Pholcus guani Song & Ren, 1994

Zhang, Feng & Zhu, Ming-Sheng, 2009, A review of the genus Pholcus (Araneae: Pholcidae) from China, Zootaxa 2037 (1), pp. 1-114 : 32

Pholcus guani Song & Ren, 1994

( Fig. 13)

Pholcus guani Song & Ren 1994: 21 , f. 8–14. Song, Zhu & Chen, 1999: 57, f. 23V–Y.

Diagnosis. This species is a relatively special one, with a unique shape of the procursus tip, and resembles P. qinghaiensis . It can be distinguished from the latter by the appendix with a longer branch proximally ( Fig. 13F), by the shape of tip of the procursus ( Figs. 13F–G), and by the long, cone-shaped apophysis of the epigynum ( Fig. 13B).

Redescription. Male (‘allotype’), total length 4.9: cephalothorax 1.9 long, 1.8 wide; abdomen 3.0 long, 1.5 wide. Leg I: 45.9 (13.4+0.8+13.1+16.2+2.4), tibia II: 9.4, tibia III: 6.3, tibia IV: 8.1; tibia I L/D: 77. Carapace short, broad and almost circular, ochre, with brown mark broadly connecting to ocular area. Cephalic region raised, with brown marks and pair of brown dots centrally, ocular area dark yellow. Clypeus 0.40, slightly ochre, with yellow marks. Distance AME–AME 0.05. Diameter AME 0.09, ALE 0.15, PME 0.13, PLE 0.14. Chelicerae ( Fig. 13D) with pair of black apophyses distally, pair of unsclerotized biforked apophyses proximolaterally and pair of unsclerotized rounded apophyses proximocentrally. Labium light yellow. Endites yellow. Sternum slightly ochre, with numerous irregular yellow marks on it. Femora, patellae and tibiae fawn, with dark rings, metatarsi and tarsi brown. Abdomen cylindrical, pale ochre, dorsum with numerous brown markings. Venter pale brown, without marks. Palps as in Figs. 13F and 13G, bulb with a rounded tile-shaped uncus, appendix with a small branch proximally, trochanter with short ventral apophysis and small retrolateral apophysis.

Variation. Tibia I in other male: 12.9. Body length in other male: 4.8.

Female: in general very similar to male. Body length 4.9–5.1. Female ( holotype), total length 5.1: cephalothorax 1.4 long, 1.4 wide; abdomen 3.4 long, 1.5 wide. Tibia I 8.8. Prosoma shape as in Fig. 13A. Distance AME–AME 0.05. Diameter AME 0.08, ALE 0.15, PME 0.13, PLE 0.13. Epigynum roughly triangular as in Fig. 13B, with a median cone-shaped apophysis on the top. Dorsal view as in Fig. 13C, with a V-shaped sclerotized arch anteriorly and a pair of oval pore plates.

Distribution. Known from type locality only.

Material examined. CHINA: Liaoning, Beizhen County, August 28, 1987, leg. J. D. Guan, female holotype , male ‘allotype’, 1♂, 2♀ paratypes ( MHBU) .