Malagiella nikina, Ubick & Griswold, 2011

Ubick, Darrell & Griswold, Charles E., 2011, The Malagasy Goblin Spiders Of The New Genus Malagiella (Araneae, Oonopidae), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2011 (356), pp. 1-86 : 82-83

Malagiella nikina , new species Figures 393–410 , 487 ; maps 1, 2, 4; table 1

TYPE: Female holotype from sifted litter in rainforest, 43 km S Ambalavo, 22 ° 149S, 47 ° 009E, 825 m, Massif Andringitra, Fianarantsoa Province, Madagascar (4 Oct 1993, B. Fisher), deposited in CAS (CASENT 9029662, PBI _OON 03384).

ETYMOLOGY: This species is named for Darrell Ubick’s mother, Nikie Ubick, for maintaining cultural ties, and is given in Croatian genitive.

DIAGNOSIS: This species resembles M. vohiparara , from which it differs in being slightly larger, and having a longer dorsal scute (fig. 401), larger eyes (fig. 394), and a less sinuous receptaculum, W/L 5 0.2–0.4 (figs. 403–410, map 4).

MALE. Unknown.

FEMALE (PBI_OON 3386): Total length 1.48 (1.48–1.64), carapace length 0.74 (0.64– 0.74), width 0.60 (0.56–0.62), N 5 4. CEPH- ALOTHORAX (figs. 393–395, 398, 399): Carapace anteriorly narrowed to about 0.49 times its maximum width, surface and sides of elevated portion of pars cephalica finely reticulate (figs. 394, 395, 398, 399). Clypeus subequal to eye area length (fig. 395). Eyes well developed, medium large; eye area width 0.43 carapace width, length 1.5 clypeus length (figs. 394, 398). ABDOMEN (figs. 396, 400– 402): Pedicel tube short (fig. 401), scutum dorsal extension about 0.45 pedicel diameter (fig. 400). Dorsal scutum strongly sclerotized; covering 0.6–0.8 abdomen length (figs. 394, 401), 0.5–0.7 abdomen width (figs. 394, 400). Dense patch of setae anterior to spinnerets present, but weak (fig. 396). LEGS: Spines (in addition to typical pattern) tibia IV v0-0-2, spines weak, shorter than segment length. GENITALIA: Postepigastric scutum weakly sclerotized, receptaculum slightly sinuous, W/ L 5 0.2–0.4 (figs. 403–410, map 4).

OTHER MATERIAL EXAMINED: MADA- GASCAR: Fianarantsoa Province: Massif Andringitra , 43 km S Ambalavo, 22 ° 149S, 47 ° 009E, 825 m, rainforest, sifted litter, 4 Oct 1993 (B. Fisher, CASENT 9029660, PBI _OON 03386), 1♀; ( PBI _OON 03385, CASENT 9029661 ) , 1♀; 8.0 km NE Ivohibe, 22 ° 25.39S, 46 ° 53.99E, 1200 m, forest, pitfall trap, 3–9 Nov 1997 (B. Fisher, CASENT 9029663, PBI _OON 03383), 1♀ .

DISTRIBUTION: Known only from the two localities in the vicinity of Andringitra, Madagascar.

Figures

Figs. 393–402. Malagiella nikina, new species, female (PBI_OON 03384: 393–395, 397; PBI_OON 03386: 396, 398–402). 393. Habitus, ventral view. 394. Same, dorsal view. 395. Same, lateral view. Scale bar 5 1 mm. 396. Abdomen, ventral view. 397. Cephalothorax, ventral view. 398. Same, anterior view. 399. Same, posterior view. 400. Abdomen, anterior view. 401. Same, lateral view. 402. Same, posterior view.

Figs. 403–410. Malagiella nikina, new species, female variation (PBI_OON numbers on figs.). 403, 404. Abdomen, ventral view. 405–408. Epigynal region, ventral view. 409. Same, cleared. 410. Same, lateral view, with arrow to copulatory opening.

Fig. 487. Size variation in Malagiella measured as a function of carapace length to carapace width. Plot is based on measurements of 26 male specimens (‘‘x’’) and 30 female specimens (‘‘o’’). Blue lines enclose male values for a given species and red lines female values; disjunct conspecific readings are connected by straight lines. Green dotted lines enclose the three species groups. Brown dashed lines refer to the size of female DS, with the large dashes (upper right) enclosing species with the largest scutes and small dashes (lower left) those with the smallest. Abbreviations for species names: amba 5 M.ambalavo, andr 5 M. andringitra, fish 5 M. fisheri, good 5 M. goodmani, niki 5 M. nikina, rana 5 M. ranavalona, rano 5 M. ranomafana, toli 5 M. toliara, valt 5 M. valterova, vohi 5 M. vohiparara.