Papiamenta, 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 : 121

PAPIAMENTA , NEW GENUS

TYPE SPECIES: Pholcophora levii Gertsch, 1982 .

ETYMOLOGY: The generic name is derived from Papiamento, a language spoken on the Netherlands Antilles. Gender feminine.

DIAGNOSIS: Small pholcids (total length 1.5 2 mm), with short legs, globular opisthosoma, eight eyes, and stridulatory files on the chelicerae; distinguished from the similar genus Pholcophora and from other short-legged genera by the complex bulb and the almost absent procursus.

DESCRIPTION: Total length ~ 1.5 2 mm. Carapace with shallow but distinct thoracic groove, ocular area slightly elevated, with eight eyes, AME smallest; distance PME- ALE relatively small (~ 40 50% of PME diameter). Male clypeus unmodified. Male chelicerae with pair of large apophyses proximally, with stridulatory ridges laterally (figs. 468, 470). Male sternum without humps. Male palpal coxa without retrolateral apophysis, femur almost cylindrical, tibia globular, procursus very short and simple (fig. 464); bulb complex, with several sclerotized and unsclerotized elements in embolar division (figs. 467, 473); tarsal organ capsulate with small opening (examined: P. levii female). Legs very short (leg 1 about 2.5 × body length; tibia 1 l/d: 9 10), leg formula 4123; legs without spines and curved hairs, with some vertical hairs on tibiae; retrolateral trichobothrium of tibia 1 very distal (at 60 66%); tarsus 1 with only ~ 6 pseudosegments. Opisthosoma globular, with darker spots dorsally. Male epigastric system not examined; ALS with piriform gland spigots (examined: P. levii female: fig. 154), other spinnerets typical for family (fig. 142).

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

MONOPHYLY: The two species included share the extremely short and simple procursus, and the complex bulb.

GENERIC RELATIONSHIPS: The genus may be close to several other genera of short-legged pholcids with globular opisthosoma, es- pecially to Pholcophora , with which it shares a very simple procursus, long proximal apophyses on the male chelicerae, and the shallow thoracic groove. The genitalia in these genera, however, are quite different (in the case of Pholcophora , the bulb and the palpal femur).

DISTRIBUTION/COMPOSITION: Only two described species, from the Netherlands Antilles.