Andean giants: Priscula spiders from Ecuador, with notes on species groups and egg-sac troglomorphism (Araneae: Pholcidae) Author Huber, Bernhard A. 33607F65-19BF-4DC9-94FD-4BB88CED455F Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig, LIB, Bonn, Germany. b.huber@leibniz-lib.de Author Meng, Guanliang 3B848D35-BC61-496E-9A39-7774B3BF237E Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig, LIB, Bonn, Germany. G.Meng@leibniz-lib.de Author Dupérré, Nadine F15E1FF2-2DF5-479A-AD10-8076CE96E911 Museum of Nature Hamburg, LIB, Hamburg, Germany. n.duperre@leibniz-lib.de Author Astrin, Jonas 50661540-FD30-4ABA-8415-6B3069105E93 Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig, LIB, Bonn, Germany. J.Astrin.ZFMK@uni-bonn.de Author Herrera, Mauricio 35508EDA-A02C-4B00-BDA2-B516CF61DE21 Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad, Sección Invertebrados, Quito, Ecuador. mauricio.herrera@biodiversidad.gob.ec text European Journal of Taxonomy 2023 2023-11-28 909 1 63 https://europeanjournaloftaxonomy.eu/index.php/ejt/article/download/2351/10271 journal article 284154 10.5852/ejt.2023.909.2351 d0cc9c9f-6e84-4a88-a82f-96565be36a3d 2118-9773 10462860 A48BD2B3-DC40-45BD-9968-F04890A1C5C5 Priscula chapintza Huber sp. nov. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: D8155AE4-4752-4DF4-B3F3-A6BC5C02F01E Figs 25–28 , 41F , 44 G-H Diagnosis Distinguished from known congeners by details of procursus ( Fig. 26A–C ; long ventral distal sclerite slender in lateral view, wide in dorsal view, with simple tip; distinctive dorsal process with bifid tip), genital bulb ( Fig. 26D–F ; main bulbal process with unique prolateral hook), epigynum ( Fig. 28A–B ; shorter than in most known congeners – similar to P. esmeraldas sp. nov. ), and female internal genitalia ( Fig. 27C ; almost round pore plates far apart). Type material Holotype ECUADOR – Pastaza • ♂ ; Via Puyo-Macas , Comunidad Chuwitayo 7 km via Comunidad Chapintza , Cueva de los Tallos ; 1.9512° S , 77.7885° W ; 640 m a.s.l. ; 5 Oct. 2021 ; E.E. and A.A. Tapia leg.; QCAZ . Paratypes ECUADOR – Pastaza • 1 ♀ , 1 juv. , together with holotype; QCAZ • 1 ♂ , 1 juv. ; same collection data as for holotype; QCAZ • 1 ♂ ; same locality and date as for holotype; N. Dupérré , E.E. and A.A. Tapia leg.; QCAZ • 1 ♂ , 1 ♀ ; same collection data as for preceding; ZFMK Ar 24095 • 5 ♀♀ ( one female used for SEM), 3 juvs ; same collection data as for preceding; QCAZ • 1 ♀ , 2 juvs ; same collection data as for preceding; QCAZ • 1 ♀ , 1 juv. ; same collection data as for preceding; QCAZ . Etymology The species name is derived from the type locality, noun in apposition. Description Male ( holotype ) MEASUREMENTS . Total body length 3.8, carapace width 2.0. Distance PME–PME 260 µm; diameter PME 150 µm; distance PME–ALE 80 µm; distance AME–AME 40 µm; diameter AME 35 µm. ALE and PLE larger than PME (diameters ALE 200 µm, PLE 190 µm). Leg 1: 49.3 (12.0+ 0.9+12.4 +21.1 + 2.9), tibia 2: 9.3, tibia 3 missing, tibia 4: 8.3; tibia 1 L/d: 62. COLOR (in ethanol). Carapace whitish, with light brown median band and radial marks, ocular area brown, clypeus light brown; sternum pale ochre with light brown margins; legs whitish, with darker rings subdistally on femora and proximally and subdistally on tibiae; abdomen pale ochre-gray, dorsally and laterally densely covered with black and white marks, ventrally monochromous, very indistinct ochre mark in front of gonopore. BODY . Habitus similar to P. pastaza (cf. Fig. 6A ). Ocular area raised, without hump on posterior side, with pair of brushes of