Hortipes terminator, BOSSELAERS & JOCQUÉ, 2000

BOSSELAERS, JAN & JOCQUÉ, RUDY, 2000, Hortipes, A Huge Genus Of Tiny Afrotropical Spiders (Araneae, Liocranidae), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2000 (256), pp. 4-4 : 4-

Hortipes terminator , new species Figure 27h, i ; Map 1

TYPES: Male holotype: humus in forest near Sengi source, Kwango, Feshi region, Kianza, Congo, S06°13', E19°15' (March 1959; J. Leleup) ( MRAC 113.586 ) .

ETYMOLOGY: The species is named terminator because the male RTA, observed from the ventral side, looks like a futuristic gun.

DIAGNOSIS: Males of H. terminator are recognized by the complex RTA with flat, translucent frontal part and short, sharp, upwardcurved tip on inferior prong; the MA lacks a median flap.

MALE: Measurements. Total length 2.54; carapace 1.16 long, 0.89 wide; length of fe: I 0.95, II?, III 0.81, IV 1.24. Leg spination. Fe: I rv 2; IV plt 1 rlt 1; ti: I, II vsp 6; mt: III plt 1 vt 1 rlt 1; IV plt 1 vt 2 rlt 1. Coloration. Carapace yellow ochre, with darker, radiating striae and a brown line at the fovea. Tibia with large, flat, translucent RTA composed of two parts, both standing out; frontal and superior one long, with bifid tip, one tip pointing forward, the other one downward; posterior and inferior part with short, sharp tip, curved upward; cymbium with large, retrolateral bend with series of widely spaced long setae in distal half; tegulum with retrolateral swelling at base of embolus; sperm duct with wide basal part and thin distal part with sharp, deep turn; MA solid, gradually tapered from thick basal to tip, distal part curved down; embolus with fairly broad, triangular base, long, whiplike, looped over more than 540° (fig. 27h, i).

FEMALE: Unknown.

DISTRIBUTION: Known only from the type locality.

Figures

Map 1. Distribution of Hortipes species described in this publication. Hortipes baerti n, H. centralis h, H. hesperoecius O, H. machaeropolion D, H. orchatocnemis ^, H. oronesiotes Δ, H. penthesileia v, H. silvarum •, H. tarachodes V, H. terminator, and H. zombaensis.. Rectangles enclose regions (hatched) where high numbers of Hortipes species were found (number of species in parentheses). See detailed maps 2–5.

Fig. 27. a, b. Hortipes auriga, new species, male left palp, ventral and retrolateral views. c. Hortipes centralis, new species, epigyne. d–g. Hortipes tarachodes, new species. d, e. Epigynes. f, g. Male right palp, ventral and retrolateral views. h, i. Hortipes terminator, new species, male left palp, ventral and retrolateral views. Scale lines: 0.25 mm.