Leroya, Honiball Lewis & Dippenaar-Schoeman, 2014

Honiball Lewis, Allet S. & Dippenaar-Schoeman, Ansie S., 2014, Revision of the spider genus Mystaria Simon, 1895 (Araneae: Thomisidae) and the description of a new genus from the Afrotropical region, Zootaxa 3873 (2), pp. 101-144 : 135-136

Genus Leroya gen. n.

Type species: Leroya silva sp. n.

Etymology. Named after John and Astri Leroy, John, who sampled a specimen of L. unicolor at the age of six when accompanying Dr. Sedel during an expedition in the then Belgian Congo, now the Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC).

Diagnosis. Carapace with granular texture; dorsally planar, uniformly dark in colour ( Figs 133, 135, 137 ); sturdier and larger than in Mystaria ; AME situated very close to clypeal edge, lateral eyes large, situated on carapace lateral edge and on small tubercles; clypeal length very short, much shorter than MOQ (in contrast to Mystaria ), ( Figs 139, 140 ). Chelicerae with retromargin smooth and without cheliceral teeth or appendages. Anterior legs stronger than in Mystaria , posterior legs pale with dark band over distal part of femur and partly on patella ( Figs 133, 135, 137 ), leg colour is genus specific, varies from variable leg colouration in Mystaria ; Female epigyne darkly sclerotised ( Figs 136, 138 ), intromittent canals curve and open into large kidney-shaped spermathecae from behind ( Figs. 143, 145 ), in contrast to numerous very long complex coils opening into small round spermathecae in Mystaria . Male bulb with large swollen tegulum ( Figs 134 , 142 ), embolus thickened and sclerotised in contrast to long thin coiling embolus in Mystaria ; RTA originate well below VTA, long, rigid with sharp tip curving antero-laterally ( Figs 134 , 141 ).

Description. Body length 3.04–3.92 in males, 3.46–5.21 in females.

Colour. Carapace a shiny-metallic copper-red to darker copper-brown or black in females; darker and shiny metallic copper to dark turquoise in males; abdomen pale brown or darker blue-green (turquoise); leg I–II similar colour as carapace, with leg III–IV femora distally, patellae proximally, metatarsi and tarsi red to dark copperbrown, remaining leg segments pale white sometimes with a faint brown line laterally on both sides of tibiae III–IV; palp with femur and tarsus brown, tibia paler with longitudinal brown stripe dorsally. Carapace. Without coloured patterns or marks; slightly elevated in thoracic area; steeply sloping anteriorly and posteriorly; with dense, short setae; long, erectile setae on postero-thoracic edge, laterally on carapace and/or on lateral eye area. Clypeus. Vertical, long, erectile setae on edge. Chelicerae. Obtuse, fairly small, broadened at base narrowing to tip with long serrated setae on promargin ( Fig. 128 ). Mouth parts. Labium cube-shaped to oval, endites indented with few scopula hairs. Sternum. Heart-shaped covered with fine setae. Palp. With single dentated claw; setae on all segments. Eyes. Both eye rows re-curved, AER=PER; ALE>AME; AME closest to each other; PLE>PME; MOQ eye area wider than long, narrower in front; PME nearer to lateral eyes than to each other; LE large, usually sessile sometimes with a black spot; situated laterally on edge of carapace. Legs. Medium to long; leg segments densely covered with short setae; spiniform setae present dorsally on femora, patellae, tibiae of leg I–IV and ventrally of tibiae III–IV; shorter spiniform setae present ventrally and/or laterally or distally on tibiae and metatarsi I–IV; scopula hairs present ventrally on metatarsi and tarsi I–IV, denser on legs III–IV; trichobothria dorsally in single rows on tibiae, metatarsi and tarsi I–IV; tarsal claws and tufts both at a sharp angle from tarsi, differ as follows from Sylligma ( Figs 150–153 ), tufts not presented at an angle, and from Mystaria ( Figs 91-114 ) in which claws have a thicker base with modified claws, whereas Leroya has uniform claws and an even base ( Figs 129-132 ); claw base curved with claws of legs I-II with>8 teeth and legs III-IV <8 teeth. Abdomen. Round with numerous setae; five sigillae present dorsally, grouped in an arrow-shape formation; ventrally with stria. Spinnerets. Small, conical, anterior pair largest, median pair smallest. Epigyne. Without rim or atrium ( Figs 136, 138 ); intromittent orifices as in Figs 144, 146 . Palp. Bulb heavily sclerotised; embolus of medium-length ( Figs 134 , 141 ); RTA shorter than VTA; VTA with curve, thickened tip ( Fig. 142 ).

