Linothele Karsch, 1879

Drolshagen, Bastian & Bäckstam, Christian M., 2021, A taxonomic review of the mygalomorph spider genus Linothele Karsch, 1879 (Araneae, Dipluridae), Zoosystema 43 (10), pp. 163-196 : 168

Genus Linothele Karsch, 1879

Linothele Karsch, 1879: 546 (type species: Linothele curvitarsis Karsch, 1879 , by monotypy). — Raven 1980: 254; 1985: 74, 75.

Neodiplura F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1896: 755 (type species: Neodiplura jelskii F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1896 , by monotypy). — Simon 1903: 964 (first synonymized with Uruchus by Simon [1903: 964]).

Uruchus Simon, 1889a: 400 (type species: Uruchus gaujoni Simon, 1889 , by monotypy). — Raven 1985: 74, 75 (first synonymized with Linothele by Raven [1985: 74, 75]).

DISTRIBUTION. — Bahamas and South America (for South American species see Fig. 4 ).

DIAGNOSIS. — Linothele can be distinguished from all other Diplurinae by the absence of a maxillary lyra.

DESCRIPTION

Small to large diplurid spiders. Eyes: present, on a common tubercle. Fovea: transverse, recurved. Labium: subquadrate, with few, or no cuspules. Sternum: three pairs of sigillae, all submarginal. Chelicerae: one row of ventral conical teeth on promargin. Maxillae: longer than wide with short anterior lobe bearing a serrula. Maxillary lyra: absent. Claws on pedipalp tarsi: with a single row of teeth in juveniles and females. Leg tarsi: aspinose; dorsally with a zig-zag row of trichobothria, metatarsi with one row of trichobothria, no trichobothria in proximal third of metatarsi; scopuliform setae present on anterior tarsi and metatarsi. Tarsal claws of legs: paired tarsal claws with a double row of teeth; unpaired claws of leg tarsi with teeth very short, or absent. Spinnerets: PLS elongated, with digitiform apical segment. Cymbium: equally bilobate, scopulate and aspinose. Palpal organ: pyriform with small subtegulum. Males with megaspine at retroventral apex of tibia I; metatarsus I with MP in 1:3B.

Variability

See Table 1 . Examination of available material revealed variation of ± 5 CT and more than ± 30 MC between specimens of a single species. In single specimen we were able to observe variation from one side to the other of up to ± 3 CT and more than ± 30 MC.

REMARKS

The collections of IBSP and MNRJ were destroyed in fires of 2010 and 2018, respectively. The MNRJ collection was reviewed by Silva-Moreira et al. (2010), who were unable to locate many of the relevant types at that time. Following Kury et al. (2018), material not located in MNRJ collection in 2010 might have survived the fire of 2018.

Unfortunately, the loan request on holotypes to NHRS was rejected by QCAZ for all species described by Dupérré & Tapia (2015) and, additionally, it was not possible to arrange a loan on any of the other types. N. Dupérré provided images and confirmed a “weak” scopula with “[…] two parallel lines” for all described species (pers. comm.).

As mentioned by Ríos-Tamayo & Goloboff (2012), it seems common for mygalomorphs with many spermathecal lobes, or processes to often show minor differences in the number or shape of lobes and processes of both sides. Presumably, lobes and processes with thin, weak ducts may easily get broken during moults, producing minor differences in successive moults of the adult female. Our research presented here suggests the same applies to vesicles.

Figures

FIG. 4. — Distribution map of Linothele Karsch, 1879 in South America (right), with detailed distribution in North-West South America (left). Note: the type locality for L. septentrionalis n. sp. is out of range and not included. The type locality for L. cristata (Mello-Leitão, 1945) and L. jelskii (F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1896) is not specified further than Minas Gerais and Peru, respectively.