Pholcus kangding, 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 : 43

Pholcus kangding sp. nov.

( Fig. 20 )

Types. Male holotype, 5♂, 6♀ paratypes, CHINA: Sichuan Province, Kangding County [30°N, 101°54’E], July 16, 2000, leg. M. S. Zhu, F. Zhang and J. X. Zhang ( MHBU) .

Diagnosis. Among its close Pholcus relatives (see the remark of P. clavatus ), this species is very similar to P. zhangae sp. nov. in the shapes of the palpal bulb, both with branched appendices of palpal bulb ( Figs. 20H and 63I ). P. kangding sp. nov. can be distinguished from the latter by the shape of the procursus ( Figs. 20G–I ), by the smaller club-shaped epigynal apophysis ( Fig. 20A ), and by the cephalic region without brown slender central marks ( Fig. 20C ).

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

Description. Male (holotype): total body length 4.2: cephalothorax 1.3 long, 1.5 wide; abdomen 2.9 long, 1.6 wide. Leg I: 41.7 (10.8+0.7+10.2+17.5+2.5), tibia II: 6.7, tibia III: 4.2, tibia IV: 5.4; tibia I L/D: 64. Prosoma shape as in Fig. 20C . Carapace short, broad and almost circular, ochre, with pair of brown mark broadly connecting to ocular area. Cephalic region raised, without brown central marks, ocular area dark yellow. Clypeus 0.46, 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. 20E , with pair of black apophyses distally, pair of unsclerotized nipple-like apophyses proximolaterally and pair of small unsclerotized rounded apophyses proximocentrally. Labium light yellow. Endites slightly gray. Sternum dark gray, with irregular yellow patches centrally and laterally as in Fig. 20F . Femora, patellae and tibiae ochre, with dark rings, metatarsi and tarsi brown. Abdomen cylindrical, pale ochre, dorsum with small brown patterns as in Fig. 20C . Venter pale brown. Palps as in Figs. 20H and 20I , bulb with fan-like uncus, appendix with a median branch. Procursus as in Fig. 20G . Tarsal organ capsulate.

Variation. Tibia I in five other males: 9.4–10.0 (mean: 9.7). Body length in five other males 4.0–4.2.

Female: in general very similar to male. Total length of bodies 4.1–4.7. A specimen measured (paratype), total length 4.7: cephalothorax 1.2 long, 1.3 wide; abdomen 3.5 long, 1.8 wide. Tibia I: 6.5. Distance AME–AME 0.05. Diameter AME 0.08, ALE 0.13, PME 0.11, PLE 0.12. Epigynum roughly oval as in Fig. 20A , with a bottle-cork-shaped apophysis on the top. Dorsal view as in Fig. 20B , with M-shaped sclerotized arch anteriorly and a pair of oval pore plates.

Distribution. Known from type locality only.

Figures

FIGURE 20. Pholcus kangding sp. nov. A. epigynum, ventral view. B. same, dorsal view. C. male body, dorsal view. D. trochanter of male left palp, dorsal view. E. male left chelicera, frontal view. F. male sternum, ventral view. G. left procursus, dorsal view. H. left palp, prolateral view. I. same, retrolateral view. Scale lines: 1.0mm (C), 0.5mm (A, B, E–I), 0.2mm (D).

FIGURE 63. Pholcus zhangae sp. nov. A. epigynum, ventral view. B. same, dorsal view. C. male body, dorsal view. D. male left chelicera, frontal view. E. male left chelicera, lateral view. F. trochanter of male left palp, dorsal view. G. male sternum, ventral view. H. left procursus, dorsal view. I. left palp, prolateral view. J. same, retrolateral view. Scale lines: 1.0mm (C), 0.5mm (A, B, D, E, G–J), 0.2mm (F).