Pseudopoda emei Zhang et al. , 2013

Jäger, Peter, Li, Shuqiang & Krehenwinkel, Henrik, 2015, Morphological and molecular taxonomic analysis of Pseudopoda Jäger, 2000 (Araneae: Sparassidae: Heteropodinae) in Sichuan Province, China, Zootaxa 3999 (3), pp. 363-392 : 370

Pseudopoda emei Zhang et al., 2013

Figs 24–36 , 130

Pseudopoda emei Zhang et al. 2013b: 44 , figs 18–33 (Description of male and female; holotype male, 1 male, 3 female paratypes from China, Sichuan, Emeishan; deposited in MHBU, not examined).

Note. Zhang et al. (2013b) listed wrong geographic coordinates as well as a wrong elevation of the type locality. The corrected data are: Emeishan, Fuhu Temple, 29°34'47.33''N, 103°23'03.12''E, 891 m (Feng Zhang, personal communication).

Material examined ( 2 males, 1 female). China: Sichuan: 1 male (PJ 3515), Tienqiang County, c. 5 km from Tienqiang town, 30°02,089'N, 102°46,079'E, 720 m, slopes along road, dense vegetation with ferns ( Selaginella sp.), weeds, grasses, P. Jäger leg., by hand, at day, 7 July 2004, SD 70 ( SMF); 1 male (PJ 3514), as previous specimen, caught as subadult, adult: 11 July 2004, SD 84 ( IZCAS); 1 female (PJ 1900), Emeishan, Wannian Temple [ 29°34'53.06"N, 103°22'55.35"E, ca. 1000 m], in front of temple wall, P. Jäger leg., by hand, at night, 25 March 1999 ( SMF).

Diagnosis (modified from Zhang et al. 2013). Small to medium sized Pseudopoda species with body length of males 12.7–15.4, of females 13.2–14.1. Males similar to those of P. v i rg at a in having a serrated embolic apophysis and a narrow embolic tip as well as a similarly shaped RTA ( Figs 32–34 ), but distinguished by 1) Embolus tip narrow and long, abruptly narrowing (constantly narrowing and shorter in P. virgat a), 2) Embolus tip bent at a right angle, tip ventrad (not distinctly bent in P. v i rg at a). Females very similar to those of P. signata in having similar trilobate epigynal field and arrangement of ventral and dorsal windings of internal duct system ( Figs 24–29 ), but distinguished by 1) Ventral windings wide, double S-shaped (ventral windings narrower, with various shapes in P. signata ), 2) Dorsal windings kidney-shaped (dorsal windings subparallel in P. signata ). Moreover, P. emei is known so far to live in distinctly lower elevations of 720–1000 m ( P. signata : 2600–3800 m).

Note. Windings of female internal duct system are only fully visible when immersed in lactic acid or a similar clearing agent.

For colouration of living male see Figs 35–36 .

Variation. Males (n=2): total length 12.7–12.8, 35–45 denticles in cheliceral furrow in restricted patch close to 2 distal anterior teeth. Spination: Palpal tibia 2111 (2101); femur III 32 (3)3; tibia III21 (2)26; metatarsus I 2024 (1012, malformation). In one male (PJ 3514) embolus not distinctly narrowing as shown in Zhang et al. (2013: fig. 21) and Fig. 32 . Female (n=1): total length 14.1. Spination: palpal tarsus 1014; femur III 322, IV 331; tibia I 2226, II 22(1)26; metatarsus I–II 2014, III 3025, IV 3037. Most important difference between illustrations of the female paratype (s) ( Zhang et al. 2013b) and the present female is the shape and course of the internal duct system: ventral windings double-S-shaped, their axis sub-parallel to anterior margins of LL; dorsal windings kidney-shaped, distinctly visible even in uncleared vulva; fertilization duct arising from sub-apical part of ventral windings leaving a blind-ending part without recognizable pores.

Distribution. China: Sichuan: Emei Shan ( type locality; 890–1000 m), Tienqiang ( 720 m) ( Fig. 130 ).

Figures

FIGURE 130. Map of Sichuan with records of Pseudopoda spp. (Pseudopoda sp. cf. yunnanensis not mapped). Pseudopoda grahami (Fox, 1936) and P. exigua (Fox, 1938) are included as described from Sichuan although no new records are known and therefore not mentioned in the text.

FIGURES 24 – 34. Pseudopoda emei, males from Tienqiang County (32 – 34 PJ 3515) and females from Emei Shan (24 – 31, PJ 1900). 24, 29 Epigyne, ventral; 25, 27 – 28 Vulva (25 dorsal, 27 – 28 left half of vulva, various views); 26 Schematic course of internal duct system, dorsal; 30 sternum, ventral; 31 eye arrangement, dorsal; 32 – 33 Embolus tip (32 ventral, 33 retrolateral); 34 Palpal tibia, dorsal. DW—dorsal windings of internal duct system, FD—fertilisation duct, FW—first winding of internal duct system, VW—ventral windings of internal duct system.

FIGURES 35 – 36. Pseudopoda emei from Tienqiang County. Habitus of live male (PJ 3514) (35 dorsal, 36 ventral.