Mysmenopsis tungurahua, Dupérré & Tapia, 2020

Dupérré, Nadine & Tapia, Elicio, 2020, Megadiverse Ecuador: a review of Mysmenopsis (Araneae, Mysmenidae) of Ecuador, with the description of twenty-one new kleptoparasitic spider species, Zootaxa 4761 (1), pp. 1-81 : 41-43

Mysmenopsis tungurahua new species

Figs 113–118 , map 1 (purple star).

Material examined. Male holotype from Ecuador, Tungurahua Province, Via Baños-Penipe (-01.41315 -78.46967) 2121m, 18 Feb. 2019, ex: Linothele sp. web, E. Tapia.

Etymology. The specific name is a noun in apposition taken from the type locality, Tungurahua volcano.

Diagnosis. This species is differentiated from all species by the combination of the following characters: embolus and embolic apophysis sharply pointed, retrolateral ledge of palpal tibia serrated, bearing four cusps ( Fig. 116 ).

Description. Male (holotype): Total length: 1.98; carapace length: 0.80; carapace width: 0.74; abdomen length: 1.18. Cephalothorax: carapace dark brown, pear-shaped; suffused black along pars cephalica and radiating lines ( Fig. 113 ). Sternum dark brown suffused with black; covered with long setae. Clypeus dark brown; low (3x AME). Chelicerae brown suffused with black; promargin with three teeth; retromargin not observed. Eyes: eight, rounded, all approximately equal size; ocular region on protuberance; AME separated by their diameter, AME-LE touching; ALE-PLE contiguous, LE-PME separated by their diameter; PME separated by their radius. Abdomen: oval, dark grey chevron pattern flanked by white and with white patches ( Figs 113, 114 ). Legs: femur I dark orange-brown; femur II light brown with dark band basally and apically; femora III-IV light yellow with dark ventral band basally, medially and apically; tibiae and metatarsi I-IV light yellow with dark band apically, tarsi light yellow; femur and tibia I enlarged, metatarsus I slightly curved. Legs spination: patellae I-IV with one macroseta; tibia I with two prolateral clasping spurs; metatarsus I row of six macrosetae prolatero-ventrally and two clasping spurs apically ( Fig. 115 ); tibiae I-IV with one macroseta dorso-proximally; femur I with two macrosetae prolaterally; tibia II with three macrosetae ventrally. Total length leg I: 2.89 (0.91/0.28/082/0.42/0.46). Genitalia: palpal tibia elongatedglobular; retrolateral ledge serrated, not extended, bearing four cusps, ventral ledge with two cusps; two retrolateral trichobothria ( Fig. 116 ). Cymbium apically pointed, not excavated; paracymbium large, triangular, deeply excavated prolatero-dorsally ( Fig. 117 ). Tegulum round, apically truncated ( Fig. 116 ). Embolus short, spine-like, with elongated base, embolic apophysis sharply pointed ( Figs 116, 118 ).

Female: Unknown

Distribution. Only known from the type locality in Tungurahua Province.

Natural history. The single male holotype was collected at 2121m in a semideciduous forest and shrubland of the North east Andean valleys (BmMn01) ( Aguirre & Medina-Torres, 2013) in an unknown species of Linothele web.

Figures

FIGURES 113–115. Mysmenopsis tungurahua n. sp., 113, Male habitus, dorsal view. 114, Male abdomen, posterior view. 115, Male leg I, prolatero-dorsal view. Scale bar: 113, 114: 0.5mm; 115: 0.1mm.

FIGURES 116–118. Mysmenopsis tungurahua n. sp., 116, Male palp, retrolateral view. 117, Male palp, prolateral view. 118, Embolus and apophysis retrolateral view.