Fuchiba, Haddad & Lyle, 2008

Haddad, Charles R. & Lyle, Robin, 2008, Three new genera of tracheline sac spiders from southern Africa (Araneae: Corinnidae), African Invertebrates 49 (2), pp. 37-37 : 40-42

Genus Fuchiba gen. n.

Etymology: The genus name is an arbitrary combination of letters. Gender masculine.

Type species: Fuchiba aquilonia sp. n.

Diagnosis: Separated from other trachelines by the robust body, lack of any cusps or spines on legs, widely spaced eyes, high and finely granulate carapace with a shallow depression immediately anterior to the fovea, and by the genitalic structures: males have a short coiled embolus distally on the tegulum and a simple single RTA; females have copulatory openings situated laterally in sclerotised posterior circular depressions.

Description: Small spiders, 2.43–4.70 mm long; carapace yellow-brown, orange, redbrown or dark brown, abdomen pale grey with dark grey dorsal chevron marking ( Figs 1–3 , 5–14 ); carapace surface finely granulate ( Figs 15, 16 ); AER procurved, clypeus height larger than AME diameter; AME slightly smaller than ALE, or eyes subequal; AME closer to ALE than to each other; PER strongly recurved ( Fig. 16 ); PME slightly larger than PLE, or eyes subequal; PME closer to each other than to PLE; chilum single, triangular, tapering distally, sometimes with distal notch; cheliceral promargin and retromargin with three teeth each, retromarginal teeth often on single base, otherwise close together ( Fig. 17 ); labium trapezoidal; endites straight laterally with distinct serrula ( Fig. 18 ), anterolateral spur present in male F. montana sp. n. and F. venteri sp. n.; carapace broadly oval, widest at midpoint, eye region wide; carapace with slight depression anterior to fovea, posterior margin slightly concave; pleural bars isolated; sternum shield-shaped; precoxal triangles present; intercoxal sclerites present between coxae I and II, II and III, and III and IV; legs I and II more strongly built than legs III and IV; legs without spines or ventral cusps, metatarsi and tarsi scopulate ( Figs 19, 20 ), with paired tarsal claws and weakly developed claw tufts ( Fig. 21 ); metatarsi III and IV with terminal preening brush; leg formula 1423 in ♂, 4123 in ♀; abdomen oval, tapering posteriorly; dorsal scutum complete in ♂, absent in ♀; dorsal sigilla present; venter with paired tiny sclerites running from epigastric fold to spinnerets; inframamillary sclerite absent; male palp with single subtriangular RTA; tegulum oval, with short distal embolus forming single coil ( Figs 22, 23 ); female epigyne with copulatory openings situated laterally in paired circular ridges; vulva with short entrance ducts, directed anteriorly; ST II large, oval, anteromedially situated, ST I small, laterally situated.

Species included: F. aquilonia , F. capensis , F. montana , F. similis , F. tortilis and F. venteri (all new).

Key to species of the genus Fuchiba gen. n.

1 Males (♂ of F. similis sp. n. and F. tortilis sp. n. unknown) ................................. 2

– Females ................................................................................................................. 5

2 Embolus forming narrow coil with tip directed towards and ending close to cymbial tip ( Fig. 45 ) ................................................................................... F. venteri sp. n.

– Embolus forming broad coil in transverse plane, tip closer to distal end of tegulum than to cymbial tip ( Fig. 26 ) ................................................................................. 3

3 Embolus forming complete coil through 360°, tip situated close to prolateral base and directed towards cymbial tip ( Fig. 36 ) ................................ F. montana sp. n.

– Embolus only curving 180° to 270° from prolateral base ( Figs 26 , 32 )............... 4

4 Embolus coiled through 180°, tip directed slightly towards cymbial tip ( Fig. 26 ) .................................................................................................. F. aquilonia sp. n.

– Embolus coiled through approx. 270°, tip slanting slightly towards base of tegulum ( Fig. 32 ) ...................................................................................... F. capensis sp. n.

5 Epigyne with distinctive paired posterior circular ridges ( Fig. 30 ), entrance ducts not coiled ( Fig. 31 ) ............................................................................................... 6

– Epigyne with subrectangular ridges with curved margins, entrance ducts distinctly coiled ( Figs 43, 44 ) ........................................................................ F. tortilis sp. n.

