Priscula esmeraldas Huber, 2023

Huber, Bernhard A., Meng, Guanliang, Dupérré, Nadine, Astrin, Jonas & Herrera, Mauricio, 2023, Andean giants: Priscula spiders from Ecuador, with notes on species groups and egg-sac troglomorphism (Araneae: Pholcidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 909, pp. 1-63 : 30-34

Priscula esmeraldas Huber sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C9A9D73A-0280-451D-8F95-69C6489E2ABD

Figs 21–24 , 41D, G , 42A–C , 43A, F

Diagnosis

Distinguished from known congeners by details of procursus ( Fig. 22A–C ; distally with unique prolateral process), genital bulb ( Fig. 22D–F ; main bulbal process smaller than in most known congeners and strongly curved), epigynum ( Fig. 24A–B ; shorter than in most known congeners – similar to P. chapintza sp. nov.), and female internal genitalia ( Fig. 23C ; oval pore plates far apart, strongly converging anteriorly).

Type material

Holotype ECUADOR – Cotopaxi • ♂; San Francisco de Las Pampas, Recinto Rio Esmeraldas, PRISTIRANA Natural Reserve ; 0.4228° S, 78.9543° W; 1335 m a.s.l.; 25 Nov. 2019; E.E. Tapia and family leg.; QCAZ.

Paratypes ECUADOR – Cotopaxi • 3 ♂♂, 9 ♀♀; same collection data as for holotype; QCAZ (12 vials) • 1 ♂, 4 ♀♀ (one female used for SEM); same locality as for holotype but 300 m NW; 0.4215° S, 78.9564° W; 1395 m a.s.l.; 12 Oct. 2021; N. Dupérré, E.E. Tapia, and A.A. Tapia leg; QCAZ • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; same collection data as for preceding; ZFMK Ar 24094 .

Other material examined

ECUADOR – Cotopaxi • 4 juvs; same collection data as for holotype; QCAZ .

Etymology

The species name is derived from the type locality, noun in apposition.

Description

Male (holotype)

MEASUREMENTS. Total body length 4.6, carapace width 2.1. Distance PME–PME 180 µm; diameter PME 160 µm; distance PME–ALE 80 µm; distance AME–AME 40 µm; diameter AME 40 µm. ALE and PLE larger than PME (diameterALE210µm,diameter PLE 230µm). Leg1: 46.1 (11.1 +0.9+11.3 +20.3 + 2.5), tibia 2: 8.3, tibia 3: 6.0, tibia 4: 7.6; tibia 1 L/d: 48.

COLOR (in ethanol). Carapace ochre-yellow, with darker median mark and whitish marks beside ocular area, ocular area and clypeus dark ochre; sternum light ochre; legs ochre to light brown, with distinct dark rings on femora (subdistally) and tibiae (proximally and subdistally) each preceded and followed by lighter ring; abdomen dorsally and laterally densely covered with black marks separated by network of small white marks, ventrally with large brown mark in front of gonopore.

BODY. Habitus similar to P. bonita sp. nov. (cf. Fig. 6C ). Ocular area raised, without hump on posterior side, with comb of slightly stronger hairs at median side of each ocular triad. Deep thoracic groove. Clypeus unmodified except slightly sclerotized rim. Sternum wider than long (1.45/0.85), unmodified. Abdomen higher than long, dorso-posteriorly weakly angular.

CHELICERAE. As in Fig. 23A–B , with short entapophyses, pair of short frontal apophyses close to fang joints, without stridulatory ridges.

PALPS. As in Fig. 21A–C ; coxa unmodified, trochanter slightly protruding ventrally, femur large, with unsclerotized retrolateral process proximally followed distally by deep indentation, femur distally ventrally protruding but without additional protrusion of rim; patella ventrally reduced to strongly sclerotized narrow rim; tibia small relative to femur; procursus ( Fig. 22A–C ) with distinct slightly protruding whitish area dorsally, distal part distinctively T-shaped in dorsal view ( Fig. 42B ), with long prolateral process and retrolateral process divided into dorsal and ventral flat elements, prolateral and retrolateral processes set with membranous cushions composed of fringes and hair-like processes ( Fig. 42B–C ); genital bulb ( Fig. 22D–F ) with small proximal sclerite connecting to tarsus, with large whitish area on retrolateral-ventral side, relatively small and strongly curved main bulbal process with obtuse tip.

LEGS. Without spines; with curved hairs on metatarsi 1–3; with few short vertical hairs; retrolateral trichobothrium of tibia 1 at 6%; prolateral trichobothrium present on all leg tibiae; tarsi without regular pseudosegmentation but rather with many irregular platelets.

Male (variation)

Tibia 1 in six males (incl. holotype): 11.1–12.0 (mean 11.5).

