Myandra Simon

Platnick, N. I. & Baehr, B., 2006, A Revision Of The Australasian Ground Spiders Of The Family Prodidomidae (Araneae: Gnaphosoidea), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2006 (298), pp. 1-287 : 266

Myandra Simon

Myandra Simon, 1887: 159 (type species by monotypy Myandra cambridgei Simon ).

DIAGNOSIS: Specimens of this genus can readily be separated from those of all other molycriines by the relatively small, widely separated posterior median eyes (fig. 10).

DESCRIPTION: Small spiders, total length of males 1.9–2.3, of females 2.1–3.0. Carapace broadly oval, narrowed in front to less than half its maximum width, lateral margins rebordered; surface finely reticulated, coated with shiny, recumbent, plumose setae, without tubercles, few long, dark, erect setae present on clypeus; thoracic groove longitudinal, weak or absent. Eight eyes in two rows, small, subequal; PME oval, light; both rows only slightly procurved (fig. 10); anterior medians separated by their radius or less, equidistant to anterior laterals; posterior medians separated by their width or less, about as far from posterior laterals; anterior, posterior laterals separated by about their radius; median ocular quadrangle as long as wide or slightly wider, wider in back than in front. Chelicerae (fig. 247) vertical, paturon with low boss, promargin with row of long, curved setae, three teeth, middle tooth largest, retromargin with two smaller, more widely separated teeth; chilum wide, unipartite, triangular. Labium wider than long, inverted u-shaped. Endites rectangular, convergent, with oblique depression; serrula present, curved; anteromedian edges bearing wide patch of stiff setae. Sternum shieldshaped, anteriorly straight, widely separating coxae IV posteriorly, deeply depressed opposite intercoxal spaces, with only indistinct extensions between coxae but with large, triangular extensions to coxae; surface finely reticulated, with few setae. Pedicel composed of two sclerites, dorsal sclerite extending around sides, ventral sclerite narrow, with inverted v-shaped incision posteriorly, anteriorly almost reaching posterior tip of sternum. Abdominal dorsum with two diffuse, pale, horizontal bands; large weak orange scutum covering two thirds of abdomen in males; cuticle covered with gray, recumbent, plumose setae; booklungs weakly sclerotized; colulus apparently absent but wide, recurved posterior spiracle apparently present just anterior of posterior median spinnerets. Six spinnerets, anterior laterals greatly elongated, contiguous, equal to roughly half of total abdominal length, greatly advanced anteriorly, originating at position about one-half of distance between epigastric furrow and anal tubercle, point of origin bearing macrosetae at midline (fig. 17). Legs elongate, leg formula 4123, coated with recumbent, plumose setae; coxae IV equal to I or longest; coxae, trochanters without dorsal tubercles, trochanters subequal in length, distal edges fitting inside proximo- ventral margins of femora; femora I, II long, proximal portion slightly incrassate; metatarsi without distal preening brushes; tarsi elongated, with two toothless claws on onychium, weak claw tufts composed of few pairs of spatulate setae (fig. 245); tarsi I, II without, III, IV with cuticular cracks at about three-quarters of their length, distinctly bent at that point; trichobothria present, in two rows on tarsi, one on metatarsi, tibiae. Female palpal femur without strong spines; female palpal tarsus without distal claw, ventral scopula, or dorsal pad of setae. Male palpal cymbium long, at least 2.2 times longer than wide, tip conical; palpal tibia about 1.5 times as long as wide, with distal, retrolateral apophysis; embolus situated prolaterally, probasally or retrolaterally, tip nestled in longitudinally grooved conductor; median apophysis hook-shaped, terminal apophysis conical, tiny or absent. Epigynum with anterior atrium; spermathecae oval or sausage-shaped, situated posteriorly.