Notes on Phalangiidae (Arachnida: Opiliones) of southern Africa with description of new species and comments on within-species variation
Author
Taylor, Christopher K.
text
Zootaxa
2017
4272
2
236
250
journal article
32958
10.11646/zootaxa.4272.2.5
7920f4c8-415e-46cb-a9d9-1939ddedaa80
1175-5326
583862
64441FD6-9C26-4765-96D0-858D46BC39D2
Rhampsinitus discolor
(
Karsch 1878b
)
Fig. 3
.
Phalangium discolor
Karsch 1878b
: 311
.
Rhampsinitus discolor
(Karsch)
:
Staręga 1984
: 59
–60 (including synonymy).
Material
examined.
KENYA
:
2 males
,
2 females
, Kibwezi,
30.xii.1959
,
E. S. Ross
; 1 male, 2 females, Kibwezi,
900 m
,
5.xii.1967
, E. S. Ross & A. R. Stephen (CAS).
FIGURE 3.
Rhampsinitus discolor
(Karsch 1878b)
, male. A: frontolateral view; B: dorsal view; C: penis, right lateral view; D: penis, dorsal view.
Notes.
Staręga (1984)
provided a redescription of this species, with which the specimens on hand are in agreement except for the presence of a small finger-like apophysis on the pedipalpal patella of the male;
Staręga (1984)
indicated that such an apophysis was present in the female only. However, the original description of
Rhampsinitus filipes
Roewer 1917
, which
Staręga (1984)
placed as a synonym of
R. discolor
, does describe it as possessing a pedipalpal apophysis. As the current male specimen otherwise resembles Staręga’s (1984) description in cheliceral and pedipalpal armature, It seems likely that the differences between the two lie within the scope of individual variation. A dorsal view of the male is shown for comparative purposes in figure 3; other diagnostic features, including the penis, were illustrated by
Staręga (1984)
.