900159260000900228300001200237490000700249520161600256100002701872856014001899 1983 eng d a0184-026600aThe genus Histopona Thorell (Araneae, Agelenidae) with description of two new cave-dwelling species0 agenus Histopona Thorell Araneae Agelenidae with description of t c1983 a325-3370 v103 a
A diagnosis of the genus Histopona Thorell is presented. In the past, ambiguous definitions of the genus have been the origin of some taxonomic confusion. All species hitherto included in the genus Roeweriana Kratochvil are here transferred to Histopona. Male and female of H. egonpretneri n. sp. (cave in Mt. Velebit, Croatia) and isolata n.sp. (cave on Crete) are described and pictured. Histopona laeta (Kulczynski) and H. debilis Thorell are synonymized with H. torpida and H. laeta var. paganettii (Nosek) with H. conveniens Kulczynski. It is argued that differences between Roeweriana and Histopona were based mainly on reduction of eye size and pigmentation in the former. According to modern views loss of eye, in many spider species appears to be a minor, fairly easily accomplished adaptation with little phylogenetic weight and this character alone cannot be accepted as a ground for the separation of genera.
The genus Histopona here conceived comprises at present 16 species; 11 inhabit hypogean habitats in limited ranges in southeastern Europe; several are known from one cave only. Histopona torpida is a purely epigean species, distributed over most of Europe, the other epigean species occupy smaller, partly overlapping ranges. A group of closely related species in caves in the southwestern Balkan Peninsula (group myops) is troglobitic ; no eyeless species are known at present.