Pholcus ceheng, Chen, Hui-Ming, Zhang, Feng & Zhu, Ming-Sheng, 2011

Chen, Hui-Ming, Zhang, Feng & Zhu, Ming-Sheng, 2011, Four new troglophilous species of the genus Pholcus Walckenaer (Araneae, Pholcidae) from Guizhou Province, China, Zootaxa 2922, pp. 51-59 : 54

Pholcus ceheng sp. nov.

Figs. 9–15

Type. Male holotype, 1Ƥ paratype, CHINA: Guizhou Province, Ceheng County, Yanjia Town, Guojia Cave [25°16’N, 105°54’E], May 22, 2006, leg. by H. M. Chen.

Diagnosis. This new species is similar to P. anlong , easily distinguished by the tip shape of procursus ( Figs 11– 13 ); by the larger process of appendix centrally ( Fig. 12 ); by the shape of uncus ( Fig. 12 ); also by epigynum with long oval pore plate and the shape of sclerotized arch anteriorly ( Fig. 15 ).

Etymology. The species name is a noun in apposition, taken from the type locality.

Description. Male (holotype): total body length 5.0: cephalothorax 1.4 long, 1.5 wide; abdomen 3.6 long, 1.2 wide. Prosoma shape as in Fig. 9 . Leg I: (11.3+0.7+11.7+20.3+2.8), tibia II: 7.5, tibia III: 5.2, tibia IV: 7.4; tibia I L/D: 53. Carapace short, broad and almost circular, ochre, with brown marks broadly connecting to ocular area. Cephalic region raised, with brown central marks, ocular area dark yellow. Clypeus 0.43, ochre, with several brown small dots. Each eye triad on the top of a relatively longer eye-stalk. Distance AME–AME 0.05, PME–PME 0.55. Diameter AME 0.06, ALE 0.16, PME 0.19, PLE 0.19. Chelicerae shape as in Fig. 10 , with pair of black distal apophyses, pair of unsclerotized nipple-shaped small apophyses proximolaterally and pair of sclerotized small rounded apophyses proximocentrally. Labium and endites light yellow. Sternum dark gray, with yellow small patches. Legs ochre, femora, patellae and tibiae without dark rings. Tarsal organ of tarsus 1 capsulate. Abdomen cylindrical, pale ochre, dorsum with small brown patterns as in Fig. 9 . Venter pale brown. Palps as in Figs. 12 and 13 , femur with a dorsal projection retrolaterally; tibia spindle-shaped, with a triangular projection ventrally; bulb with nearly earshaped, flat, sclerotized uncus; short appendix with a large triangular central process prolaterally; embolus between the uncus and appendix, long and transparent, with a brush-shaped pointed tip; procursus complex, with a nearly triangular process.

Female: in general very similar to male. Paratype total length 5.4: cephalothorax 1.4 long, 1.5 wide; abdomen 4.0 long, 1.5 wide. Tibia I: Missing. Distance AME–AME 0.05, PME–PME 0.24. Diameter AME 0.08, ALE 0.15, PME 0.14, PLE 0.14. Epigynum roughly round as in Fig. 14 , with a small teat-shaped apophysis. Dorsal view as in Fig. 15 , with a rainbow-shaped sclerotized arch anteriorly and a pair of long oval pore plates.

Distribution. Known from type locality only.

Figures

FIGURES 9 – 15. Pholcus ceheng sp. nov. 9. male body, dorsal view. 10. male left chelicera, frontal view. 11. left procursus, dorsal view. 12. left palp, prolateral view. 13. same, retrolateral view. 14. epigynum, ventral view. 15. same, dorsal view. Scale lines: 1.0 mm (9), 0.5 mm (10 – 15).