Priscula piedraensis González-Sponga, 1999

Huber, Bernhard A. & Villarreal, Osvaldo, 2020, On Venezuelan pholcid spiders (Araneae, Pholcidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 718, pp. 1-317 : 233

Priscula piedraensis González-Sponga, 1999

Figs 800–801 , 814–817 , 823–825 , 1060

Priscula piedraensis González-Sponga, 1999: 145 , figs 38–46 (♂ ♀).

Notes

The exact type locality is unclear. According to the collection card, it is between Santo Domingo and Las Piedras (i.e., approximately 8.88° N, 70.66° W); according to the original description it is in the surroundings of Las Piedras (i.e., approximately 8.89° N, 70.64° W). Each of our two new collecting sites below is close to one of the two possible original collecting sites.

The male palp of the male holotype is very similar to that of P. andinensis González-Sponga, 1999 , but the procursus is ventrally weakly curved rather than equipped with a strong protrusion (arrows in Figs 805 and 815 ). Some males herein assigned to P. andinensis (e.g., from Mesa Bolívar, SE Pregonero, etc.) are somewhat intermediate, though closer to the types of P. andinensis . It is thus unclear if the single male specimen known of P. piedraensis is just a morphologically unusual specimen of P. andinensis or if it represents a separate species indeed.

Females of the two species appear indistinguishable, both externally and internally ( Figs 816–817 ; the epigynum of the female paratype of P. piedraensis was not cleared; Figs 823–825 are from a newly collected specimen). The female specimens listed below are assigned to this species (rather than to P. andinensis ) only because of the geographic proximity to the type locality. Tibia 1 in four newly collected females: 6.6, 6.7, 6.9, 7.2.

Types

VENEZUELA – Mérida • ♂ holotype, 1 ♀ paratype, 1 juv., MIZA 105603 ( MAGS 1067 ), between Santo Domingo and Las Piedras [approximately 8.88° N, 70.66° W; see Notes above], 21 Jun. 1987 (A. R. Delgado, M.A. González S.); examined .

New records

VENEZUELA – Mérida • 2 ♀♀, ZFMK (22096), and 1 ♀, 1 juv. in pure ethanol, ZFMK (Ven20-107), Las Piedras , ‘site 2’ (8.9002° N, 70.6279° W), 1700 m a.s.l., at rocks near river, 7 Feb. 2020 (B.A. Huber, O. Villarreal M., Q. Arias C.) • 1 ♀, 1 juv., ZFMK (22097) (one leg transferred into pure ethanol, Ven18-234), between Santo Domingo and Las Piedras (8.8765° N, 70.6553° W), 1760 m a.s.l., 27 Nov. 2018 (B.A. Huber, O. Villarreal M.) .

Distribution

Known from near Las Piedras only, in Venezuela , Mérida (Fig. 1060).

Natural history

The types were collected from cavities formed by erosion in road cuts ( González-Sponga 1999). The newly collected specimens were found in small cavities on an exposed, vertical rock wall at the riverside.

Figures

Figs 796–803. Priscula Simon, 1893; live specimens. 796–799. P. andinensis González-Sponga, 1999; male and female from Mérida, Mucuy (796, 797), female with egg sac from Trujillo, between Boconó and Burbusay (798), light juvenile from Lara, between Barquisimeto and Boconó (799, ZFMK Ven18-205). 800–801. P. piedraensis González-Sponga, 1999; females from Mérida, Las Piedras. 802–803. P. piapoco Huber, 2000; females with egg sacs from Mérida, La Carbonera.

Figs 814–817. Priscula piedraensis González-Sponga, 1999; male holotype and female paratype from Mérida, between Santo Domingo and Las Piedras (MIZA 105603; MAGS 1067). 814–815. Left male pedipalp, prolateral and retrolateral views (arrow: distinctive ventral protrusion of procursus; compare Fig. 805). 816–817. Epigynum, ventral and lateral views. Scale lines: 1 mm.

Figs 820–828. Priscula Simon, 1893; epigyna, ventral views and cleared female genitalia, ventral and dorsal views. 820–822. P. andinensis González-Sponga, 1999; from Mérida, Mucuy (ZFMK Ar 22085). 823–825. P. piedraensis González-Sponga, 1999; from Mérida, Las Piedras (type locality; ZFMK Ar 22096). 826–828. P. piapoco Huber, 2000; from Mérida, La Carbonera (type locality; ZFMK Ar 22098).

Figs 804–807. Priscula andinensis González-Sponga, 1999; types from Mérida, La Azulita (MIZA 105738; MAGS 955). 804–805. Left male pedipalp, prolateral and retrolateral views (arrow: distinctive ventral protrusion of procursus; compare Fig. 815). 806–807. Epigynum, ventral and lateral views. Scale lines: 1 mm.