High level of endemism in Haiti’s last remaining forests: a revision of Modisimus (Araneae: Pholcidae) on Hispaniola, using morphology and molecules
Author
Huber, Bernhard A.
Author
Fischer, Nadine
Author
Astrin, Jonas J.
text
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
2010
2010-01-25
158
2
244
299
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00559.x
journal article
10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00559.x
0024-4082
5438272
MODISIMUS MARIPOSAS
HUBER & FISCHER
SP. NOV.
(
Figs 76
,
166–168
,
200
)
Type:
Male
holotype
from near
Jima
(
19°01.4
′
N
,
70°28.8
′
W
),
Monseñor Nouel Prov.
,
Dominican Republic
; degraded forest at brook through plantation, ~
700 m
a.s.l.
, near ground,
8 November 2005
(
B.A. Huber
), in
ZFMK
(
DR 11
)
.
Etymology:
The species name honours the
Mirabal sisters
, who fervently opposed the dictatorship of
Trujillo
, and formed a group of opponents known as Las
Mariposas (The Butterflies)
. Three of them were assassinated in 1960; the name is used as a noun in apposition.
Figures 166–172.
Diagnostic characters. 166–168.
Modisimus mariposas
sp. nov.
166. Left palp, retrolateral view. 167. Male chelicerae, frontal view. 168. Cleared epigynum, dorsal view. 169–172.
Modisimus bachata
sp. nov.
169. Left palp, retrolateral view. 170, 171. Male chelicerae, frontal (170) and lateral (171) views. 172. Cleared epigynum, dorsal view. Scale bars: 0.3 mm.
Diagnosis:
Medium-sized species, easily distinguished from congeners by procursus shape (
Fig. 166
; dorsal projection), club-shaped hairs on male chelicerae (
Fig. 176
; median hairs on apophyses), and epigynum shape (
Fig. 168
).
Male (
holotype
):
Total length, 1.9; carapace width, 0.8. Leg 1: 21.5 (5.2 + 0.3 + 5.3 + 8.7 + 2.0); tibia 2, 3.5; tibia 3, 2.6; tibia 4, 3.4. Tibia 1 L/d: 70. Habitus similar to
M. jima
sp. nov.
(cf.
Fig. 19
), carapace pale ochre-yellow, with light-brown lateral bands, dark median line and wider dark median band visible through cuticle; ocular area also darker, clypeus with pair of brown stripes; sternum mostly light brown, medially whitish; legs ochre to light brown, tips of femora and tibiae lighter, very indistinct darker rings subdistally on femora and tibiae; abdomen bluish grey, densely covered with small black spots dorsally and laterally, with indistinct whitish lines. Ocular area elevated; thoracic furrow distinct. PME–PME, 70 Mm; PME diameter, 105 Mm; PME–ALE, 105 Mm; AME tiny, but apparently with lenses. Sternum wider than long (0.6/0.4), unmodified. Chelicerae with short modified hairs in distinctive pattern, median group on apophysis, lateral group not elevated (
Fig. 167
). Palps as in
Figure 166
, coxa with retrolateral apophysis, femur with proximal flap retrolaterally and distal apophysis ventrally; procursus with rounded dorsal projection and widened distally (mostly membranous structures); bulbal apophysis very wide in dorsal view. Legs with many short vertical hairs on all femora; no curved hairs and no spines; retrolateral trichobothrium on tibia 1 at 12%; prolateral trichobothrium missing on tibia 1, but present on other tibiae; tarsus 1 with ~30 pseudosegments.
Female:
In general similar to male; tibia 1 missing in female from near Jima; epigynum in female from near Jima apparently artificially spread, with a pair of dark structures visible through the frontal plate; dorsal view as in
Figure 76
. The female from Loma Quita Espuela has a very similar, but slightly smaller, epigynum, and is therefore assigned tentatively; tibia 1: 4.0.
Distribution:
Known from two localities (one tentative) in the central
Dominican Republic
(
Fig. 200
).
Material examined:
Dominican Republic
:
Monseñor Nouel Prov.
, near
Jima
:
1♂
,
holotype
above; same data,
1♀
and
one juvenile
(
ZFMK
,
DR 11
)
.
Assigned tentatively:
Dominican Republic
:
Duarte Prov.
,
Reserva Científica Loma Quita Espuela
, at ~
500 m
a.s.l.
(
19°21.5
′
N
,
70°09
′
W
),
10 November 2005
(
B.A. Huber
),
1♀
(
ZFMK
,
DR 27
)
.