stronger hairs between ocular triads. Deep thoracic groove. Clypeus unmodified except sclerotized rim. Sternum slightly damaged, unmodified. Abdomen as high as long, dorso-posteriorly rounded. CHELICERAE . As in Fig. 27A–B , with short entapophyses, pair of slender frontal apophyses in very distal and lateral position, without stridulatory ridges. PALPS . As in Fig. 25A–C ; coxa unmodified, trochanter with low rounded ventral protrusion, femur large, proximally with distinct retrolateral process followed by deep furrow, ventral rim distally straight (in ventral view) and not protruding; patella ventrally reduced to strongly sclerotized narrow rim; tibia small relative to femur; procursus ( Fig. 26A–C ) with large protruding dorsal whitish element, distally with large prolateral-dorsal band of fringes, distinctive dorsal process with bifid tip, and flat triangular ventral sclerite; genital bulb ( Fig. 26D–F ) with simple proximal sclerite, with distinctive ventral hook on main bulbal process. Fig. 25. Priscula chapintza Huber sp. nov. ; male holotype from Cueva de los Tallos, QCAZ; left male palp, prolateral, dorsal, and retrolateral views. Scale line: 0.5 mm. Fig. 26. Priscula chapintza Huber sp. nov. ; male holotype from Cueva de los Tallos, QCAZ. A–C. Left tarsus and procursus, prolateral, dorsal, and retrolateral views; arrow points at distinctive dorsal process; asterisks: whitish protruding area. D–F. Left genital bulb, dorsal, retrolateral, and ventral views; arrow points at distinctive prolateral hook. Abbreviation: vs =ventral sclerite. Scale lines: 0.5 mm. Fig. 27. Priscula chapintza Huber sp. nov. ; paratypes from Cueva de los Tallos, ZFMK Ar 24095 (♂) and QCAZ (♀). A–B. Male chelicerae, frontal and lateral views. C. Cleared female genitalia, dorsal view. Scale lines: 0.5 mm. Fig. 28. Priscula chapintza Huber sp. nov. ;female paratype from Cueva de los Tallos, QCAZ. A–B. Abdomen, ventral and lateral views. C–D. Cleared genitalia, ventral and dorsal views. Scale lines: 0.5 mm. LEGS . Without spines; without curved hairs; with few short vertical hairs; retrolateral trichobothrium of tibia 1 at 5%; prolateral trichobothrium present on all leg tibiae; tarsi without regular pseudosegmentation but rather with many indistinct platelets. Male (variation) Tibia 1 in three other males: 9.3, 10.8, 11.2. Other males (and most females) without or with very indistinct dark marks on abdomen. Female In general similar to male but clypeus rim not sclerotized and brushes of hairs between eye triads much shorter. Tibia 1 in six females : 8.1–8.5 (mean 8.2). ALS with one strongly widened spigot, one pointed spigot, and one large and four small cylindrical spigots; with distinctively sculptured area medially in front of ALS ( Fig. 41F ). Epigynum ( Fig. 28A–B ) main anterior plate trapezoidal, posterior half whitish and protruding; posterior epigynal plate medially divided by whitish area (indistinct) and with wide shallow depression. Internal genitalia ( Figs 27C , 28C–D ) with strong transversal sclerite and pair of roundish pore plates connected to pair of lateral sclerites posteriorly. Distribution Known from type locality only, in Pastaza Province , Ecuador ( Fig. 4B ). Natural history Cueva de los Tallos is a cave with a sinkhole in the middle (~ 20m × 20m , 50m deep). Five species of Pholcidae were collected at the bottom of the sinkhole. Most of the Pholcidae , presumably all the Priscula specimens, were collected in the sinkhole under or between large to median boulders, a few possibly in the entrance area, also between boulders.