Pholcus phoenixus, Zhang & Zhu, 2009

Zhang, Feng & Zhu, Ming-Sheng, 2009, A review of the genus Pholcus (Araneae: Pholcidae) from China, Zootaxa 2037 (1), pp. 1-114 : 69

Pholcus phoenixus sp. nov.

( Figs. 37–38)

Types. Male holotype, 2♂, 14♀ paratypes, CHINA: Liaoning Province, Fengcheng City [40°24’N, 124°E], Mt. Fenghuang , picked from a forest tree, July 25, 2005, leg. M. S. Zhu ( MHBU) .

Diagnosis. Among its close Pholcus relatives (see the remark of P. alloctospilus ), this species is very similar to P. zhuolu sp. nov. in the shape of the palpal bulb and epigynum, both without an appendix of palpal bulb ( Fig. 37H) and both with a knob-shaped epigynal apophysis ( Fig. 37A). It can be distinguished from P. zhuolu sp. nov. by the shape of the tip of the procursus ( Figs. 37H and 38D), by the ear-shaped uncus ( Figs. 37H and 38C), and by the shape of the sclerotized arch of the epigynum in dorsal view ( Fig. 37B).

Etymology. The specific name is taken from the legend of a Chinese mythical bird.

Description. Male (holotype): total body length 5.5: cephalothorax 1.6 long, 1.8 wide; abdomen 3.8 long, 1.4 wide. Leg I: 41.1 (10.8+0.7+10.6+17.0+2.1), tibia II: 7.4, tibia III: 5.1, tibia IV: 7.0; tibia I L/D: 66. Prosoma shape as in Fig. 37C. Carapace short, broad and almost circular, ochre, with pair of brown marks broadly connecting to ocular area. Cephalic region raised, with brown longitudinal stripe centrally and pair of small brown dots laterally, ocular area dark yellow. Clypeus 0.50, dark ochre, with markings. Distance AME–AME 0.05. Diameter AME 0.10, ALE 0.16, PME 0.13, PLE 0.15. Chelicerae as in Figs. 37E and 38E–F, with pair of black apophyses distally, pair of unsclerotized thumb-shaped apophyses proximolaterally and pair of unsclerotized rounded apophyses proximocentrally. Labium light yellow. Endites gray. Sternum dark gray, with irregular brown spots as in Fig. 37F. Femora, patellae and tibiae ochre, with dark rings, metatarsi and tarsi brown. Tarsus with several pseudosegmentations as in Fig. 38I. Abdomen cylindrical, pale ochre, dorsum with large brown patterns as in Fig. 37C. Venter pale brown. Palps as in Figs. 37H and 37I, bulb with a bilobed uncus, without appendix. Procursus as in Fig. 37G. Tarsal organ capsulate ( Fig. 38H).

Variation. Tibia I in two male paratypes: 10.2, 10.5. Body length in two male paratypes: 4.9, 5.2.

Female: in general very similar to male. Total length of bodies 4.6–5.2. A paratype measured, total length 5.1: cephalothorax 1.4 long, 1.5 wide; abdomen 3.7 long, 1.5 wide. Tibia I: 7.5. Distance AME–AME 0.04. Diameter AME 0.09, ALE 0.15, PME 0.13, PLE 0.14. Epigynum roughly round as in Figs. 37A and 38B, with a small knob-shaped apophysis. Dorsal view as in Fig. 37B, with a mushroom-shaped sclerotized arch anteriorly and a pair of triangular pore plates centrally.

Distribution. Known from type locality only.