Perania deelemanae, Schwendinger, 2013

Schwendinger, Peter J., 2013, A taxonomic revision of the spider genus Perania Thorell, 1890 (Araneae: Tetrablemmidae: Pacullinae) with the descriptions of eight new species, Revue suisse de Zoologie 120 (4), pp. 585-663 : 647-651

Perania deelemanae sp. n. Figs 31-33

HOLOTYPE: MHNG, sample Sum-00/18; Ƌ; Indonesia, Sumatra, Bengkulu Province, Lembah Sungai Ketahun Hulu, about 70 km NW of Curup, road from Muara Aman to Ketenong (about 2°53’S, 102°03’E), 730 m; 24.II.2000; leg. P. J. Schwendinger.

PARATYPES: MHNG, sample Sum-00/18; 1 Ƌ, 2 ♀ (one of them the “ allotype ”); same data as for holotype . – MHNG, sample Sum-00/19; 1 Ƌ, 2 ♀; Indonesia, Sumatra, Bengkulu Province, Taba Penanjung Reserve, road from Taba Penanjung to Kepahiang (about 3°41’S, 102°32’30”E), 630-770 m; 27.II.2000. All leg. P. J. Schwendinger.

ETYMOLOGY: This species is dedicated to Christa Deeleman-Reinhold, a distinguished Indonesian-born expert in Tetrablemmidae and in spiders of Indonesia.

DIAGNOSIS: Similar to P. nigra , both sexes distinguished by larger size, lacking humps on “thoracic” portion of carapace, and possessing conical microplates on anterior side of opisthosoma. Males distinguished by a distinct clypeal process, a longer cymbium, and a somewhat lanceolate apex of embolus. Females distinguished from those of P. nigra by an indistinct clypeal tubercle (not present in all specimens), a fragmented (but incompletely so) anterior opisthosomal plate, a longer anterior vulval collar, and spermathecae with a less strongly invaginated common anterior margin and with medially not interconnected, more thick-walled internal chambers enforced with ribs.

DESCRIPTION OF MALE (holotype): Colour (in alcohol) generally dark brown, carapace, chelicerae and ventral sclerites darker than other sclerites; membranous parts of opisthosoma light grey-brown. Clypeus with medium-sized digitiform median process (Fig. 31A-B). Fovea composed of an indistinct anterior pit continuing into a shallow longitudinal furrow. Total length 9.2. Carapace 4.7 long, 2.5 wide; clypeal process 0.7 long, occupying 14% of carapace length. Eye sizes and interdistances: PME 0.26 long, separated by 0.16; ALE 0.26 long; ALE-PLE 0.08; PLE 0.26 long, separated by 1.09. Labium 0.8 long, 1.0 wide. Sternum 2.6 long, 1.8 wide. Chelicerae without modifications; right chelicera with two teeth on anterior margin of fang furrow, left one with one tooth.

Palp 4.0 long (1.1+0.6+1.1+1.2). Cymbium with relatively long, narrowly truncate apex (Fig. 32A). Palpal organ with ovoid bulbus and long, sigmoid embolus, transition between them U-shaped (Fig. 32C); embolus fairly straight in proximal portion, bent in distal portion; apex of embolus deep and somewhat lanceolate, with short, widely rounded subterminal lamella, and obliquely truncate embolic part with its narrowly rounded upper corner projecting far beyond its widely rounded lower corner and far beyond the subterminal lamella (Fig. 32B, D-E).

Legs 3241. Seven (on right side) and eleven (on left side) conical setal bases distributed over almost entire length of metatarsus I prolaterally and proventrally, four (on right side) and five (on left side) over distal half of tibia I prolaterally. Paired leg claws with a row of 13-14 teeth on anterior legs, 10-11 on posteriors; unpaired leg claws with one denticle. Leg I 16.4 long (5.0+1.6+5.2+3.2+1.4), leg II 13.0 long (3.8+1.4+3.7+2.8+1.3), leg III 10.1 long (3.0+1.1+2.4+2.5+1.1), leg IV 13.4 long (4.0+1.3+3.5+3.4+1.2).

Opisthosoma 4.5 long, 3.2 wide. Dorsal scutum 4.1 long, 2.7 wide, somewhat oval, posteriorly wider than anteriorly, its surface with indistinct low tubercles and

FIG. 31

Perania deelemanae sp. n., male holotype (A-B), male paratype from type locality (C), male paratype from Taba Penanjung (D), two female paratypes (E-F), female “ allotype ” (G-I). (A) Carapace, dorsal view. (B) Same, lateral view. (C-G) Anterior portion of carapace, dorsal view. (H) Same, lateral view. (I) Upper anterior side of opisthosoma showing fragmented anterior plate. Scale lines 1.0 mm (A-H; I).

ridges. A few microplates fused to anterior margin of pulmonary plate being slightly elevated and conical; all other microplates flat. Lateral microplates in anterior portion of opisthosoma relatively large, quadrangular and closely packed; a few microplates in lowest band anterolaterally on opisthosoma fused with each other. Four broken FIG. 32

Perania deelemanae sp. n., male holotype (A-E), male paratype from Taba Penanjung (F). (A) Left cymbium, dorsal view. (B) Left palpal organ, distal view. (C) Distal portion of left palp, retrodorsal view. (D, F) Apex of left embolus, proximal view. (E) Apex of right embolus, distal view. Scale line 0.5 mm.

horizontal strap-like plates on posterior side of opisthosoma. Pulmonary plate 3.1 long, 2.4 wide; genital region flat. Anterior pair of ventrolateral plates largely fused with lateral margin of pulmonary plate, only anterior tips free. Postgenital plate completely fused to pulmonary plate, linked by an indistinct sclerotised suture. Preanal plate 0.2 long, 0.8 wide, somewhat eliptical, with distinctly convex anterior margin and indistinctly concave posterior margin. Anal plate 0.9 long, 1.2 wide.

