Pholcus dali, 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 : 25

Pholcus dali sp. nov.

( Fig. 9)

Types. Male holotype, 3♂, 5♀ paratypes, CHINA: Yunnan Province, Dali City, Fengyi Town [ 25°30’N, 100°18’E], Mt. Gongshan , November 4, 2001, leg. Z. Z. Yang ( MHBU) ; Dali City, Temple Zhonghe , 1♂, 2♀ paratypes, May 22, 2004, leg. Z. Z. Yang ( MHBU) ; Dali City, Temple Zhonghe , 2♀ paratypes, January 14, 2004, leg. Z. Z. Yang ( MHBU) .

Diagnosis. Among its close relatives within Pholcus (see the remark of P. clavatus ), this species is very similar to P. qinghaiensis in the shape of the palpal bulb and epigynum, both with branched appendices of palpal bulb ( Figs. 9H and 41G) and with a short club-shaped epigynal apophysis ( Figs. 9A and 41C). It can be distinguished from the latter by the shape of the procursus ( Figs. 9G–I), by the oval pore plates of the epigynum ( Fig. 9B), and by the cephalic region with two brown slender central marks ( Fig. 9C).

Etymology. The species name refers to the type locality. It is a noun in apposition.

Description. Male ( holotype): total body length 3.9: cephalothorax 1.2 long, 1.3 wide; abdomen 2.7 long, 1.3 wide. Leg I: 28.5 (7.4+0.6+7.2+11.3+2.0), tibia II: 4.9, tibia III: 3.3, tibia IV: 4.1; tibia I L/D: 53. Prosoma shape as in Fig. 9C. Carapace short, broad and almost circular, ochre, with pair of brown marks broadly connecting to ocular area. Cephalic region raised, with two brown slender central marks, ocular area dark yellow. Clypeus 0.38, dark ochre, without marks. Distance AME–AME 0.06. Diameter AME 0.09, ALE 0.14, PME 0.12, PLE 0.13. Chelicerae as in Fig. 9E, with pair of black apophyses distally, pair of unsclerotized rounded apophyses proximolaterally and pair of unsclerotized rounded apophyses proximocentrally. Labium and endites light yellow. Sternum dark gray, with four pairs of pale patches along margin as in Fig. 9F. Femora, patellae and tibiae ochre, with dark rings, metatarsi and tarsi brown. Abdomen cylindrical, pale ochre, dorsum with large brown patterns as in Fig. 9C. Venter pale brown. Palps as in Figs. 9H and 9I, bulb with square tile-shaped uncus, appendix with a small median spur, tibia of palp with a round projection ventrally. Procursus as in Fig. 9G. Tarsal organ capsulate.

Variation. Tibia I in four other males: 6.2, 6.8, 7.1, 7.2. Body length in four other males: 3.6–3.9.

Female: in general very similar to male. Total length of bodies 3.6–4.1. A paratype measured (Mt. Gongshan), total length of 3.9: cephalothorax 1.2 long, 1.2 wide; abdomen 2.7 long, 1.3 wide. Tibia I 5.8. Distance AME–AME 0.06. Diameter AME 0.09, ALE 0.14, PME 0.12, PLE 0.13. Epigynum roughly triangular as in Fig. 9A, with a rounded cone-shaped apophysis on the top. Dorsal view as in Fig. 9B, with a lip-shaped arch anteriorly overlapping the pore plates.

Distribution. Known from type locality only.