Pholcus kunming, 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 : 47

Pholcus kunming sp. nov.

( Fig. 23)

Types. Male holotype, 2♂, 6♀ paratypes, CHINA: Yunnan Province, Kunming City, Mt. Xishan [25°N, 102°24’E], April 28, 2004, leg. Z. S. Zhang ( MHBU) ; Lijiang County, June 27, 1983, collector unknown, 2♂, 2♀ ( MHBU) ; July 19, 1999, leg. J. H. Zhu, 1♂ ( MHBU) ; Ludian , July 18, 1981, collector unknown, 1♂ ( MHBU) ; Jianchuan County, August 15, 1999, leg. T. X. Zhao, 1♂, 1♀ ( MHBU) ; Eryuan County, Baicaoluo , May 26, 1999, leg. Z. Z. Yang, 1♂, 1♀ ( MHBU) .

Diagnosis. Among its close Pholcus relatives (see the remark of P. clavatus ), this species is very similar to P. yangi sp. nov. and P. shangrila sp. nov. in the shapes of the palpal bulb, all with branched appendices ( Figs. 23H, 43H and 58H) and teat-shaped epigynal apophyses ( Figs. 23A, 43A and 58A). It can be distinguished from the latter two by the shape of the procursus ( Figs. 23G–I), also from P. shangrila sp. nov. by the cephalic region with brown slender central marks ( Fig. 23C), and also from P. yangi sp. nov. by the longer ventral apophysis of trochanter ( Figs. 23D, H–I).

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

Description. Male (holotype): total body length 4.0: cephalothorax 1.2 long, 1.4 wide; abdomen 2.8 long, 1.3 wide. Leg I: 33.4 (8.7+0.6+8.8+13.3+2.1), tibia II: 5.5, tibia III: 3.5, tibia IV: 4.8; tibia I L/D: 58. Prosoma shape as in Fig. 23C. Carapace short, broad and almost circular, ochre, with brown marks broadly connecting to ocular area. Cephalic region raised, with brown slender central marks and pair of small brown marks laterally, ocular area dark yellow. Clypeus 0.44, dark ochre, without marks. Distance AME–AME 0.05. Diameter AME 0.08, ALE 0.14, PME 0.12, PLE 0.13. Chelicerae as in Fig. 23E, with pair of black apophyses distally, pair of unsclerotized thumb-shaped apophyses proximolaterally and pair of unsclerotized rounded apophyses proximocentrally. Labium and endites slightly yellow. Sternum dark gray, with regular yellow patches centrally and laterally as in Fig. 23F. Femora, patellae and tibiae ochre, with dark rings, metatarsi and tarsi brown. Abdomen cylindrical, pale ochre, dorsum with small brown patterns as in Fig. 23C. Venter pale brown. Palps as in Figs. 23H and 23I, bulb with fan-like uncus, appendix with a median branch. Procursus as in Fig. 23G. Tarsal organ capsulate.

Variation. Tibia I in eight other males: 8.3–9.5 (mean: 9.1). Body length in eight other males 3.9–4.1.

Female: in general very similar to male. Total length of bodies 4.2–5.0. A specimen measured (Mt. Xishan), total length 4.9: cephalothorax 1.3 long, 1.4 wide; abdomen 3.6 long, 1.8 wide. Tibia I: 6.9. Distance AME–AME 0.05. Diameter AME 0.08, ALE 0.14, PME 0.12, PLE 0.13. Epigynum roughly triangular as in Fig. 23A, with a nipple-shaped apophysis on the top. Dorsal view as in Fig. 23B, with a wavy sclerotized arch anteriorly and a pair of oval pore plates.

Distribution. Known from type locality only.