Nelima gothica species account

Nelima gothica Size Female 3.5/4.5 mm - Male 2.5 mm - Leg II 30/50 mm.

Leg II was 38 mm in the female i found.

This is a rare species which resembles Leiobunum closely enough to make it at once obvious that it belongs to the sub-family Leiobuninae, The genus Nelima is separated from Leiobunum by rows of little denticles on the coaxa, present in the latter and missing in Nelima. It can further be distinguished from the two foregoing species by a dark spot at the distal end of each coxa, by its pale trochanters without lateral teeth, the shorter legs (pale brownish with yellow annulations) and by the two rows of small denticulae on the ocular tubercle.

The species wasn't recognized and described until 1945 (by Lohmander) and earlier (and some later) records of Nelima silvatica (Bristowe, 1935; Brown & Sankey, 1949) are misidentifications. So, while the two names are not synonymous, early British references of Nelima silvatica are all presumed to be in fact Nelima gothica.