Fecenia travancoria Pocock is recognised as a junior synonym of Fecenia protensa Thorell (Araneae: Psechridae): a case of intraspecific variation .

The spider genus Fecenia was erected by Simon (1887). Together with the genus Psechrus Thorell, 1878, Fecenia Simon, 1887 belongs to the family Psechridae Simon, 1890 (Platnick 2013), a group of araneomorph, entelegyne and cribellate spiders (Bayer and Jäger 2010). The presence of this spider genus in India, which belongs to the Lycosoidea within the retrolateral tibial apophysis (RTA)-clade (Griswold 1993; Griswold et al. 2005; Bayer and Schönhofer 2013), was first noticed by Thorell (1891), who described Fecenia protensa Thorell, 1891 from the Nicobar Islands. In 1899, Pocock (1899) described a second species, Fecenia travancoria from Kerala, a state in the south-west of India. Bayer (2011) recently revised the genus and proposed two junior synonyms for F. protensa: F. sumatrana Kulczyński, 1908 and F. nicobarensis Tikader, 1977. He also pointed out the striking similarities of the females of F. protensa and F. travancoria. Nevertheless, he provided ways to distinguish the females by very fine character differences of the vulva and listed five valid species for the genus (Fecenia) (Bayer 2011). Bayer & Schönhofer (2013) investigated the molecular taxonomy based on DNA sequence data from the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene of Fecenia specimens from all species described so far (except F. macilenta Simon, 1885) and found out that the COI sequence variation between specimens of F. travancoria and F. protensa was less than 4.7 %, whereas the COI sequence variation between other Fecenia spp. was at least 9%. They suggested that their findings indicated the synonymy of F. travancoria with F. protensa , but the male and further material of F. travancoria from the region of the type locality was unknown to them. Consequently, they did not propose a synonymy of these two species. Even though Sebastian and Peter (2009) described the female of F. travancoria from Kerala region, they neither provided any information about its male nor any information about intraspecific variation within its females. In the present paper, we describe and illustrate male Fecenia specimens from the region of the type locality of F. travancoria for the first time and by doing so, we are able to provide evidence for the synonymy of F. travancoria with F. protensa. Specimens of F. travancoria (= F. protensa, see below) (both male and female) were collected from Kumarakom bird sanctuary (Vembanad bird sanctuary) (9o37'35''–9o37'60''N and 76o25'5''–76o26'44''E) located in Kottayam district of Kerala state in southern India at an altitude of 1600 meters above mean sea level. Specimens were collected by the first author during a trip to the sanctuary on 30 June 2013 by visual searching and handcollecting. The specimens were preserved in 70% ethanol and studied under a Zeiss stereomicroscope. All measurements are in millimeters and were made with an ocular micrometer. Drawings were made by the aid of a drawing tube attached to the microscope. The photographic images were taken by Leica DFC295 digital camera attached to Leica M205 C stereomicroscope with LAS montage facility. The specimens are deposited in a reference collection housed at the Division of Arachnology, Department of Zoology, Sacred Heart College, Thevara, Cochin, Kerala, India (DASHC). Abbreviations used: AML—anterior margin of lateral lobe of epigyne, AS—anterior part of median septum, C—conductor, E— embolus, EM—epigynal muscle sigilla, FD—fertilization duct, LL—lateral lobe of epigyne, MA—median apophysis, MP—membranous process of tegulum, PS—posterior part of median septum, RPA—retrolateral patellar apophysis, RTA—retrolateral tibial apophysis, SH—spermathecal head, SO—slit sense organ, SSI— strongly sclerotised section of internal duct system, T—tegulum, TR—transversal edge/ridge of median septum, VPA—ventral patellar apophysis.