A new species of the selenopid crab-spider genus Selenops Latreille, 1819 (Araneae: Selenopidae) from Guerrero, Mexico
Author
MONDRAGÓN, ALEJANDRO VALDEZ
text
Zootaxa
2007
2007-04-16
1449
1
65
68
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.1449.1.6
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.1449.1.6
11755334
10087957
36B63717-6B4A-4B89-94CA-0DF337583232
Selenops juxtlahuaca
sp. nov.
Figures
1
–8
Type material.
Holotype
: male, from near entrance of the caves named
Grutas
de Juxtlahuaca
,
938 m
,
5 km
northwest of the town of
Colotlipa
,
59 km
southeast of
Chilpancingo
, [
17° 26’ 32.4” N
, 99° 09’ 57.0”,
Guerrero
, Municipaly of Quechultenango,
Mexico
],
17 January 2006
,
Valdez, A.
and
Montaño, H.
(CNAN
T0239
).
Paratypes
:
1 male
,
2 females
,
7 immatures
,
9 and 15 September 2005
, same locality as holotype (CNAN
T0240
-
T0244
)
.
Etymology.
The specific name is a noun in apposition and refers to the
type
locality.
Diagnosis.
Males can be distinguished by the unique shape of VTA which points towards the base of the RTA, and by the thin and short conductor with curved form in his distal part (
Figs 4, 5
). Females can be distinguished by the epigynum with two heavily chitinized structures anteriorly and by the middle field which extends beyond the epigastric furrow (
Figs 7, 8
).
FIGURES 1–5
.
Selenops juxtlahuaca
sp. nov.
Male: 1 Prosoma and opisthosoma, dorsal view; 2 Prosoma, frontal view; 3 Left quelicera, teeth of promargin and retromargin; 4 Left palp, ventral view; 5 Left palp, retrolateral view.
Description.
Male (
Holotype
). Total length 10, prosoma 4.8 long and 4.8 wide. Prosoma pale orange, circular, with a projection to the anterior portion (
Fig. 1
). Chelicerae oblique, pale orange like the prosoma, with a white spot on prolateral face and dark spots in front of each chelicera (
Fig. 2
). Promargin of the chelicerae with three teeth, the middle one bigger; retromargin with two teeth of equal length (
Fig. 3
). Size of clypeus a little more than half of diameter of AME (
Fig. 2
). AER and PER with four eyes. Diameter of PLE 0.5, ALE 0.2, AME 0.3 and PME 0.4. AME–ALE 0.5. PME– PLE 0.5. Sternum circular, pale orange. Coxae long. Opisthosoma pale grey. Leg lengths: I femur 5.5/ patella 2.3/ tibia 5.3/ metatarsus 5.3/ tarsus 3.2/ total 21.6. II 6.2/ 2.3/ 5.6/ 5.5/ 3.0/ 22.6. III 6.5/ 2.2/ 5.5/ 5.6/ 3.0/ 22.8. IV 6.5/ 1.9/ 5.7/ 5.8/ 3.1/ 23.0. Leg formula: 4-3-2-1. Legs grey, coxae and trochanters lighter, patellae, tibiae, metatarsi and tarsi darker. Ventral spines formula: Tibiae I and II 2+2+2, tibiae III and IV 2+2; metatarsi I-IV 2+2. Femura lighter ventrally. All leg segments with irregular dark spots. RTA longer than tibia (
Fig. 4
). Embolus short, almost half of the bulb length (
Fig. 4
).
Female (
Paratype
). Total length 12, prosoma 5.3 long and 5.3 wide. Prosoma circular, dark orange (
Fig. 6
). Chelicerae teeth and clypeus as in the male. Diameter of
PLE
0.5,
ALE
0.2,
AME
0.3 and
PME
0,4.
AME
–
ALE
0.5.
PME
–
PLE
0.5.
Sternum
, coxae and form and coloration of the opisthosoma similar to the male.
Leg
lengths: I femur 5.1/ patella 2.4/ tibia 4.5/ metatarsus 4.15/ tarsus 2.3/ total 18.45. II 5.9/ 2.5/ 4.8/ 4.4/ 2.3/ 19.9. III 6.1/ 2.2/ 5.0/ 4.5/ 2.3/ 20.1. IV 6.0/ 2.1/ 5.2/ 4.7/ 2.3/ 20.3.
Leg
formula: 4-3-2-1.
Legs
orange, patellae, tibiae, metatarsi and tarsi darker.
Femora
pale ventrally.
All
leg segments with irregular dark spots, well marked on tibiae and metatarsi.
Ventral
spines formula as in the male.
Genital
openings in the anterior portion of the middle field (
Fig. 7
).
Oval
and separated spermathecae with solid copulatory ducts (
Fig. 8
)
.
FIGURES 6–8.
Selenops juxtlahuaca
sp. nov.
Female: 6 Prosoma and opisthosoma, dorsal view; 7 Epigynum, ventral view; 8 epigynum, dorsal view.
Distribution.
Known only for the
type
locality.
Remarks.
Selenops juxtlahuaca
sp. nov.
can be included in the
debilis
group, by having a leg formula 4-3-2-1, the shape of the tibial apophyses (
Fig. 4
), and by the shape of the epigynum with a subquadate middle field (
Fig. 7
). Six mexican species belong to the
debilis
group:
Selenops abyssus
Muma, 1953
;
S. actophilus
Chamberlin, 1924
;
S. debilis
Banks, 1898
;
S. lepidus
Muma, 1953
;
S. nesophilus
Chamberlin, 1924
; and
S. scitus
Muma, 1953
. Locus typicus of the latter is located in
Guerrero State
.
Selenops juxtlahuaca
sp. nov.
resembles
S. actophilus
in the general shape of the tibial apophyses, but in the new species the VTA has a projection towards the base of the RTA. The conductor of
S. juxtlahuaca
is smaller and thinner than that of
S. actophilus
. The females of
S. juxtlahuaca
differ from those of
S. actophilus
in the shape of the middle field with a posterior projections to the epigastric furrow.
Acknowledgements
. Thanks are due to: Dra. Gabriela Castaño Meneses, Laboratorio de Ecología y Sistemática de Microartrópodos, Facultad de Ciencias, UNAM for the field work support; to Dr. Oscar Francke for the revision of the manuscript and his guidance; and to the Colección Nacional de Arácnidos (CNAN) Instituto de Biología, IBUNAM, for their support; to the microarachnologist and friend Héctor Montaño Moreno, for his great help in the field work; and to J. A. Corronca for help with the literature and his advice on spider taxonomy.
ALEJANDRO VALDEZ MONDRAGÓN
Colección Nacional de Arácnidos (CNAN), Departamento de Zoología, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de
México
(UNAM). Apto. Postal 70-153, C.P. 04510, Ciudad Universitaria,
Distrito Federal
,
México
. E-mail: lat_mactans@yahoo.com.mx