Cosmophasis valerieae Prószyński & Deeleman-Reinhold 2010

Hurni-Cranston, Tiziano & Hill, David E., 2021, Three new jumping spiders of the genus Cosmophasis from Wallacea (Araneae: Salticidae: Chrysillini), Peckhamia 228 (1), pp. 1-84 : 51-56

10. Cosmophasis valerieae Prószyński & Deeleman-Reinhold 2010 Figures 5 , 7 :6, 46-49, Map ( Figure 1 ) #58

This little-known, recently described species is known only from the southernmost islands of Indonesia ( Lesser Sunda ), from Java to East Nusa Tenggara . Prószyński & Deeleman-Reinhold (2010) designated a female holotype and a male allotype for this species, both from Samokat, Sumbawa Besar . Here ( Figures 46-49 ) we provide photographs of living C. valeriae to make it possible to recognize these in the field.

female when immature.

Diagnosis. Males ( Figure 47 ) resemble other, well-known species like C. thalassina and C. umbratica in most features, including the general appearance of the pedipalps, but they are otherwise readily identifiable. Instead of black, the transverse bands of the carapace are comprised of brilliant, violet-gold iridescent scales. The wide articulation of the carapace (clypeus) with the chelicerae is jet-black, interrupted by only a few white clypeal setae at the median. Instead of a long median tract of iridescent scales on the dorsal opisthosoma, there is a transverse band comprised of three fused circular patches of these scales. The dense array of overlapping, pitch-black scales that cover most of the opisthosoma can also be used to distinguish male C. valeriae .

Females of this sexually dimorphic species ( Figure 48 ) are even more distinctive. The carapace is uniformly covered with vivid green (yellow to blue-green) iridescent scales, with some orange scales around the anterior eyes. Markings on the opisthosoma include a background of bright orange scales and resemble those of C. bitaeniata , but instead of a transverse band across the dorsal opisthosoma, three separate white spots, each outlined in black, are present. These spots are not fused as they are in the male. The epigynum of the female (Prószyński & Deeleman-Reinhold 2010) is also diagnostic.

Immatures ( Figures 5 , 49 ) resemble the adult female. In Figure 5 you can see the detailed structure of the orange opisthosomal scales of this species. As in other Cosmophasis , the large, rounded scales that overlap to form a tight array are only found on the opisthosoma.

Figures

Figure 1. Known occurrence of Cosmophasis species in Sunda, Sahul and adjacent oceanic islands. Better-known species are identified in the key at upper right. See Appendix 1 for identification of the other species, most know from a single locality, by number. The new species described here are from Ambon and the Banda Islands within the Wallacean region (small yellow rectangle near the center), shown in more detail in Figure 2. Localities are based on references cited in Appendix 1, as well as reliable photographs posted in iNaturalist and FLICKR. Note that some records of C. thalassina (52, generally found to the south) and C. umbratica (57, generally found to the north) are most likely confused, as separation of these species may not be possible. Background image courtesy of NASA/USGS/Landsat.

Figure 5. Two views of dorsal opisthosomal scale cover from the exuvium of a penultimate male Cosmophasis valerieae from Bali. At least five different scale types can be seen here: wavy iridescent scales at the median; bright orange pigmented scales with a middorsal keel forming a band on either side of the median; wavy, dark transparent scales surrounding the bright orange scales; wavy, pigmented, semi-transparent scales comprising the anterior marginal band (lower right); wider, dark transparent scales (2, arrow) comparable to those shown in Figure 3:3. Iridescent carapacial scales resemble the wavy scales shown here.

Figure 7. Comparative dorsal views of representative male Cosmophasis (drawings not to scale). 1, C. ambonensis, sp.nov., Ambon. 2, Cosmophasis sp. A, found at Warimak, Waigeo Island, West Papua (Baum 2019) and at Pulau Penem, Fam Islands, Indonesia (Smutný 2020). 3, Cosmophasis sp. B, found on Leilei Island (Sustainable Strategies Network 2018), Halmahera Island (Harris 2019), and Ternate Island (Knowles 2021a) in the Bacan Islands, Indonesia. 4, Cosmophasis sp. C, found at Manokwari, West Papua (Knowles 2021b). 5, C. bitaeniata, Queensland. 6, C. valerieae, Bali. 7, C. bandaneira, sp.nov., Banda Neira.

Figure 46. Detailed views of the scales of an adult male Cosmophasis valeriae from Bali. 1, Dorsal view of eye region showing alternating bands of light blue and violet-gold iridescent scales. These scales are lanceolate and wavy. 2-4, Details from (1). 5-6, Two views of the scales covering the dorsal opisthosoma. Isolated tracts of blue, lanceolate, iridescent scales are surrounded by a dense array of black, round, and semi-transparent overlapping scales.

Figure 47 (continued on next page). Adult male Cosmophasis valeriae from Bali.

Figure 48. Adult female Cosmophasis valeriae from Bali.

Figure 49. Immature Cosmophasis valeriae from Bali. Both males and females have the colours of an adult