Pholcus huberi, 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 : 37-41

Pholcus huberi sp. nov.

( Figs. 17–18)

Types. Male holotype, 4♂, 10♀ paratypes, CHINA: Henan Province, Xinyang County, Mt. Jigong [ 31°48’N, 114°6’E], July 11, 2005, leg. Z. S. Zhang ( MHBU) .

Diagnosis. Among its Pholcus relatives (see the remark of P. clavatus ), this species is very similar to P. harveyi sp. nov., P. songxian sp. nov., P. parayichengicus sp. nov. and P. yichengicus ( Henan Province except P. yichengicus , Shanxi Province) in the shapes of the palpal bulb and epigynum, all with a biforked ventral apophysis of the trochanter ( Figs. 15I, 17I, 33I, 46I and 60I) and a long teat-shaped epigynal apophysis ( Figs. 15A, 17A, 33I, 46A and 60A). P. huberi sp. nov. can be distinguished from them by the shape of the tip of the procursus ( Figs. 17G–I), by the appendix without branched apophysis centrally ( Fig. 17H), also from P. harveyi sp. nov. and P. yichengicus by the cephalic region with brown central marks ( Fig. 17C).

Etymology. The specific name is a patronym in honor of Dr. B. A. Huber, a well-known arachnologist from Austria.

Description. Male ( holotype): total body length 5.4: cephalothorax 1.7 long, 1.8 wide; abdomen 3.7 long, 1.8 wide. Prosoma shape as in Fig. 17C. Leg I: 41.7 (10.7+0.7+10.1+17.5+2.7), tibia II: 7.6, tibia III: 5.0, tibia IV: 7.0; tibia I L/D: 67. Carapace short, broad and almost circular, ochre, with brown marks broadly connecting to ocular area. Cephalic region raised, without brown central marks, ocular area dark yellow. Clypeus 0.48, ochre, without marks. Distance AME–AME 0.05. Diameter AME 0.10, ALE 0.19, PME 0.17, PLE 0.17. Chelicerae as in Fig. 17E, with pair of black distal apophyses carrying two modified hairs each ( Fig. 18D and 18E), pair of unsclerotized thumb-shaped apophyses proximolaterally and pair of unsclerotized rounded apophyses proximocentrally. Labium and endites light yellow. Sternum dark gray, with yellow patches centrally as in Fig. 17F. Femora, patellae and tibiae ochre, with dark rings, metatarsi and tarsi ochre. Tarsal organ of tarsus 1 capsulate ( Fig. 18B). Abdomen cylindrical, pale ochre, dorsum with small brown patterns as in Fig. 17C. Venter pale brown. Male gonopore with four epiandrous spigots as in Fig. 18C. Six spinnerets ( Fig. 18I), ALS with six piriform gland spigots ( Fig. 18J), PMS with two spigots ( Fig. 18K) and PLS without any spigot ( Fig. 18L). Palps as in Figs. 17H and 17I, bulb with brush-like uncus and long curved appendix. Procursus as in Fig. 17G.

Variation. Tibia I in four other males: 9.4, 9.6, 9.6, 10.0. Body length in four other males 4.8–5.5.

Female: in general very similar to male. Total length of bodies 4.3–4.7. Female ( one paratype, from Mt. Jigong), total length 4.3: cephalothorax 1.4 long, 1.6 wide; abdomen 2.9 long, 1.4 wide. Tibia I: 7.4. Distance AME–AME 0.05. Diameter AME 0.09, ALE 0.14, PME 0.12, PLE 0.13. Epigynum roughly triangular as in Fig. 17A and 18A, with a large teat-shaped apophysis on the top. Dorsal view as in Fig. 17B, with a rainbowshaped sclerotized arch anteriorly and a pair of oval pore plates.

Distribution. Known from type locality only.