Speocera musgo, Dupérré, Nadine, 2015

Dupérré, Nadine, 2015, Descriptions of twelve new species of ochyroceratids (Araneae, Ochyroceratidae) from mainland Ecuador, Zootaxa 3956 (4), pp. 451-475 : 457-459

Speocera musgo new species

Figs 9–12 , map 1.

Type material. Male holotype from Ecuador, Cotopaxi Province, Otonga Biological Reserve (00.42261°S 79.51070°W), 2225m, 15 October 2014, collected in “ musgo de arboles entre 0.5–3m ”, Berlese extraction, E. Tapia ( QCAZ). EXAMINED. Two female paratypes, same data. EXAMINED.

Other material examined. Ecuador: Cotopaxi Province: Otonga Biological Reserve (00.42261°S 79.51070°W), 2225m, 1♂ 2♀, 15 October 2014, collected in “ musgo de arboles de 0.5–3m ”, Berlese extraction, E. Tapia ( MECN); 1♂ 3♀ ( AMNH); 1♂ 6♀ (DTC); Otonga Biological Reserve, 04–07 September 2014, 5♂ 7♀, sifting moss, Berlese extraction, E. Tapia, C. Tapia, N. Dupérré (DTC).

Etymology. The specific epithet is a non-Latin noun (invariable), taken from the Spanish language meaning moss.

Diagnosis. Males can be distinguished from all Speocera by their elongated, transparent embolus ( Fig. 10 ); females are distinguished by their elongated afferent spermathecae ( Fig. 11 ), from S. eleonorae by the presence of fully developped eyes, from S. irritans and S. jaquemarti by the uniformly purplish abdomen, reticulated blackpurple and withish in the two latter species.

Description. Male: Total length: 0.87; carapace length: 0.42; carapace width: 0.33.

PROSOMA: Carapace broadly oval; narrowing gradually anteriorly; shiny, light yellow with purplish pattern (similar to O. violacea ); pars cephalica flat; fovea not visible. Sternum light yellow, strongly suffused with purplish color; as long as wide. Endites light yellow suffused with purplish tinge; labium light yellow suffused with purplish tinge; notch. Clypeus nearly vertical; short, diameter of PME. Chelicerae light yellow; promargin with a series of six to seven teeth reaching the lamina ( Fig. 12 ); retromargin without denticles. EYES: Six contiguous eyes surrounded by black pigmentation; PME elongated oval; ALE rounded, smallest; PLE rounded, largest. OPISTHOSOMA: Elongated oval; uniformly purplish; tracheal spiracle half way between epigastric furrow and spinnerets. LEGS: Yellow; leg formula 4123; legs total length: I: 1.4; II: 1.3; III: 1.1; IV: 1.5. GENITALIA: Palpal femur long; palpal tibia with two dorsal tricobothria ( Fig. 9 ). Cymbium conical, without prolateral extension ( Fig. 10 ). Bulb almost oval ( Fig. 10 ). Embolus transparent, with two associated sclerites: an elongated, hook-shaped one and a large, semi-transparent, folded one; sperm duct very large initially reducing to about seven times its size ( Figs 9, 10 ).

Female: Total length: 1.0; carapace length: 0.5; carapace width: 0.4. PROSOMA: Carapace, sternum, chelicerae, endites and labium: as in male. EYES: As in male. OPISTHOSOMA: Globular to oval; uniformly purplish; tracheal spiracle half way between epigastric furrow and spinnerets. LEGS: As in male; leg formula 4123; legs total length: I: 1.5; II: 1.3; III: 1.2; IV: 1.6. GENITALIA: Internal genitalia with elongated, curved afferent spermathecae, extending along the side of the abdomen ( Fig. 11 ); spermathecae not observed.

Distribution. Ecuador: Cotopaxi Province.

Natural history. Collected in moss from trees at 0.5 to 3 m high in cloud forest.

Figures

FIGURES 9 – 12. Speocera musgo sp. n. Male 9 – 10. Female 11 – 12. 9. Palp, retrolateral view. 10. Palp, prolateral view. 11. Internal genitalia, dorsal view. 12. Chelicerae, posterior view.