Buitinga batwa, Bernhard A. Huber & Charles M. Warui, 2012

Bernhard A. Huber & Charles M. Warui, 2012, East African pholcid spiders: an overview, with descriptions of eight new species (Araneae, Pholcidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 29 (29), pp. 1-44 : 24-27

Buitinga batwa sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C456910B-9E7B-4872-830B-87F240C313E3

Figs 13 , 36-39 , 81-86

Buitinga Uga 61: Dimitrov, Astrin & Huber 2012 (DNA sequence data).

Diagnosis

Easily distinguished from known congeners by extremely long male cheliceral apophyses ( Figs 83, 84 ); from similar B. buhoma Huber, 2003 also by wider epigynal scape and median pocket in internal female genitalia ( Figs 65 , 85 ), and by details of male palp (shape of bulbal apophysis, two small projections on bulb apart from apophysis and embolus, shapes of distal structures of procursus; Figs 81, 82 ).

Etymology

The species is named after the Batwa pygmies of south-western Uganda; noun in apposition.

Type material

Holotype

♂, in ZFMK ( Ar 8743 ) .

Paratypes

3 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀, in ZFMK ( Ar 8744 ) .

Type locality

UGANDA, Kisoro District, Mgahinga Gorilla N.P. , gorge (1°22.9’S, 29°35.8-36.0’E), 2900-3000 m a.s.l., 25 Nov. 2010 (B.A. Huber).

Other material examined

UGANDA: Western Region: 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀, 1 juv. in pure ethanol, in ZFMK ( Uga 147 ), Kisoro District, Mgahinga Gorilla N.P. , gorge , same data as types above ; 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀, in ZFMK ( Ar 8745 ), Mgahinga Gorilla N.P. , bamboo forest (~1°22.0-22.3’S, 29°36.3-36.9’E), 2500-2600 m a.s.l., 25 Nov. 2010 (B.A. Huber) ; 2 ♂♂, 1 juv. in pure ethanol, in ZFMK ( Uga 150 ), same data ; 3 ♂♂, in ZFMK ( Ar 8746 ), Kisoro District, between Nyakabande and Muko , roadside forest (1°15.2’S, 29°47.6’E), 2260 m a.s.l., 26 Nov. 2010 (B.A. Huber) .

Description

Male (holotype)

MEASUREMENTS. Total body length 2.7, carapace width 1.0. Leg 1: 19.5 (4.6 + 0.4 + 4.8 + 7.3 + 2.4), tibia 2: 2.8, tibia 3: 2.2, tibia 4: 2.9; tibia 1 L/d: 54. Distance PME-PME 185 µm, diameter PME 115 µm, distance PME-ALE 45 µm, no AME.

COLOR. Carapace pale ochre-yellow with black lateral marks, ocular area and clypeus dark brown to black, sternum black with slightly lighter mark behind labium; legs ochre-yellow, darker rings on femora (subdistally) and tibiae (proximally and subdistally); abdomen pale grey with distinctive black pattern.

BODY. Habitus as in Figs 36-38 ; ocular area slightly elevated; only frontally shallow thoracic furrow; clypeus unmodified. Chelicerae as in Figs 83 and 84 , with proximal lateral apophyses, pair of extremely long frontal apophyses, each provided with several strong claw-shaped hairs proximo-dorsally and about four modified hairs distally; without further pair of frontal apophyses near laminae. Sternum wider than long (0.70/0.57), unmodified.

PALPS. In general very similar B. buhoma Huber, 2003 (cf. figs 113 and 114 in Huber 2003a) but coxa with prominent ventral apophysis distally and tibia slightly longer; bulb with four projections: weakly sclerotized embolus, hooked apophysis with subdistal sclerotized ridge, small projection at basis of apophysis (arrow in Fig. 82 ), and pointed cone-shaped process (arrow in Fig. 81 ); procursus with large cushion-like structure retrolaterally, prolateral hinged process, complex distally.

LEGS. Without spines and curved hairs, few vertical hairs; retrolateral trichobothrium on tibia 1 at 10%; prolateral trichobothrium absent on tibia 1, present on other tibiae; tarsus 1 with ~30 pseudosegments.

VARIATION. Tibia 1 in 9 other males: 4.4-5.2 (mean 4.7).

