Pholcoides Roewer, 1960

Zonstein, Sergei L., Marusik, Yuri M. & Koponen, Seppo, 2013, Redescription of three species of Filistatidae (Araneae) described by C. F. Roewer from Afghanistan, Zootaxa 3745 (1) : -

Pholcoides Roewer, 1960

Pholcoides Roewer, 1962: 40 . Type species by monotypy— Pholcoides afghana Roewer, 1960 .

Notes. This genus was originally placed in Pholcidae , and transferred to Filistatidae by Huber (2009). To date the genus has been considered monotypic (cf. Platnick 2013), but according to our data several described and undescribed species from Central Asia may belong in this genus.

Description. Medium-sized filistatids (body length in P. afghana is about 5.5 mm). Carapace broad-oval with moderately produced clypeus. Eye tubercle well-defined, ALE and PLE subequal in size, AME and PME also almost equal to each other, but about half the size of the lateral eyes. Thoracic fovea indistinct. Sternum oval and wider than long, sigillae indiscernible, labium noticeably longer than wide. Palps and legs I–IV, even in females, rather long and slender. Calamistrum consists of two short rows of few sessile setae arranged very close to each other. Paired tarsal claws with several (7-9) large and long teeth, unpaired claw short, curved and bare. Endogyna with entire receptacles. Cribellum small bipartite transverse, ALS and PLS subequal in size, PMS much smaller with one PS each. Male characters unknown.

Diagnosis. Within the Filistatidae Pholcoides is unique in possessing the combination of a medium-sized compact body with carapace and sternum circular or even nearly wider than long and rather long and slender female pedipalps and legs I–IV (unsual for Filistatidae ). A very short, broad-oval and steeply inclined clypeus resembles that in species of Zaitunia Lehtinen, 1967 and Microfilistata Zonstein, 1990 , but in this case Pholcoides differs by its clearly biseriate calamistrum (arranged in one row in the two other genera).

Comments. The shape of the cribellum and calamistrum, and the presence of only one paracribellar gland spigot on the PMS indicates that Pholcoides belongs to Prithinae (Gray 1995; Ramírez & Grismado 1997).