Hortipes aelurisiepae, BOSSELAERS & JOCQUÉ, 2000

BOSSELAERS, JAN & JOCQUÉ, RUDY, 2000, Hortipes, A Huge Genus Of Tiny Afrotropical Spiders (Araneae, Liocranidae), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2000 (256), pp. 4-4 : 4-

Hortipes aelurisiepae , new species Figures 17g , 18e ; Map 4

TYPES: Female holotype: humus in Gualiveni Forest , Inguavuma District, Natal, South Africa (October 1961; N. Leleup) ( MRAC 131.854 ) .

ETYMOLOGY: The species’ epithet is given in remembrance of the first author’s much loved cat Siep, which was run over by a truck when this species was being described. AιλoƲpos means cat in classical Greek.

DIAGNOSIS: Females can easily be recognized by the very large, isodiametric ST2 and by the bifurcate entrance chamber of the vulva equipped with long, blind­ending lateral pockets.

2.48; carapace 1.05 long, 0.97 wide; length of fe: I 0.89, II 0.95, III 0.76, IV 1.13. Leg spination. Fe: I rv 2; IV plt 0 rlt 0; ti: I, II vsp 6; mt: III plt 0 vt 0 rlt 0; IV plt 0–1 vt 1 rlt 0. Coloration. Carapace golden yellow, lighter at the fovea. Chelicerae, legs and sternum yellow. Abdomen pale yellow, no pattern. Genitalia. Vulva: first stretches of IDs fused into one weakly sclerotized, deeply bifurcated entrance chamber with entrance toward posterior side. Entrance chamber with two long, blind­ending lateral pockets. At its anterior end, entrance chamber merges into two sclerotized, inward­pointing tips attached to second, normally sclerotized part of ID that first makes small circular loop in frontal direction, followed by 540° corkscrew turn in caudal direction, connected to the small, globular ST1. The very large, sessile, isodiametric ST2 attached with its posterior end to sclerotized tip of entrance chamber (figs. 17g; 18e).

DISTRIBUTION: Known only from the type locality.

Figures

Map 4. Distribution of Hortipes species in South Africa. Hortipes aelurisiepae V, H. atalante h, H. coccinatus •, H. contubernalis O, H. griswoldi., H. hyakutake, H. irimus, H. licnophorus D, H. luytenae Δ, H. merwei *, H. mesembrinus, H. rothorum v, H. schoemanae n, and H. wimmertensi ^.

Fig. 17. a, b. Hortipes hyakutake, new species, male left palp, ventral and retrolateral views. c, d. Hortipes rothorum, new species, male left palp, ventral and retrolateral views. e, f. Hortipes griswoldi, new species, male left palp, ventral and retrolateral views. g. Hortipes aelurisiepae, new species, epigyne. h. Hortipes penthesileia, new species, epigyne. i–l. Hortipes oronesiotes, new species. i, j. Male left palp, ventral and retrolateral views. k. Epigyne. l. Male palpal ti, dorsal view. m–o. Hortipes zombaensis, new species. m. Epigyne. n, o. Male left palp, ventral and retrolateral views. Scale lines: 0.25 mm.

Fig. 18. a. Hortipes wimmertensi, new species, vulva, ventral view. b. Hortipes irimus, new species, vulva, ventral view. c. Hortipes schoemanae, new species, vulva, ventral view. d. Hortipes licnophorus, new species, vulva, ventral view. e. Hortipes aelurisiepae, new species, vulva, ventral view. f. Hortipes oronesiotes, new species, vulva, ventral view. Scale line: 0.1 mm.