Villa occulata was found in a bog in the province of Dalarna, Sweden in 2005 and 2006. Extended search for the species in 2007 showed it to be regularly present in similar mires in the same area. This indicates that the species is resident in Sweden and opens the possibility for further studies of its poorly known distribution and biology. The species seems to be confined to bogs which may explain why it has gone largely unnoticed. The paper summarizes the present state of knowledge.
The identity of Pardosa luciae Tongiorgi, said to occur in the Swiss Alps, is discussed. It is argued that the description was based on a misplaced male palp of the Nearctic species P. uintana Gertsch. Consequently, P. luciae is removed from current synonymy with the European species P. trailli (O. P.-Cambridge) which is known from Britain and Scandinavia (distribution meapped). Within the P. nigra group of species, P. trailli (with Lycosa carnifex Collett here placed as junior synonym), P. eiseni (Thorell) and P. uintana constitute a close group of species sharing a helical configuraton of the apical part of the embolus. Characteristics of these species and of P. giebeli (Pavesi), endemic to the Central European Alps, are illustrated.
The name Lycosa or Pardosa venatrix has been used since Simon in 1882 to denote a widespread Palearctic species. The nominal species Lycosa venatrix Lucas, 1846 was originally designed as the type species for the genus Wadicosa Zyuzin, 1985. It has, however, been recognized that the species long known as venatrix was misidentified: the species so named by Lucas is evidently not a species of Wadicosa. Therefore, we now fix Lycosa fidelis O. P.-Cambridge, 1872, the species actually involved in the misidentification, as the type species for Wadicosa. An emended diagnosis for the genus Wadicosa is given, as well as a redescription of W. fidelis. The presence of some hitherto unrecorded structures in the male palp is emphasized. A hypothetic view on the mating mechanism in W. fidelis is presented.