Female

In general similar to male but clypeus rim unsclerotized, hairs on ocular area slightly less strong. Tibia 1 in 14 females: 7.7–9.2 (mean 8.6). Tip of palp simple, pointed, with dorsal invagination ( Fig. 43A ). Tarsal organs on palps and legs exposed ( Fig. 43F ). ALS with one strongly widened spigot, one pointed spigot, and one large and four small cylindrical spigots ( Fig. 41D ); with distinctively sculptured area medially in front of ALS ( Fig. 41G ). Epigynum ( Fig. 24A–B ) main anterior plate trapezoidal, wider than long, slightly protruding, internal arc visible through cuticle; posterior epigynal plate medially divided by wide whitish area. Internal genitalia ( Figs 23C , 24C–D ) with simple sclerotized arc, membranous ‘valve’, and pair or oval pore plates far apart.

Distribution

Known from two neighboring sites in San Francisco de Las Pampas, Cotopaxi Province, Ecuador ( Fig. 4B ).

Natural history

The spiders were collected from little cracks and crevices in an outcrop along the river bank. One egg-sac had a diameter of 3.7 mm, and contained ~ 40 eggs with an egg diameter of 0.95 mm.

Figures

Fig. 21. Priscula esmeraldas Huber sp. nov.; male paratype from San Francisco de Las Pampas, QCAZ; left male palp, prolateral, dorsal, and retrolateral views. Scale line: 0.5 mm.

Fig. 22. Priscula esmeraldas Huber; sp. nov., male paratype from San Francisco de Las Pampas, QCAZ. A–C. Left tarsus and procursus, prolateral, dorsal, and retrolateral views; arrows point at distinctive prolateral process, asterisks: whitish protruding area. D–F. Left genital bulb, dorsal, retrolateral, and ventral views. Scale lines: 0.5 mm.

Fig. 23. Priscula esmeraldas Huber sp. nov.; male and female paratypes from San Francisco de Las Pampas, QCAZ. A–B. Male chelicerae, frontal and lateral views. C. Cleared female genitalia, dorsal view. Scale lines: 0.5 mm.

Fig. 24. Priscula esmeraldas Huber sp. nov.; female paratype from San Francisco de Las Pampas, QCAZ. A– B.Abdomen, ventral and lateral views.C–D. Cleared genitalia, ventral and dorsal views. Scale lines: 0.5 mm.

Fig. 41. Priscula spp., SEM photographs of female ocular areas and spinnerets. A–B. Ocular areas, frontal views; Priscula pastaza Huber sp. nov. (A) and P. lumbaqui Huber sp. nov. (B). C–E. ALS, P. pastaza (C), P. esmeraldas Huber sp. nov. (D), and P. lumbaqui sp. nov. (E). F–H. Distinctive structures in front of spinnerets (in place of colulus); P. chapintza Huber sp. nov. (F), P. esmeraldas (G), and P. pastaza (H). Scale lines: 100 µm (A–B); 10 µm (C–G); 2 µm (H).

Fig. 42. Priscula spp., SEM photographs of male pedipalps. A–C. Tip of left procursus in dorsal view (A) and hair-like processes on its prolateral (B) and retrolateral (C) sides; P. esmeraldas Huber sp. nov. D–E. Tip of left procursus in retrolateral view (D) and hair-like processes in more detail (E); P. pastaza Huber sp. nov. F–G. Left procursus and bulb of P. bonita Huber sp. nov., showing position of tarsal organ (arrow in F) and position of sperm duct opening (arrow in G). H. Sperm duct opening (arrow) on bulbal process in P. pastaza. Scale lines: 100 µm (A, F–G); 10 µm (B–C, E); 20 µm (D, H).

Fig. 43. Priscula spp., SEM photographs of female palps and of male and female tarsal organs. A–B. Tips of female palps in dorsal views; Priscula esmeraldas Huber sp. nov. (A) and P. lumbaqui Huber sp. nov. (B). C. Male palpal tarsal organ, P. pastaza Huber sp. nov. D. Female palpal tarsal organ, P. lumbaqui. E–H. Female tarsal organs on leg 1 (E, P. lumbaqui), leg 2 (F, P. esmeraldas), leg 3 (G, P. pastaza), and leg 4 (H, P. pastaza). Scale lines: 10 µm (A, C–F); 20 µm (B); 2 µm (G–H).

Fig. 6. Priscula spp., binghamae and andinensis groups, live specimens. A–B. P. pastaza Huber sp. nov.; male and female with egg-sac from Cavernas del Anzu Forest Reserve. C–D. P. bonita Huber sp. nov.; male from La Bonita-Santa Barbara and female with egg-sac from Gruta de los Tayos. E–F. P. lumbaqui Huber sp. nov.; male and female from near Lumbaqui.

Fig. 4. Known distribution of Priscula in Ecuador. A. Representatives of the gularis group. Circles: P. gularis (TL=type locality) and specimens treated herein as “P. gularis?” and “P. cf. gularis”. Squares: other Ecuadorian representatives of the gularis group. B. Representatives of the andinensis group (red) and binghamae group (blue) in Ecuador. The background colors indicate biogeographic regions of Ecuador (as far as relevant for Priscula, i.e., Andean regions from western foothill forests to eastern foothill forests), taken from Torres-Carvajal et al. (2019).