Pholcus fengcheng, 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 : 28-29

Pholcus fengcheng sp. nov.

( Fig. 11)

Types. Male holotype, 1♀ paratype, CHINA: Liaoning Province, Fengcheng City [ 40°24’N, 124°E], Mt. Fenghuang , picked from forest tree, July 25, 2005, leg. M. S. Zhu ( MHBU) .

Diagnosis. Similar to P. alloctospilus in the shapes of the palpal bulb and epigynum, both without appendices, and both with a knob-shaped epigynal apophysis. It can be distinguished from the latter by the tip shape of the procursus ( Fig. 11G–I); by the shape of uncus of palpal bulb ( Fig. 11H); and by the unusual anterior sclerotized shape of epigynum ( Fig. 11B).

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

Description. Male ( holotype): total body length 5.7: cephalothorax 1.6 long, 1.9 wide; abdomen 4.1 long, 2.3 wide. Leg I: 53.6 (13.8+0.9+14.4+23.0+1.5), tibia II: 9.5, tibia III: 6.1, tibia IV: 8.2; tibia I L/D: 72. Prosoma shape as in Fig. 11C. Carapace short, broad and almost circular, ochre, with brown mark broadly connecting to ocular area. Cephalic region raised, with one brown slender central mark, ocular area dark yellow. Clypeus 0.45, ochre, without marks. Distance AME–AME 0.06. Diameter AME 0.10, ALE 0.17, PME 0.15, PLE 0.16. Chelicerae as in Fig. 11E, with pair of black apophyses distally, pair of unsclerotized rounded apophyses proximolaterally and pair of small unsclerotized apophyses proximocentrally. Labium light yellow. Endites gray. Sternum gray, with irregular yellow patches centrally as in Fig. 11F. Femora, patellae and tibiae yellow, with dark rings, metatarsi and tarsi brown. Abdomen cylindrical, pale ochre, dorsum with small brown patterns as in Fig. 11C. Venter pale brown. Palps as in Figs. 11H and 11I, bulb with hat-shaped uncus and transparent embolus, without appendix, tibia of palp with an ear-shaped projection prolaterally. Procursus as in Fig. 11G, tip with a spine-shaped apophysis. Tarsal organ capsulate.

Female: in general very similar to male. Female ( paratype), total length of body 5.3: cephalothorax 1.5 long, 1.7 wide; abdomen 3.8 long, 1.8 wide. Tibia I 9.8. Distance AME–AME 0.04. Diameter AME 0.10, ALE 0.16, PME 0.14, PLE 0.13. Epigynum roughly semicircular as in Fig. 11A, with a small cone-shaped apophysis on the top. Dorsal view as in Fig. 11B, with pair of unusual sclerotized apophyses anteriorly and pair of small, oval pore plates.

Distribution. Known from type locality only.