6 Epigyne with corrugated ridges anteriorly, ST II small and round ( Fig. 41 ).......... ....................................................................................................... F. similis sp. n.

– Epigyne without corrugated ridges anteriorly, ST II usually larger and oval ....... 7

7 Copulatory openings situated anterolaterally in circular ridges; ST II large, length from anterior margin to posterior bend much greater than length of circular ridges ( Fig. 38 ) ..................................................................................... F. montana sp. n.

– Copulatory openings situated mediolaterally or posteriorly in circular ridges; ST II smaller, length from anterior margin to posterior bend nearly equal to or smaller than length of circular ridges (e.g. Fig. 30 ) .......................................................... 8

8 Base of ST II initially bending posteromedially following entrance ducts before bending anteriorly into oval receptacle; ST II orientated parallel to body axis ( Fig. 30 ) ............................................................................................. F. aquilonia sp. n.

– Base of ST II initially bending anteromedially following entrance ducts before bending anterolaterally into oval receptacle; ST II orientated obliquely relative to body axis ( Figs 34 , 47 ) ......................................................................................... 9

9 Copulatory openings broad ( Fig. 47 ), lateral receptacles of ST I distinctly separated ( Fig. 48 ); carapace yellow-brown ................................................. F. venteri sp. n.

– Copulatory openings narrow ( Fig. 34 ), lateral receptacles of ST I close together ( Fig. 35 ); carapace yellow-brown to red-brown ......................... F. capensis sp. n.

Figures

Figs 1–4. General habitus of Fuchiba gen. n. and Poachelas gen. n. from southern Africa: (1) F. aquilonia sp. n., female, Marracuene, Mozambique; (2) F. capensis sp. n., male, De Hoop Nat. Res., South Africa; (3) F. venteri sp. n., male, Jakobsbaai, South Africa; (4) P. striatus sp. n., male, Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Figs 5–14. General habitus of Fuchiba gen. n. species: (5, 6) F. aquilonia sp. n., male, Ndumo Game Reserve, and female, Marracuene; (7, 8) F. capensis sp. n., De Hoop Nat. Res., male and female; (9, 10) F. montana sp. n., male, Mohale Lodge, and female, Mohale Dam; (11) F. similis sp. n., female, Ngome State Forest; (12) F. tortilis sp. n., female, Fisherhaven; (13, 14) F. venteri sp. n., Jakobsbaai, male and female. Scale bars = 1.0 mm.

Figs 15–23. Scanning electron micrographs of Fuchiba capenis sp. n., male: (15) carapace surface and fovea; (16) dorsal view of eye region; (17) chelicera, indicating retromarginal cheliceral teeth (RT) and shaggy seta on anterior margin (SS); (18) serrula; (19) metatarsus I, ventral view; (20) tarsus I, ventral view; (21) tarsal claws; (22) palp, indicating tegulum (TE), subtegulum (ST) and embolus (EM); (23) embolus, enlarged.

Figs 45–48. Fuchiba venteri sp. n.: (45, 46) male palp, ventral and retrolateral views; (47, 48) female epigyne, ventral and dorsal views. Scale bars = 0.1 mm.

Figs 24–31. Fuchiba aquilonia sp. n., male (24–27) and female (28–31): (24, 28) carapace, lateral view; (25, 29) eye region, anterior view; (26) palp, ventral view; (27) same, retrolateral view; (30, 31) epigyne, ventral and dorsal views. Scale bars: 1.0 mm in Figs 24, 28; 0.1 mm in Figs 25–27, 29–31.

Figs 36–39. Fuchiba montana sp. n.: (36, 37) male palp, ventral and retrolateral views; (38, 39) female epigyne, ventral and dorsal views. Scale bars = 0.1 mm.

Figs 32–35. Fuchiba capensis sp. n.: (32, 33) male palp, ventral and retrolateral views; (34, 35) female epigyne, ventral and dorsal views. Scale bars = 0.1 mm.

Figs 41–44. Female epigyne: (41, 42) Fuchiba similis sp. n., ventral and dorsal views; (43, 44) F. tortilis sp. n., ventral and dorsal views. Scale bars = 0.1 mm.