Episyron tenebricum Wahis 1978

Episyron tenebricum Wahis

This species has a more restricted range, having been collected only in Sri Lanka (type locality) and southern India. It occurs in all three ecological zones in the former country though most commonly in the Wet Zone. The localities are from near sea level to 610 m with an average annual rainfall of 1500–5000 mm. The Ceylonese records are as follows.

Kandy District: Thawalamtenne and Kandy, Udawattakele Sanctuary

Kalutara District: Morapitiya

Kegalla District: Kitulgala

Ratnapura District: Gilimale

Monaragala District: Angunakolapelessa

Galle District: Kanneliya

TEMPORARY NEST CLOSURE.—I noted a female, 10 mm long, excavating some moist sand in a level roadside ditch in Udawattakele on 10 February 1975. She stopped digging, and began to rake sand into the burrow entrance to make a temporary closure. I captured her, and excavated the nest.

NEST ARCHITECTURE.—The burrow penetrated the soil at an angle of 45° for 2.5 cm, was 4 mm in diameter, and ended in a cell of the same diameter.

PREY.—P.B. Karunaratne captured a female, 11 mm long, in Udawattakele on 19 April 1975. She had alighted with her paralyzed orb weaver prey on foliage overhanging a vertical bank. The spider was a juvenile female Araneus Linnaeus (Araneidae), 7 mm long.