Pholcus gui Zhu & Song, 1999

Zhang, Feng & Zhu, Ming-Sheng, 2009, A review of the genus Pholcus (Araneae: Pholcidae) from China, Zootaxa 2037 (1), pp. 1-114 : 32-35

Pholcus gui Zhu & Song, 1999

( Fig. 14)

Pholcus gui Zhu & Song , in Song, Zhu & Chen 1999: 57, f. 24A–H.

Diagnosis. This species resembles P. kimi and P. bidentatus , but can be distinguished from them by the appendix with a longer branch distally ( Fig. 14F), by the shape of the tip of the procursus ( Figs. 14H–J), and by the longer apophysis of the epigynum in ventral view ( Fig. 14A).

Redescription. Male (holotype), total length 6.8: cephalothorax 1.5 long, 1.8 wide; abdomen 5.3 long, 1.7 wide. Leg I: 48.2 (12.2+0.8+11.7+20.8+2.7), tibia II: 8.4, tibia III: 6.0, tibia IV: 7.8; tibia I L/D: 69. Prosoma shape as in Fig. 14D. Carapace short, broad and almost circular, ochre, with pair of brown butterfly-shaped mark broadly connecting to ocular area. Cephalic region raised, with two slender brown lines centrally, ocular area dark yellow. Clypeus 0.56, slightly ochre, with yellow marks. Distance AME–AME 0.08. Diameter AME 0.10, ALE 0.17, PME 0.14, PLE 0.15. Chelicerae as in Fig. 14G, with pair of black serrated apophyses distally and pair of unsclerotized biforked apophyses proximolaterally. Labium light yellow. Endites yellow. Sternum ochre, with anterior margin and posterior part yellow brown. Femora, patellae and tibiae ochre, with dark rings, metatarsi and tarsi brown. Abdomen cylindrical, pale ochre, dorsum with 5 pairs of brown spots. Venter with a grayish brown, longitudinal stripe. Palps as in Figs. 14I and 14J, bulb with a helmet-like uncus, appendix with a large branch distally, trochanter with short ventral apophysis. Procursus as in Fig. 14H. Palpal tarsal organ capsulate, on conical projection of cymbium ( Fig. 14H).

Variation. Tibia I in three other male paratypes: 10.8, 10.7, 11.2. Body length in three other males: 6.3, 6.5, 6.6.

Female: in general very similar to male. Female (paratypes) total length 6.4–6.9, a specimen measured, total length 6.9: cephalothorax 1.5 long, 1.7 wide; abdomen 5.4 long, 1.9 wide. Tibia I 10.3. Distance AME–AME 0.06. Diameter AME 0.10, ALE 0.18, PME 0.15, PLE 0.16. Abdomen cylindrical, pale ochre, dorsum with 5 pairs of brown spots as in Fig. 14C. Epigynum roughly triangular as in Fig. 14A, with a short club-shaped apophysis on the top. Dorsal view as in Fig. 14B, with a straw-hat-shaped sclerotized arch anteriorly and a pair of broom-shaped pore plates.

Variation. The specimens from Guangxi with a few differences in the markings of carapace, other characters same as speicmens from Hainan Island.

Distribution. Known from type locality and Guangxi Province, China.

Material examined. CHINA: Hainan: Mt. Jiangfengling , December 13, 1989, leg. M. B. Gu, male holotype, 3♂, 3♀ paratypes ( MHBU) ; Sanya City, Yalongwan , December 11, 2003, leg. M. S. Zhu, 2♂, 2♀ ( MHBU) . Guangxi: Fusui County, Bapen Natural Reserve , August 17, 2004, leg. M. S. Zhu and F. Zhang, 1♂, 3♀ ( MHBU) .

Remark. When the description of this species was published in 1999, the authors described the female as “female epigyna without scapus” in the note. The current authors re-examined the type materials (hototype male, paratypes three males and three females) in detail, and found that two of three females did indeed have a scape and the scape of the other female may be lost; so we illustrate the epigynum here again.