Rhene formosa, Rollard & Wesołowska, 2002

Rollard, Christine & Wesołowska, Wanda, 2002, Jumping spiders (Arachnida, Araneae, Salticidae) from the Nimba Mountains in Guinea, Zoosystema 24 (2), pp. 283-307 : 304-305

Rhene formosa n. sp.

( Fig. 16)

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype: Mountain Leclerc , 1550 m a.s.l., on ground in low vegetation, 23.III.1991, leg. C. Rollard,; paratype: same locality, 1250 m a.s.l., 23.III.1991, leg. C. Rollard, 1.

ETYMOLOGY. — The specific name is Latin for “shapely”, and refers to the body shape of this species.

DIAGNOSIS. — The female of this species may be separated from other members of the genus by its considerably longer and thinner seminal ducts and the extremely heavily sclerotized surroundings of the copulatory openings. The internal structure of the epigyne slightly resembles Zeuxippus pallidus Thorell, 1895 , but the latter species has weakly sclerotized vicinity of the gonopores (see Zabka 1985).

DESCRIPTION

Male unknown.

Female. Measurements: carapace length 2.2, width 2.1, height 0.9. Abdomen length 3.5, width 2.3. Eye field length 1.3, anterior width 1.3, posterior width 2.1. General appearance as in Fig. 16A. Carapace very flat and wide, with large trapezoid eye field. Coloration of carapace dark brown, eyes surrounded by black. Ocular area punctured reticulate. Brown and grey hairs cover carapace. White hairs form very narrow line behind eyes of first row, at anterior edge of carapace. Clypeus very low, dark. Chelicerae dark brown, two teeth on promargin and one on retromargin. Labium and maxillae brown. Abdomen elongated, light beige with silver lustre, only traces of brownish pattern anteriorly. Venter light brown. Sparse brown hairs on abdomen, denser and longer at its anterior edge. Spinnerets brown. Legs brownish. First pair thickest, larger and darker than remaining ones, with long hairs on ventral surfaces of their patellae and tibiae. Epigyne large, strongly sclerotized, with shallow depression centrally ( Fig. 16B). Copulatory openings hidden in very strongly sclerotized “baskets”, seminal ducts long and thin ( Fig. 16C).