Natural history. Members of the genus Leroya gen. n. have been sampled from rain forests and primary canopy forests by hand or fogging.

Distribution. This genus is endemic to the Afrotropical region, known from very few localities in the Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC), Cote d’ Ivoire, Rwanda and Uganda ( Figs 147, 148 ).

Remarks. Simon (1895) diagnosed the genus Mystaria based on its carapace shape, variation in eye size and distance, cheliceral spinules, labium and leg characters. In the present revision, it is revealed that the species M. unicolor was wrongly placed in this genus and that a number of new characters such as sexual dimorphic characters, smooth cheliceral margins, eye arrangement, PME size, clypeal length, leg and body colour warrant the species to be placed into its own genus.

Figures

FIGURES 133–140. Photographs of the body, copulatory organs, eye pattern and clypeal length of Leroya gen. n. 133–136. L. silva sp. n. from DRC, Mayombe (133 male dorsal view, 134 male right palp ventral view, 135 female dorsal view, 136 female epigyne ventral view); 137–138. L. unicolor (Simon, 1895) comb. n. from DRC, Rwankwi (137 female dorsal view, 138 epigyne ventral view); 139 L. silva male frontal view; 140 L. unicolor female frontal view.

FIGURES 141–146. Line drawings of female and male copulatory organs in Leroya gen. n. 141–144. L. silva sp. n. (141 male left palp ventral view, 142 male left palp retro-lateral view, 143 epigyne ventral view, 144 epigyne dorsal view,); 145–146. L. unicolor (Simon, 1895) comb. n. (145 epigyne ventral view, 146 epigyne dorsal view). Scales lines = 10mm.

FIGURES 128–132. SEM photographs of Leroya silva sp. n. from the DRC, Mayombe. 128 Chelicerae; 129–132 Tarsal claws and tufts (129 leg I, 130 leg II, 131 leg III, 132 leg IV). Scale lines = 100 µm (128, 129, 132), 10 µm (130, 131).

FIGURES 149–153. SEM photographs of Sylligma species. 149 Sylligma ndumi Lewis & Dippenaar-Schoeman, 2011 male from South Africa, Brits, chelicerae with incurving serrated setae; 150–153 S. franki Lewis & Dippenaar-Schoeman, 2011 female from Democratic Republic of Congo, Equateur, tarsal claws and claw tufts of leg I–IV, (150 leg I, 151 leg II, 152 leg III, 153 leg IV) with tenent hair and scopula hairs prominent in leg III–IV. Scale lines: 100 µm = (149–153).

FIGURES 91–102. SEM photographs of tarsal claws and tufts on leg I–IV of female Mystaria species. 91–94 M. rufolimbata Simon, 1895 from South Africa, Hellsgate; 95–98 M. oreadae sp. n. from Rwanda, Rwankuba; 99–102 M. savannensis sp. n. from South Africa, Kruger National Park, Letaba Camp. Scale lines = 100 µm (91–94). 10 µm (95–102).

FIGURES 103–114. SEM photographs of tarsal claws and tufts on leg IIV of male Mystaria species. 103–106 M. rufolimbata from South Africa, Ndumo Game Reserve; 107–110 M. soleil sp. n. from Kenya, Kakamega; 111–114 M. budongo sp. n. from Kakamega. Scale lines: 10 µm (103–106, 111–114), 100 µm (107–110).

FIGURES 147–148. Recorded geographical distributions of Leroya gen. n. 147 L. silva sp. n.; 148 L. unicolor (Simon, 1895) comb. n. Scale lines = 1800 km (147), 2000 km (148).