152 Accepted by C. Vink: 28 Oct. 2014; published: 11 Dec. 2014 ZOOTAXA ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition) ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition) Copyright © 2014 Magnolia Press Zootaxa 3894 (1): 152–160 www.mapress.com/zootaxa/ Article http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3894.1.12 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:66AD348F-5A04-4A9F-ADC5-501B4B10804F A new species of Alopecosa (Araneae: Lycosidae) from Canada: a morphological description supported by DNA barcoding of 19 congeners GERGIN A. BLAGOEV 1 & CHARLES D. DONDALE 2 1 Research Associate, Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, gblagoev@uoguelph.ca 2 Retiree, Biodiversity Program, Research Branch, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0C6, cjdondale@storm.ca Abstract A new species, Alopecosa koponeni sp. n., is described from the Arctic part of Manitoba. Individuals of A. koponeni most resemble those of A. pictilis (Emerton, 1885), but are smaller than the latter and differ in the epiginum and in colour pattern in both sexes. DNA barcode results show an interspecific distance of 0.93 between A. koponeni sp. n. and A. pictilis, a shallow genetic divergence that suggests a recent separation. Introduction Spiders of the Canadian Arctic are becoming better known through recent collecting efforts and through published revisions such as those by Dupérré (2013), Marusik et al. (2006), Marusik & Koponen (2001), Saaristo & Koponen (1998), and Saaristo & Marusik (2004). Additionally, two recent checklists also included arctic species (Buckle et al. 2001; Paquin et al. 2010) and a recent study on the spiders of Churchill revealed an undescribed species of Alopecosa, which was given the interim name Alopecosa sp. 1GAB (Blagoev et al. 2013). Among all 120 valid genera of Lycosidae, Alopecosa Simon, 1885 is the fifth largest genus (Platnick 2014). Roughly 75% of Alopecosa are restricted to Eurasia, and 9% have a typical Holarctic or Palearctic distribution. To date, only seven species of Alopecosa are known from the Nearctic. Based on copulatory organs, these seven species are divided into three main species groups; Alopecosa pulverulenta group, Alopecosa exasperans group, and Alopecosa solivaga group (Dondale, Redner 1979, 1990). Using morphological and molecular evidence, we describe a new species belonging to the Alopecosa solivaga species group from arctic tundra at Churchill, Manitoba. Methods Collecting methods All ten specimens of A. koponeni sp. n. were collected during the snow-free months near Churchill (Fig. 1) using pitfall traps. The traps were placed in the soil between moss substrates around the rocks and temporary ponds close to the marine shoreline. Spiders were removed twice weekly from the traps. All specimens were then preserved in fresh 95% ethanol and are now deposited in the Canadian National Collection of Insects & Arachnids, Ottawa, Ontario (CNC), and the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO), University of Guelph. The species locality map (Fig. 1) was created with SimpleMappr, http://www.simplemappr.net (Shorthouse 2010). All measurements are given in mm. Molecular methods For comparative molecular analysis, COI sequences from 341 specimens from 18 Alopecosa species were used to explore relationships (Table 1, Fig. 8). The DNA barcoding protocols were replicated, following Blagoev et al. (2013).