Female

In general similar to male but triads closer together (distance PME-PME 150 µm). Tibia 1 in 5 females: 3.5-3.9 (mean 3.75). Epigynum a simple plate with wide straight scape in anterior position ( Figs 64 , 85 ), with distinctive internal sclerotized pocket (arrow in Fig. 86 ) and large pore plates ( Figs 65 , 86 ).

Distribution

Known from southwestern Uganda only ( Fig. 18 ).

Figures

Figs 1 - 15. — 1. Artema atlanta Walckenaer, 1837 from Mbutali, Kenya. — 2. Leptopholcus tipula (Simon, 1907) from Semuliki, Uganda. — 3. Smeringopus mpanga Huber, 2012 from Kalinzu F. R., Uganda. — 4. Pholcus taita Huber, 2011 from Taita Mountains, Kenya. — 5. Quamtana kabale Huber, 2003 from Ruwenzori, Uganda. — 6. Quamtana nyahururu sp. nov. from Thompson Falls, Kenya. — 7 - 8. Spermophora minotaura Berland, 1920 from Mt. Kenya (7: dark morph; 8: light morph). — 9. Spermophora mau sp. nov. from near Elburgon, Kenya. — 10. Spermophora kirinyaga sp. nov. from Mt. Kenya, Kenya. — 11. Buitinga nigrescens (?) (Berland, 1920) from Ol Donyo Sabuk, Kenya. — 12. Buitinga ruhiza Huber, 2003 from Buhoma, Uganda. — 13. Buitinga batwa sp. nov. from Mgahinga Gorilla N. P., Uganda. — 14. Buitinga ruwenzori Huber, 2003 from Ruwenzori, Uganda. — 15. Buitinga griswoldi Huber, 2003 from Buhoma, Uganda. Photos BAH.

Figs 28 - 49. — 28 - 31. Crossopriza johncloudsleyi Deeleman-Reinhold & van Harten, 2001, ♂ (28, 29) and ♀ (30, 31). — 32 - 35. Buitinga wataita sp. nov., ♂ (32 - 34) and ♀ (35). — 36 - 39. Buitinga batwa sp. nov., ♂ (36 - 38) and ♀ (39). — 40 - 44. Spermophora mau sp. nov., ♂ (40, 41, 44) and ♀ (42, 43). — 46. Spermophora maathaiae sp. nov., ♂. — 45, 47 - 49. Spermophora bukusu sp. nov., ♂.

Figs 81 - 86. Buitinga batwa sp. nov. 81 - 82. Left ♂ procursus and bulb, prolateral and retrolateral views. 83 - 84. ♂ chelicerae, fronto-dorsal and lateral views. 85 - 86. ♀ genitalia, ventral and cleared dorsal views (arrow points at distinctive internal pocket). b: genital bulb; ba: bulbal apophysis; e: embolus; pr: procursus. Scale lines: 0.3 mm (83 - 84), 0.5 mm (81 - 82, 85 - 86).

Figs 50-69. — 50-52. Spermophora kirinyaga sp. nov., ♂ (50) and ♀ (51, 52). — 53-56. Spermophora minotaura Berland, 1920, ♀♀, dark morph (53, 54) and light morph (55, 56). — 57-58. Spermophora kyambura sp. nov., ♂. — 59-61. Quamtana nyahururu sp. nov., ♂ (59, 60) and ♀ (61). — 62-63. Crossopriza johncloudsleyi Deeleman-Reinhold & van Harten, 2001, cleared ♀ genitalia, ventral and dorsal views. — 64-65. Buitinga batwa sp. nov., cleared ♀ genitalia, ventral and dorsal views. — 66-67. Spermophora maathaiae sp. nov., cleared ♀ genitalia, ventral and dorsal views. — 68. Spermophora bukusu sp. nov., cleared ♀ genitalia, ventral view. — 69. Spermophora kyambura sp. nov., cleared ♀ genitalia, dorsal view .

Figs 16 - 19. Known distributions of the genera Anansus, Ninetis, Artema, Buitinga, and Crossopriza in East Africa (R: Rwanda; B: Burundi). For detailed maps of Buitinga, see Huber (2003 a). Squares: unidentified / undescribed specimens.