Pholcophora, BANKS, 1896

HUBER, BERNHARD A., 2000, New World Pholcid Spiders (Araneae: Pholcidae): A Revision At Generic Level, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2000 (254), pp. 1-348 : 113-114

PHOLCOPHORA BANKS, 1896

Pholcophora Banks, 1896: 57 (type species by monotypy P. americana Banks, 1896 ; examined). Gertsch, 1971: 76; 1977: 112; 1982: 96 97. Gertsch and Peck, 1992: 1190.

DIAGNOSIS: Small to medium-sized (total length ~ 1.3 3 mm), short-legged pholcids, with eight eyes and globular opisthosoma; distinguished from similar short-legged genera as follows: from Tolteca by the long apophyses proximally on the male chelicerae, and by the presence of stridulatory files on the male chelicerae; from Papiamenta by the much longer procursus and the simple bulb, and by the presence of humps frontally on the male sternum.

DESCRIPTION: Total length ~ 1.3 3 mm. Carapace ochre to light brown, with shallow but distinct thoracic groove (fig. 431), ocular area only slightly elevated, with eight eyes, AME only slightly smaller than others; distance PME-ALE relatively small (~ 30% of PME diameter). Male clypeus unmodified. Male chelicerae with pair of long frontal apophyses, with stridulatory ridges laterally. Male sternum with conspicuous humps frontally. Male palpal coxa without retrolateral apophysis, femur enlarged distally, with simple retrolateral apophysis proximally, tibia globular, procursus very simple, ribbonshaped; bulb with simple embolar division; tarsal organ capsulate (examined: P. americana ). Legs relatively short (leg 1 about 3 × body length; tibia 1 l/d: 12 14), leg formula 4123, leg 4 only slightly longer than leg 1; legs without spines, without curved and vertical hairs; retrolateral trichobothrium of tibia 1 very distal (at ~ 60%); tarsus with only ~ 5 8 pseudosegments. Opisthosoma globular, with darker spots dorsally. Male gonopore with four epiandrous spigots (examined: P. americana : fig. 129). ALS with several piriform gland spigots (examined: P. americana : fig. 155), other spinnerets typical for family.

Sexual dimorphism slight; epigynum extremely simple externally; I could not find pore plates.

MONOPHYLY: The three core-species ( P. americana , mexcala , texana ) share the ribbon-shaped procursus, the long frontal apophyses on the male chelicerae, and the humps on the male sternum. However, none of these characters is unique to Pholcophora (see Generic Relationships below). Nevertheless, the general similarity suggests that the species are at least very closely related.

GENERIC RELATIONSHIPS: The genus may be close to several other genera of short-legged pholcids with globular opisthosoma, especially with Tolteca , which has a very similar procursus (but very different chelicerae!), and with Papiamenta , which has similar chelicerae (but very different bulbs!).

MISPLACED SPECIES: Of the 14 extant species previously assigned to Pholcophora , all but three are here either transferred to other genera, or are considered incertae sedis: P. baerti and bella are transferred to Galapa , P. diluta and baja to Chisosa , P. hesperia and jalisco to Tolteca , P. levii to Papiamenta , P. munda to Guaranita ; three species cannot be placed: P. juruensis from Alto-Juruá, Brazil (see appendix 3), P. bahama from Bahama Islands (only female known) and P. maria from Yucatán, Mexico (only female known). The latter two are redescribed at the end of the descriptions section. I cannot comment on the three fossil species found in Dominican amber (Wunderlich, 1988).

NATURAL HISTORY: It seems that nothing has been published about the natural history of P. americana , probably the most common and widely distributed indigenous US pholcid. Gertsch (1982), who collected a lot himself, briefly characterized the genera Pholcophora and Anopsicus as living reclusive lives under ground objects, in leaf and plant detritus, and in soil openings and caves, and mentioned that they spin web tangles in dark spaces and remain there in close contact with such webs as permanent residents, often in informal colonies.

DISTRIBUTION/COMPOSITION: Three extant species from southwestern Canada, western USA, and Mexico; plus three fossil species from Hispaniola (Wunderlich, 1988; I have not seen these and cannot comment on their congenerity); plus three species incertae sedis.

Pholcophora americana Banks, 1896 Figures 129 , 155 , 429 440

Figures

Figs. 125–129. Male gonopore with epiandrous spigots in ninetines. 125. Ninetis namibiae, n. sp. 126. Tolteca hesperia (Gertsch). 127. Galapa baerti (Gertsch). 128. Ibotyporanga naideae Mello-Leitão. 129. Pholcophora americana Banks. Scale lines: 30 µm.

Figs. 152–157. Anterior lateral spinnerets in ninetines. 152. Ninetis namibiae, n. sp., male. 153. Tolteca hesperia (Gertsch), female. 154. Papiamenta levii (Gertsch), female. 155. Pholcophora americana Banks, male. 156. Aucana kaala, n. gen., n. sp., male. 157. Aucana platnicki, n. gen., n. sp., female. Scale lines: 50 µm (154), 10 µm (152–153, 155–157).

Figs. 429 435. Pholcophora americana Banks, male. 429. Habitus, lateral view. 430 431. Prosoma, dorsal and frontal views. 432. Left palp, prolateral view. 433. Left palp, retrolateral view. 434 435. Chelicerae, frontal and lateral views. Scale lines: 1.0 mm (429), 0.5 mm (430 433), 0.2 mm (434 435).