Pholcus gaoi Song & Ren, 1994

Zhang, Feng & Zhu, Ming-Sheng, 2009, A review of the genus Pholcus (Araneae: Pholcidae) from China, Zootaxa 2037 (1), pp. 1-114 : 29

Pholcus gaoi Song & Ren, 1994

( Fig. 12 )

Pholcus gaoi Song & Ren 1994: 20 , f. 1–7. Song, Zhu & Chen, 1999: 57, f. 23L–O.

Diagnosis. Among its close relatives within Pholcus (see the remark of P. alloctospilus ), this species is very similar to P. pennatus in the shapes of the palpal bulb and epigynum, both without appendices of palpal bulb ( Fig. 12F ) and with knob-shaped epigynal apophysis and a sclerotized arch anteriorly of epigynum ( Figs. 12B–C ). It can be distinguished from the latter by the shape of the tip of the procursus ( Figs. 12F–G ), by the longer ventral apophysis of the trochanter ( Figs. 12E, F–G ) and by the widely separated pore plates.

Redescription. Male (‘allotype’), total length 5.6: cephalothorax 1.6 long, 1.9 wide; abdomen 3.8 long, 1.6 wide. Leg I: 45.6 (10.8+0.7+11.5+20.2+2.4), tibia II: 7.8, tibia III: 5.5, tibia IV: 6.9; tibia I L/D: 67. Carapace short, broad and almost circular, ochre, with pair of brown marks broadly connecting to ocular area. Cephalic region raised, with brown central stripe, ocular area dark yellow. Clypeus 0.43, slightly ochre, with yellow marks. Distance AME–AME 0.04. Diameter AME 0.10, ALE 0.15, PME 0.13, PLE 0.14. Chelicerae as in Fig. 12D , with pair of black apophyses distally, pair of unsclerotized thumb-shaped apophyses proximolaterally and pair of unsclerotized rounded apophyses proximocentrally. Labium and endites yellow. Sternum slightly ochre, with some irregular yellow marks on it. Femora, patellae and tibiae ochre, with dark rings, metatarsi and tarsi brown. Abdomen cylindrical, pale ochre, dorsum with numerous brown spots on it. Venter pale brown, without marks. Palps as in Figs. 12F and 12G , bulb with triangular uncus and short embolus, without appendix. Trochanter with a long ventral apophysis and a short retrolateral apophysis. Tip of procursus with two spine-shaped apophyses and a hook-shaped projection.

Variation. Tibia I in four other males: 10.2, 10.8, 11.0, 11.6. Body length in four other males: 4.9–5.5.

Female: in general very similar to male. Body length 5.2–6.0. Female (holotype), total length 6.0: cephalothorax 1.5 long, 1.8 wide; abdomen 4.2 long, 2.8 wide. Tibia I 8.4. Prosoma shape as in Fig. 12A . Distance AME–AME 0.03. Diameter AME 0.10, ALE 0.14, PME 0.13, PLE 0.14. Epigynum roughly semicircular as in Fig. 12B , with a small nipple-shaped apophysis on the top. Dorsal view as in Fig. 12C , with a roughly W-shaped sclerotized arch anteriorly and a pair of oval pore plates.

Distribution. Known from type locality only.

Material examined. CHINA: Liaoning, Kuandian County, June, 1986, leg. S. S. Gao, female holotype , male ‘allotype’, 4♂, 2♀ paratypes ( MHBU) .

Figures

FIGURE 12. Pholcus gaoi Song & Ren, 1994 (illustrations modified from Song & Ren 1994). A. female prosoma, dorsal view. B. epigynum, ventral view. C. same, dorsal view. D. male left chelicera, frontal view. E. trochanter of male left palp, retrolaterodorsal view. F. left palp, prolateral view. G. same, retrolateral view. Scale lines: 1.0mm (A), 0.5mm (B–D, F, G), 0.2mm (E).