DESCRIPTION OF FEMALE (“ allotype ”): As in male, except for the following. Colour slightly darker, especially of legs and dorsal scutum. Total length 9.4. Carapace 4.6 long, 2.8 wide. PME 0.30 long, 0.23 apart; ALE 0.30 long, ALE-PLE 0.10; PLE 0.29 long, 1.38 apart. Clypeal process developed as an indistinct conical tubercle (Fig. 31G-H). Fovea with pronounced anterior pit. Labium 0.8 long, 1.1 wide. Sternum 2.8 long, 2.0 wide. Palp 3.8 long (1.0+0.6+0.8+1.4). Legs 3241; tibia I and metatarsus I without conical setal bases. Paired leg claws with 14-17 teeth on anterior legs, 10-13 on posteriors. Leg I 14.8 long (4.4+1.5+4.4+3.1+1.4), leg II 12.3 long (3.6+1.4+3.4+2.7+1.2), leg III 10.0 long (3.0+1.2+2.3+2.4+1.1), leg IV 13.0 long (3.9+1.3+3.3+3.3+1.2).

Opisthosoma 5.4 long, 3.9 wide. Dorsal scutum 3.9 long, 2.7 wide, its surface with indistinct tubercles. Anterior plate fragmented into several microplates and three small plates, the median one of them being inverted anchor-shaped (Fig. 31I). A few

FIG. 33

Perania deelemanae sp. n., females; “ allotype ” (A-C), paratype from the type locality (D), paratype from Taba Penanjung (E). (A) Vulva dorsal view. (B, D-E) Same, ventral view. (C) Same, anterior view. Scale line 0.5 mm.

isolated microplates above dorsal margin of partially fragmented anterior plate and several microplates near posterior and posterolateral margin of dorsal plate slightly elevated and conical. All microplates on posterior and lateral sides of opisthosoma isolated. Pulmonary plate 2.5 long, 2.7 wide; genital region bulged, with curved wrinkles; posterior margin straight. Preanal plate reduced to a horizontal, compassneedle-shaped sclerite. Anal plate 0.9 long, 1.2 wide.

Vulva relatively short; anterior collar short, its widely rounded anterior margin only slightly surpassing common anterior margin of spermathecae in the middle (Fig. 33A); spermathecae short and wide, with an indistinct median invagination in common anterior margin, ventral side between porepatches and internal chambers unpigmented, anterior and lateral sides bulged, without trenches (Fig. 33C); porepatches extending far onto dorsal side of spermathecae; ventral wall of spermathecae with a pair of large, grain-shaped internal chambers with thick walls and longitudinal enforcement ribs; both chambers prominent (especially near middle of vulva), distinctly separated from each other, without interconnecting bridge (Fig. 33B); ventral wall of genital atrium with pigmented median zone sharply outlined and posteriorly widened, lateral zones unpigmented (Fig. 33A-B).

VARIATION: Carapace length in three males (four females) ranges 4.7-5.1 (4.2-4.6), carapace width 2.5-2.7 (2.7-2.8). Variation in the shape of the clypeal process of males is shown in Fig. 31A-D. Three females have a small, conical, pointed tubercle on the clypeus (Fig. 31F-H), one female lacks such a tubercle (Fig. 31E). The sclerotised suture linking the pulmonary plate and the postgenital plate is distinct in one male, indistinct in the two others. The female “ allotype ” has the large central fragment of the anterior opisthosomal plate in the shape of an inverted anchor (Fig. 31I), in the other three females examined it is a simple longitudinal bar which is dorsally slightly wider than ventrally. Only the female “ allotype ” has a quite wide rudimentary preanal plate, in the other conspecific females this is completely fragmented into microplates. Variation in the shape of the embolus of two males is shown in Fig. 32B, D-F, variation in the shape of the vulva of three females in Fig. 33B, D-E.

RELATIONSHIPS: The new species is most similar and probably most closely related to P. selatan sp. n.; Perania nigra , P. armata and P. kirinchica appear to be the closest relatives of these two species.

DISTRIBUTION: Known from two localities in the Barisan mountain range to the north and northeast of Bengkulu city (Fig. 1, localities 33-34).

BIOLOGY: The spiders examined were collected from webs on exposed earthbanks on one side of a dirt road running through fields (near a recently cleared patch of rainforest and not far from a stream) in the Lembah Sungai Ketahun Hulu, and from under decaying logs on the floor of a rain forest in the Taba Penanjung Reserve.