Revision and cladistic analysis of the Guineo-Congolian spider genus Smeringopina Kraus (Araneae, Pholcidae
Author
Huber, Bernhard A.
text
Zootaxa
2013
3713
1
1
160
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.3713.1.1
935605ac-a0e6-4963-8264-b4b0ccb8568b
1175-5326
284803
C5F0BC11-92C0-4B30-9DB3-200882AC8950
Smeringopina bwiti
new species
Figs. 12
,
504–508
,
523–524
,
532
,
603–608
,
615–620
Type
. ♂
holotype
from
Gabon
, Ngounié, near Moulandoufouala (
1°38.1’S
,
10°42.5’E
),
110 m
a.s.l., forest along road,
27.viii.2011
(B.A. & S.R. Huber), in ZFMK (Ar 10279).
Other material examined.
GABON
:
Ngounié
: near Moulandoufouala: same data as
holotype
,
6♂
6♀
1 juv.
in ZFMK (Ar 10280); same data,
1 juv.
in pure ethanol, in ZFMK (Gab 187).
Moyen-Ogooué
: S Lambaréné near
Tchad
(
0°58.1’S
,
10°22.7’E
),
165 m
a.s.l., forest,
27.viii.2011
(B.A. & S.R. Huber),
5♂
1♀ in ZFMK (Ar 10281).
Etymology. Named derived from
bwiti
, a belief system that incorporates animism, ancestor worship, and Christianity, practiced by the Babongo and Mitsogo peoples of
Gabon
; noun in apposition.
Diagnosis. Easily distinguished from similar congeners (large species with long abdomen, cone-shaped modified hairs on male chelicerae, simple unbranched procursus) by distinctive dorsal process on procursus (
Figs. 604
,
615–617
), membranous ‘wings’ along second half of embolus (
Fig. 607
), and by transversal light element ventrally on abdomen (
Fig. 523
); also by modified male clypeus (similar to
S. djidji
but modified hairs on distinct humps); by shapes of male cheliceral apophyses (
Fig. 605
; similar
S. simplex
but distal apophyses directed more forward), and anterior epigynal plate straight in lateral view (
Fig. 524
; similar
S. etome
).
Male (
holotype
). Total body length 6.5, carapace width 1.8. Leg 1: 76.5 (18.0 + 0.8 + 17.5 + 36.7 + 3.5), tibia 2: 11.7, tibia 3: 7.7, tibia 4: 10.0; tibia 1 L/d: 104. Distance PME-PME 210 µm, diameter PME 160 µm, distance PME-ALE 70 µm, distance AME-AME 35 µm, diameter AME 160 µm. Carapace ochre with brown mark posteriorly and brown lateral margins; ocular area posteriorly brown, clypeus lower half brown, sternum frontally dark brown, posteriorly ochre-orange; legs ochre-yellow, slightly darker rings subdistally on femora and tibiae and in patella area, tips of femora and tibiae whitish; abdomen ochre-gray with distinct black pattern dorsally, laterally, and ventrally. Habitus as in
Figs. 504–505
, ocular area slightly elevated, secondary eyes with distinct ‘pseudolenses’; clypeus with pair of distinct humps, each with two small modified (cone-shaped) hairs; deep thoracic pit and pair of shallow furrows diverging behind pit. Chelicerae as in
Figs. 605
and
620
, with lateral proximal apophyses and distal apophyses; distal apophyses and frontal cheliceral face provided with several modified (coneshaped) hairs (
Fig. 619
). Palps as in
Figs. 506–508
; coxa unmodified; trochanter with retrolatero-ventral apophysis; femur proximally with ventral sclerotized ridge but without pocket, with small retrolateral apophysis, without prolateral modification; prolateral femur-patella joint shifted toward ventrally (though not extremely); tarsus with some stronger hairs dorsally; procursus without (or with extremely indistinct) hinge between proximal and distal part, with distinctive dorsal process (
Figs. 603–604
,
617
); bulb with widened but weakly sclerotized proximal part of embolus and membranous ‘wings’ along second half of embolus (
Fig. 607
). Legs without spines and curved hairs, with few vertical hairs (many hairs missing), retrolateral trichobothrium on tibia 1 at 1.5%; prolateral trichobothrium present on all tibiae; pseudosegments barely visible. Gonopore apparently with two epiandrous spigots (not confirmed by SEM).
Variation. Clypeus humps variably distinct, with 1–3 modified hairs each; dorsal process on procursus slightly variable in shape (
Figs. 615–617
), also among specimens of same locality; sternum variably dark (entirely ochreorange to entirely brown or as in
type
). Tibia
1 in
11 other males: 15.7–20.9 (mean 18.0).
Female. In general similar to male; clypeus unmodified, variably dark. Tibia
1 in
7 females
: 13.5–15.6 (mean 14.2). Epigynum consisting of trapezoidal anterior plate straight in lateral view and large posterior plate (
Figs. 523–524
,
606
); internal genitalia as in
Figs. 532
,
608
,
618
.
Distribution. Known from two localities in western
Gabon
(
Fig. 468
).