Description of Harpactea sadistica n. sp. (Araneae: Dysderidae) - a haplogyne spider with reduced female genitalia

Spiders of the genus Harpactea (Araneae: Dysderidae) are non-web building predators that forage on the ground and on tree trunks at night. During the day, they hide in silk retreats under stones or wood, in leaf litter or under tree bark. They occur mainly in xerothermic forests (see Deeleman-Reinhold 1993). Harpactea is the second most speciose dysderid genus (after Dysdera), with 149 described and valid species (Platnick 2007). Interestingly, almost all species appear to be endemics that are narrowly restricted to parts of the Mediterranean, with only some representatives also found in adjacent areas (Platnick 2007). The contributions to the Harpactea fauna of the Middle East were made by Denis (1955), who described the two new species from Lebanon (Harpactea rugichelis Denis, 1955 and H. straba Denis, 1955), and by Brignoli (1978), who described the species Harpactea herodis Brignoli, 1978 from Israel.