Tolteca, HUBER, 2000

HUBER, BERNHARD A., 2000, New World Pholcid Spiders (Araneae: Pholcidae): A Revision At Generic Level, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2000 (254), pp. 1-348 : 117-121

TOLTECA , NEW GENUS

TYPE SPECIES: Pholcophora hesperia Gertsch, 1982 .

ETYMOLOGY: The generic name honors the Toltecs, a preconquest Mexican people, who were marvelous artisans and architects. The Aztec emperor Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, himself claimed descent from Toltec ancestors. Gender feminine.

DIAGNOSIS: Tiny pholcids (total length 1.1 1.4 mm), with very short legs, globular opisthosoma, eight eyes; distinguished from other North American short-legged genera ( Pholcophora , Chisosa ) by the hook-shaped apophyses distally on the male chelicerae, and the absence of stridulatory ridges on the chelicerae.

DESCRIPTION: Total length ~ 1.1 1.4 mm. Carapace ochre to light brown, with shallow, indistinct thoracic groove (fig. 449), ocular area hardly elevated, with eight eyes, AME only slightly smaller than others; distance PME-ALE small (~ 30% of PME diameter). Male clypeus unmodified. Male chelicerae with pair of hooked apophyses distally, without stridulatory ridges laterally (fig. 453). Male sternum with conspicuous humps frontally (figs. 449 450). Male palpal coxa without retrolateral apophysis, femur almost cylindrical, tibia very short, almost globular (figs. 451 452), procursus very simple, ribbon-shaped (figs. 454 455, 459); bulb large, embolar division gradually tapering; tarsal organ capsulate with small opening (examined: T. hesperia : fig. 75). Legs extremely short (leg 1 about 2 × body length; tibia 1 l/d: 7 8), leg formula 4123; legs without spines, without curved and vertical hairs; retrolateral trichobothrium of tibia 1 very distal (at ~ 65%); tarsus with only ~ 5 6 pseudosegments. Opisthosoma globular, with darker spots dorsally. Male gonopore with four epiandrous spigots in two pairs (examined: T. hesperia : fig. 126). ALS with several piriform gland spigots (examined: T. hesperia : fig. 153), other spinnerets typical for family.

Sexual dimorphism slight; epigynum extremely simple externally; I could not find pore plates.

MONOPHYLY: The two species included (which are possibly synonyms; see Diagnosis of T. jalisco ) have identical male chelicerae and almost identical male palps.

GENERIC RELATIONSHIPS: The genus may be close to several other genera of short-legged pholcids with globular opisthosoma and ninetine tarsal organ (cf. figs. 73 78), especially with Pholcophora (with which it shares the frontal humps on the male sternum and the simple, ribbon-shaped procursus). The close relationship of Tolteca with Ninetis suggested in the cladogram in appendix 2, is probably an artifact due to the poor resolution within ninetines as a result of insufficient data.

DISTRIBUTION/COMPOSITION: Only two described species, widely distributed in Mexico.

Tolteca hesperia (Gertsch, 1982) , new combination Figures 75 , 126 , 153 , 448 457

Pholcophora hesperia Gertsch, 1982: 102 , figs. 34 36, 45 47.

TYPE: Male holotype from 5 mi S Mazatlán , Sinaloa, Mexico ; July 23, 1954 (W. J. Gertsch), in AMNH (examined) .

DIAGNOSIS: Close relative (possibly a synonym) of T. jalisco (see Diagnosis there). Distinguished by the short sclerotized rim dorsally on the bulb of T. jalisco (arrow in fig. 458).

MALE (holotype; see Gertsch, 1982, for measurements and general description): Chelicerae with pair of distal apophyses (fig. 453), without stridulatory files. Procursus with subdistal bulge dorsally (fig. 454). Sternum frontally with pair of humps (figs. 449 450). Legs without spines, without curved and vertical hairs.

Measurements of a male from Oaxaca: Total length: 1.2, carapace width: 0.48; distance PME-ALE about 30% of PME diameter. Leg 1: 1.99 (0.55+0.16+0.50+0.49+0.29), tibia 2: 0.42, tibia 3: 0.39, tibia 4: 0.65; tibia 1 l/ d: 7; retrolateral trichobothrium of tibia 1 at 65%; tarsus 1 with ~ 5 pseudosegments.

VARIATION: Tibia 1 in 3 males (Oaxaca): 0.50 0.57. In the males from Oaxaca, the procursus differs slightly in shape from that in other material (including the type; figs. 454 455). Otherwise there seem to be no differences, so they are here considered conspecific .

FEMALE (Oaxaca): Total length (N = 10) 1.1 1.4; tibia 1 (N = 12) 0.49 0.57 (x¯ = 0.54). Epigynum extremely simple, as in fig. 456, internally as in fig. 457; I could not find pore plates.

DISTRIBUTION: Known from various localities in Mexico, ranging from Sonora to Oaxaca.

