Mesabolivar difficilis (Mello-Leitão, 1918)

Huber, Bernhard A., 2018, The South American spider genera Mesabolivar and Carapoia (Araneae, Pholcidae): new species and a framework for redrawing generic limits, Zootaxa 4395 (1), pp. 1-178 : 111

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.4395.1.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:B43C234D-45C4-4A6D-9836-8A7524A5B291
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5950608
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/160AC713-C61A-FFEA-2A9C-9C86372C78CC
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Mesabolivar difficilis (Mello-Leitão, 1918)
status

Treatment

Mesabolivar difficilis (Mello-Leitão, 1918) View in CoL

Figs 459 View FIGURES 459–469 , 522–524 View FIGURES 520–537

Physocyclus difficile Mello-Leitão, 1918: 112 , figs 28–29 (♀, Brazil: Rio de Janeiro). Physocyclus difficilis: Bonnet 1958: 3650 .

Mesabolivar difficilis: Huber 2000: 235 View in CoL , figs 924–933 (♂ ♀). Machado 2007: 52. Huber & Rheims 2011: 281. Castanheira et al. 2016: 13.

Misidentification (see Note below)

Mesabolivar difficilis: Bonaldo et al. 2009: 220 View in CoL .

Type material. BRAZIL: Rio de Janeiro: 4♂ 4♀ syntypes (? – see Huber 2000), MNRJ, Pinheiro [22.52°S, 44.00°W], leg. C. de Mello-Leitão, examined (Huber 2000). GoogleMaps

New records. BRAZIL: Rio de Janeiro: 2♂ 2♀, ZFMK (Ar 19201), Reserva Ecológica Rio das Pedras (22°59.5’S, 44°06.0’W), 50 m a.s.l., night, 25.ix.2009 (B.A. Huber) GoogleMaps ; 1♂, ZFMK ( Ar 19202), same data but day, 26.ix.2009 GoogleMaps ; 3♀ in pure ethanol, ZFMK ( Br 09-110), same locality, 25–26.ix.2009 (B.A. Huber) GoogleMaps ; 2♂ 4♀, ZFMK ( Ar 19203) and 1♂ 1♀, MNRJ (14320), same locality at 22°59.5’S, 44°06.0’–06.8’W, 50–200 m a.s.l., day, 26.ix.2009 (A. Giupponi) GoogleMaps . 1♂ in pure ethanol, ZFMK (G009), Itatiaia [22.49°S, 44.57°W], 8–15.vi.2001 (H. Japyassú). GoogleMaps

São Paulo: 1♀, ZFMK (Ar 19204), Ubatuba, Fazenda Angelim (23°23.6’S, 45°03.7’W), leaf litter, 16– 18.xii.2003 (B.A. Huber). GoogleMaps

Description (amendments; see Huber 2000). Tibia 1 in six newly examined males: 4.3–5.1 (mean 4.7); in eight females: 3.2–4.0 (mean 3.7). Male leg femora 2 and 3 wider than others (diameters femora 1–4 in one male: 0.20, 0.28, 0.26, 0.19). Male eye measures: distance PME-PME 75 µm, diameter PME 125 µm, distance PME-ALE 60 µm, distance AME-AME 20 µm, diameter AME 30 µm.

Natural history. The spiders were found in leaf litter and under logs.

Distribution. Known from several localities in the Serra da Mantiqueira Mountains, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo sates, Brazil ( Fig. 738 View FIGURES 738–739 ); the species may be even more widely distributed, assuming that Machado’s (2007) record for Minas Gerais state is correct.

Note. The female specimens from Reserva Ducke (Manaus) identified by Bonaldo et al. (2009) as M. difficilis were reexamined (3♀, SMNK-ARA 3008, 12794, 12821). They clearly belong to a different species, most easily distinguished from M. difficilis by the epigynum in lateral view (apophyses shorter and directed towards ventral, not towards frontal (compare Figs 522 and 528 View FIGURES 520–537 ). In addition, the sternum in these females is provided posteriorly with much longer and slightly stronger hairs; in M. difficilis , all hairs on the female sternum are more or less of equal length. Newly collected females from a nearby locality (Amazonas, Presidente Figueiredo, near Maroaga Cave, 2.050°S, 59.972°W) (2♀, ZFMK Ar 19205, and 1♀ in pure ethanol, ZFMK, Br16-342) are very similar to the females from Reserva Ducke but have slightly stronger epigynal apophyses ( Figs 525–527 View FIGURES 520–537 ). Legs of Amazonian specimens tend to be shorter than in M. difficilis (tibia 1 in five females: 2.7–3.0, mean 2.8). Since no males of these Amazonian species are known, they are not formally described here.