Pisaboa fombonai Huber, 2020

Huber, Bernhard A. & Villarreal, Osvaldo, 2020, On Venezuelan pholcid spiders (Araneae, Pholcidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 718, pp. 1-317 : 213-216

Pisaboa fombonai Huber sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:7E9E992E-D750-4245-B04F-39A628AF1F15

Figs 742–744 , 750–757 , 764–766 , 1063

Diagnosis

Distinguished from known congeners by shape of procursus ( Figs 750–752 ; wide in lateral view, narrow and bent in dorsal view; with distinctive distal elements; straight in lateral view rather than S-shaped as in very similar P. lionzae Huber sp. nov.), by shape of genital bulb ( Figs 754–756 ; large retrolateral whitish process; very similar to P. lionzae Huber sp. nov.), and by shape of epigynal plate ( Fig. 764 ; anterior plate roundish with pair of deep pockets close to posterior margin; with pair of whitish processes in front of epigynum), and by internal female genitalia ( Figs 753 , 765–766 ; evenly curved elongated pore plates; shape of anterior putative receptacle). From very similar P. lionzae Huber sp. nov. also by more distal position of male cheliceral apophyses ( Fig. 757 ).

Etymology

This species is named for Rufino Blanco Fombona (1874–1944), Venezuela-born writer, nominated six times for the Nobel Prize in Literature between 1928 and 1935.

Type material

VENEZUELA – Mérida • ♂ holotype, ZFMK (Ar 22072), forest above Caño Azul (8.8543° N, 71.3651° W), 280 m a.s.l., 13 Feb. 2020 (B.A. Huber, O. Villarreal M., Q. Arias C.) .

Other material examined

VENEZUELA – Mérida • 1 ♂, 5 ♀♀, ZFMK (Ar 22073), and 4 ♀♀ in pure ethanol, ZFMK (Ven20- 136), same collection data as for holotype .

Description

Male (holotype)

MEASUREMENTS. Total body length 1.9, carapace width 0.85. Distance PME–PME 65 µm; diameter PME 90 µm; distance PME–ALE 60 µm; distance AME–AME 20 µm; diameter AME 25 µm. Leg 1: 19.1 (4.3 +0.4 +4.5+8.4 +1.5), tibia 2: 2.7, tibia 3: 2.2, tibia 4: 2.6; tibia 1 L/d: 64; femora 1–4 approximately same maximum diameter (0.16–0.17).

COLOR (in ethanol). Carapace pale ochre-yellow to orange, with dark ochre median V-mark and three pairs of dark ochre lateral marks; ocular area light; clypeus ochre-yellow with dark mark below ocular area; sternum ochre-yellow, slightly darker medially; legs ochre-yellow, with indistinct dark rings on femora (subdistally) and tibiae (proximally, subdistally); abdomen pale gray, with indistinct dark and whitish internal marks, ventrally with light brown plate in front of gonopore.

BODY. Habitus as in Fig. 742 . Ocular area moderately raised. Carapace with shallow but distinct thoracic groove. Clypeus unmodified. Sternum wider than long (0.58/0.40), with pair of very low whitish and elongate humps anteriorly. Abdomen slightly elongated, pointed at spinnerets.

CHELICERAE. As in Fig. 757 , with pair of articulated apophyses distally.

PALPS. In general very similar to P. silvae Huber, 2000 and P. mapiri Huber, 2000 (cf. Huber 2000: figs 1137, 1143, 1146); coxa with large retrolateral-ventral apophysis, trochanter barely modified, femur proximally with retrolateral process, distally widening, with short finger-shaped ventral process; tarsus with two short rounded processes dorsally; procursus ( Figs 750–752 ) wide and straight in lateral view, narrow and bent in dorsal view, with distinctive distal elements; genital bulb ( Figs 754–756 ) distally tapering, with large retrolateral whitish process.

LEGS. Without spines and curved hairs; with vertical hairs in high density on all tibiae; retrolateral trichobothrium of tibia 1 at 7%; prolateral trichobothrium absent on tibia 1; tarsus 1 with ~20 pseudosegments, distally fairly distinct.

Male (variation)

Other male paler but otherwise identical; tibia 1: 5.2.

Female

In general similar to male ( Figs 743–744 ) but general coloration ochre rather than orange, sternum medially dark brown, dark rings on legs more distinct, abdomen with more distinct brown marks; sternum without humps but with longer hairs than in male, especially posteriorly; vertical hairs on tibiae in usual low density. Tibia 1 in nine females: 3.5–4.1 (mean 3.9). Epigynum ( Fig. 764 ) roundish light brown plate, posteriorly weakly protruding, with pair of deep pockets close to posterior margin; internal structures partly visible in uncleared specimens; with short but wide posterior plate and pair of whitish processes in front of epigynum. Internal genitalia ( Figs 753 , 765–766 ) with evenly curved elongated pore plates, anterior putative receptacle V-shaped.

Distribution

Known from type locality only, in Venezuela , Mérida (Fig. 1063).

Natural history

The spiders were collected in a forest remnant along a small stream where they built their small domed webs (diameter ~ 10 cm) close to the ground, mostly hidden under dead leaves. No specimen was found higher in the vegetation (as was the case in P. lionzae Huber sp. nov.; P. laldea Huber, 2000 ; and P. retracta Huber sp. nov.).

Figures

Figs 742–749. Pisaboa Huber, 2000; live specimens. 742–744. P. fombonai Huber sp. nov.; male and females with egg sacs from Mérida, Caño Azul. 745–746. P. lionzae Huber sp. nov.; male and female with egg sac from Mérida, Mesa Bolívar. 747–749. P. laldea Huber, 2000; male and females from Táchira, La Trampa.

Figs 750–757. Pisaboa fombonai Huber sp. nov.; from Mérida, Caño Azul (type locality; ZFMK Ar 22072–73). 750–752. Left palpal tarsus and procursus, prolateral, dorsal, and retrolateral views (arrow: ventral femur apophysis). 753. Cleared female genitalia, dorsal view. 754–756. Left genital bulb, prolateral, dorsal, and retrolateral views. 757. Male chelicerae, frontal view. Scale lines: 0.3 mm.

Figs 764–772. Pisaboa Huber, 2000; epigyna, ventral views and cleared female genitalia, ventral and dorsal views. 764–766. P. fombonai Huber sp. nov.; from Mérida, Caño Azul (type locality; ZFMK Ar 22073). 767–769. P. lionzae Huber sp. nov.; from Mérida, Mesa Bolívar (type locality; ZFMK Ar 22075). 770–772. P. laldea Huber, 2000; from Táchira, La Trampa (ZFMK Ar 22076).