MATERIAL EXAMINED (only material including males is listed here; see Remark below): MEXICO: Sinaloa: type above ; 6 mi E Villa Union , July 23, 1954 (W. J. Gertsch), 13 4♀ 2 juveniles in AMNH ; El Esquinal , 62 mi S Culiacan, Aug. 24, 1965 (W. J. Gertsch & R. Hastings), 13 5♀ in AMNH ; 3 mi E Esquinapa , Aug. 1, 1964 (W. J. Gertsch & J. Woods), 13 3♀ in MCZ ; Colima: 10 mi S Colima , Aug. 1, 1954 (W. J. Gertsch), 13 2♀ in AMNH ; Sonora: 40 mi S Culiacan , Aug. 6, 1956 (V. Roth & W. J. Gertsch), 23 1♀ in AMNH ; Oaxaca: 2 mi SE Niltepec (94°33'W, 16°32'N), Aug. 16, 1966 (J. & W. Ivie), 23 2♀ 2 juveniles in AMNH ; 5 mi W Tequisistlan (95°40'W, 16°25'N), Sept. 1, 1964 (J. & W. Ivie), 13 8♀ 1 juvenile in AMNH ; 8 mi W Tehuan- tepec (95°22'W, 16°22'N), Aug. 29, 1966 (J. & W. Ivie), 13 2♀ 1 juvenile in AMNH ; Baja California Sur: nr. La Paz , July 1990 (T. Jackson), 33 in AMNH .

REMARK: The AMNH has several more vials, containing only females. Since the epigynum is so extremely simple and the female of the closely related T. jalisco is unknown, they are here not assigned to any of the two species. This includes material from the following Mexican States: Sinaloa, San Luis Potosí, Colima, Baja California Sur, Sonora, Oaxaca, Puebla.

Tolteca jalisco (Gertsch, 1982) ,

new combination

Figures 458 459

Pholcophora jalisco Gertsch, 1982: 102 104, figs. 40 41.

TYPE: Male holotype from 20 mi N La Quemada , Jalisco, Mexico ; July 28, 1954 (W. J. Gertsch), in AMNH (examined) .

DIAGNOSIS: This species is extremely close to, or a synonym of T. hesperia . Gertsch (1982) mentions four characters in his diagnosis, all of which seem inadequate: total size (1.1 versus 1.17 mm in the holotypes), relative leg length (femur 1/carapace width: ~ 1 versus 1.1), male chelicerae (not distinguishable), and procursus (that of jalisco is said to be thinner; however, direct comparison reveals that this is not the case, and the shape of the jalisco procursus fits well into the range of shapes shown for hesperia ; figs. 454 455, 459). However, the bulb of the jalisco holotype has a tiny sclerotized ridge dorsally (arrow in fig. 458) that is absent in all the hesperia specimens studied. So, for the moment, this is the only character distinguishing the two species.

MALE (holotype): Carapace width 0.47; leg 1: 2.06 (0.59+0.16+0.51+0.49+0.31), tibia 2: 0.43, tibia 3: 0.39, tibia 4 missing; tibia 1 l/d: 8. Habitus, chelicerae, and general palpal morphology identical to T. hesperia (cf. figs. 448 452), also without stridulatory files on chelicerae. Procursus as in fig. 459. Bulb with dorsal sclerotized ridge (fig. 458). Sternum with pair of humps frontally, as in T. hesperia (cf. fig. 450). Legs without spines, without curved and vertical hairs; tarsus 1 with ~ 5 pseudosegments.

FEMALE: Unknown.

DISTRIBUTION: Known only from type locality.

MATERIAL EXAMINED: MEXICO: Jalisco: type above.

Figures

Figs. 73–78. Tarsal organs in ninetines: 73. Ninetis minuta (Berland), male leg 3. 74. Ninetis minuta (Berland), male leg 1. 75. Tolteca hesperia (Gertsch), male palp. 76. Galapa baerti (Gertsch), female palp. 77. Galapa baerti (Gertsch), male palp. 78. Ibotyporanga naideae Mello-Leitão, male palp. Scale lines: 3 µm.

Figs. 125–129. Male gonopore with epiandrous spigots in ninetines. 125. Ninetis namibiae, n. sp. 126. Tolteca hesperia (Gertsch). 127. Galapa baerti (Gertsch). 128. Ibotyporanga naideae Mello-Leitão. 129. Pholcophora americana Banks. Scale lines: 30 µm.

Figs. 152–157. Anterior lateral spinnerets in ninetines. 152. Ninetis namibiae, n. sp., male. 153. Tolteca hesperia (Gertsch), female. 154. Papiamenta levii (Gertsch), female. 155. Pholcophora americana Banks, male. 156. Aucana kaala, n. gen., n. sp., male. 157. Aucana platnicki, n. gen., n. sp., female. Scale lines: 50 µm (154), 10 µm (152–153, 155–157).

Figs. 448 453. Tolteca hesperia (Gertsch), male from Oaxaca. 448 450. Prosoma, dorsal, frontal, and ventral views. 451. Left palp, prolateral view. 452. Left palp, retrolateral view. 453. Chelicerae, frontal view. Scale lines: 0.3 mm (448 450), 0.1 mm (451 453).