Spermophora abibae Huber

Bernhard A. Huber, Philippe Le Gall & Jacques Francois Mavoungou, 2014, Pholcid spiders from the Lower Guinean region of Central Africa: an overview, with descriptions of seven new species (Araneae, Pholcidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 81 (81), pp. 1-46 : 35-38

Spermophora abibae Huber , sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:85A657B7-245E-4943-881F-A86BEC8B934A

Figs 34 , 84-96

Diagnosis

Distinguished from the very similar S. dieke Huber, 2009 and S. akwamu Huber & Kwapong, 2013 by bifid process on male clypeus ( Figs 85 , 92 ; only one median process in S. dieke ; two processes in S. akwamu ; cf. Figs 94-96 ), and by pore plates in female internal genitalia ( Fig. 93 ; longer and in different position than in S. dieke and S. akwamu ).

Etymology

The species name commemorates the 11-year old girl, who was purchased for six handkerchiefs by James Jameson, a member of Henry Stanley’s Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, who gave her to cannibals so he could watch her being killed, cooked and eaten. Her name is not known. Abiba is an African name, meaning beloved.

Type material

Holotype ♂, in MRAC (separated from 224303 ) .

Type locality

CONGO D.R., Bas Congo, Mayombe , Luki Forest Reserve [5°37.3’S, 13°05.9’E], fogging in old secondary rainforest, 17 Sep. 2007 (D. De Bakker, J.P. Michiels).

Other material examined

CONGO D.R.: Bas Congo: 7 ♂♂, 9 ♀♀ in MRAC ( 224303 part ), same data as holotype ; 80 ♂♂, 107 ♀♀, juvs (8 vials) in MRAC ( 224304-11 part ), same data but 18-25 Sep. 2007 (D. De Bakker, J.P. Michiels) . 18 ♂♂, 29 ♀♀, juvs (11 vials) in MRAC ( 219850 part, 219852-54 part, 224312-17 part, 224319 part ), same locality, fogging in primary rainforest, 4-12 Nov. 2006 and 26 Sep.-4 Oct. 2007 (D. De Bakker, J.P. Michiels) . 1 ♀ in MRAC ( 219999 ), same locality, beating along trail near guest house, 14 Nov. 2006 (D. De Bakker, J.P. Michiels) . 4 ♂♂, 5 ♀♀ (7 vials) in MRAC ( 222026 part, 222062, 223589, 223605 part, 223616, 223628 part, 223635 part ), same locality, beating in primary rainforest, 6-10 Nov. 2006 and 27 Sep.-3 Oct. 2007 (D. De Bakker, J.P. Michiels) . 4 ♂♂, 9 ♀♀, juvs (5 vials) in MRAC ( 222167, 222190 part, 222994 part, 223457 part, 223679 part ), same locality, beating in old secondary rainforest, 18-23 Sep. 2007 (D. De Bakker, J.P. Michiels) . 1 ♂, 3 ♀♀ in MRAC ( 221619 ), same locality, beating along trail in planted and regenerated forest near guest house, 9 Nov. 2006 (D. De Bakker, J.P. Michiels) . 2 juvs in MRAC ( 223113 part ), same locality, beating in young secondary forest, 16 Sep. 2007 (D. De Bakker, J.P. Michiels) .

Description

Male (holotype)

MEASUREMENTS. Total body length 2.1, carapace width 0.7. Leg 1: 4.7 + 0.3 + 4.8 + 7.9, tarsus missing, tibia 2: 2.7, tibia 3: 1.8, tibia 4: 2.7; tibia 1 L/d: 68. Distance PME-PME 135 µm, diameter PME 80 µm, distance PME-ALE 25 µm, AME absent.

COLOR. Carapace pale ochre-yellow with narrow black margins and indistinct median line ( Fig. 84 ), ocular area and clypeus with dark pattern, sternum whitish ( Fig. 89 ), legs ochre-yellow, with indistinct dark rings subdistally on femora and tibiae, abdomen mostly pale gray, with distinct dark pattern dorsally and laterally, ventrally only pair of marks at booklung covers.

BODY. Habitus as in Fig. 84 ; ocular area slightly elevated, each triad on low hump; carapace without median furrow (only dark line); clypeus with distinctive bifid process, about 120 µm long ( Figs 85 , 92 ); sternum wider than long (0.52/0.44), unmodified. Chelicerae as in S. dieke and S. akwamu (cf. fig. 89 in Huber & Kwapong 2013), with pair of weakly sclerotized processes proximally, distally without modification, without stridulatory ridges.

PALPS. As in Figs 86-88 , apparently indistinguishable from S. dieke and S. akwamu ; coxa with indistinct ventral process, trochanter with long ventral and shorter retrolateral apophyses, procursus with ventral sclerotized flap, prolatero-dorsal hinged process and thin distal flagellum; bulb with hooked apophysis and long weakly sclerotized embolus.

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.

VARIATION. Tibia 1 in 30 other males:4.8-5.9 (mean 5.3), in one exceptional but otherwise indistinguishable male: 3.0.

Female

In general similar to male but sternum in most females dark brown or black ( Fig. 90 ), clypeus unmodified, carapace with small median process acting against indistinct sclerotized plate above pedicel. Tibia 1 in 30 females: 3.7-4.9 (mean 4.3). Epigynum simple rectangular plate, anteriorly with dark transversal internal structure, without pockets ( Fig. 91 ); internal genitalia as in Fig. 93 .

Relationships

Judging from the very similar morphology (including the most probably derived median process on the female carapace), this species is probably closely related to S. dieke from Guinea and the Guineo-Congolian S. akwamu .

Distribution

Known from type locality in Congo D.R. only ( Fig. 34 ).

Figures

Figs 33 - 34. Known distributions of the genera Smeringopus Simon, 1890 and Spermophora Hentz, 1841 in Central Africa. For detailed distribution maps of Smeringopus species see Huber (2012). Question marks denote uncertain identifications (females from Cameroon; one pair from Príncipe Island).

Figs 84 - 91. Spermophora abibae sp. nov. 84. ♂, dorsal view. 85. ♂ ocular area and clypeus, dorsal view. 86 - 88. Left ♂ palp, prolateral, dorsal, and retrolateral views. 89 - 90. ♂ and ♀ prosomata, ventral views. 91. ♀ epigynum, ventral view.

Figs 92 - 96. Spermophora abibae sp. nov. and putative close relatives. 92 - 93. Spermophora abibae sp. nov. ♂ ocular area and clypeus, dorsal view (92) and cleared ♀ genitalia, dorsal view (93). 94 - 96. ♂ ocular area and clypeus, dorsal view of S. dieke Huber, 2009 (94) and of S. akwamu Huber & Kwapong, 2013 (95: Ghana; 96: Gabon). Scale line: 93 = 0.3 mm.