Life on leaves: leaf-dwelling pholcids of Guinea, with emphasis on Crossopriza cylindrogaster Simon, a spider with inverted resting position, pseudo-eyes, lampshade web, and tetrahedral egg-sac (Araneae: Pholcidae)
Author
Huber, Bernhard A.
text
Journal of Natural History
2009
2009-09-11
43
39 - 40
2491
2523
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222930903207876
journal article
10.1080/00222930903207876
1464-5262
5217434
Spermophora dieke
n. sp.
(
Figures 12
,
36–40
,
124–127
,
150
)
Type
Male
holotype
from Forêt Classée de Diéké (
7°32.0′N
,
8°49.9′W
),
Guinée
Forestière,
Guinea
;
430 m
a.s.l.
,
1.xii.2008
(
B.A. Huber
), in
ZFMK
.
Etymology
The species name is taken from the
type
locality and used as a noun in apposition.
Diagnosis
Easily distinguished from known congeners by the strong median projection on the male clypeus (
Figure 36
), and the distally unmodified male chelicerae. A probably closely related, undescribed species (with very similar male palps and chelicerae) occurs in
Ghana
(deposited in MRAC), but in that species the male has paired clypeus projections (B.A. Huber, unpublished data).
Male (
holotype
)
Total body length 1.9, carapace width 0.7. Leg 1 missing, tibia 2: 2.9, tibia 3: 1.9, tibia 4: 2.8, tibia 2 L/d: 43. Habitus as in
Figures 36 and 37
; carapace whitish grey with black margin and short posterior line medially, ocular area and clypeus also mostly black, chelicerae without black marks, sternum pale grey, legs pale ochre-yellow with black marks on femora and tibiae subdistally, abdomen whitish-grey with black marks dorsally and laterally, ventrally two pairs of black marks frontally. Distance PME–PME 115 µm, diameter PME 105 µm, distance PME–ALE 35 µm, no trace of AME. Each triad slightly elevated. No thoracic furrow, only median dark line. Clypeus with distinctive median projection with bifid tip. Chelicerae without distal modification, only pair of light proximo-lateral apophyses. Sternum wider than long (0.55/0.40), unmodified. Palps as in
Figures 124 and 125
, coxa unmodified, trochanter with long ventral and retrolateral apophyses, procursus with retrolatero-ventral flap, distally complex with long sclerotized filament, bulb with proximal sclerite, membranous embolus and sclerotized hooked bulbal apophysis. Legs without spines and curved hairs, few vertical hairs; retrolateral trichobothrium on tibia 2 at 10%; tarsal pseudosegments indistinct, distally ∼10 visible in dissecting microscope.
Figures 124–127.
Spermophora dieke
. (124, 125) Left palp, prolateral and retrolateral views; (126, 127) Cleared female genitalia, ventral and dorsal views. Notes: b, bulb; ba, bulbal apophysis; e, embolus; pp, pore plate; pr, procursus; ta, trochanter apophysis. Scale lines: 0.3 mm.
Female
In general similar to male (
Figure 39
), triads only slightly closer together (distance PME–PME 95 µm), clypeus unmodified. Tibia 1: 4.4 (missing in other female); tibia 2: 2.6, 2.3. The
two females
differ in extent of black pigment: darker female with black sternum and more spots dorsally on abdomen. Epigynum light brown, trapezoidal, weakly protruding, frontal internal structures visible through cuticle (
Figures 38
,
126
); internal genitalia as in
Figures 40
and
127
.
Distribution
Known from
type
locality in
Guinea
only (
Figure 150
).
Material examined
GUINEA
:
Guinée Forestière
:
Forêt Classée de Diéké
, male
holotype
above
;
same data,
2♀
in pure ethanol, in
ZFMK
.