Belisana desciscens, Tong, Yanfeng & Li, Shuqiang, 2009

Tong, Yanfeng & Li, Shuqiang, 2009, Six new cave-dwelling pholcid spiders (Araneae: Pholcidae) from Hainan Island, with two newly recorded genera from China, Zootaxa 1988, pp. 17-32 : 18

Belisana desciscens sp. nov.

Figs 1–3 , 24–29

Type material: Holotype male, 3 females paratypes, CHINA: Hainan Province, Haikou City, Yongxing Town, Cave No. 3 (19°53.880´N, 110°14.978´E), 17 March 2005, Y. Song, X. Han, Y. Tong and G. Deng leg.; 2 females paratypes, Cave No. 1 (19°53.691´N, 110°14.880´E), other data same as for holotype.

Etymology: The specific name is a participium from Latin, in reference to the absence of the sclerotized apophysis on male palpal bulb.

Diagnosis: The new species can be easily distinguished from other known species by the following characters: the absence of male palpal bulbal apophysis, shapes of male procursus and cheliceral apophyses.

Description: Male (holotype). Total length 0.92 (1.12 with clypeus), carapace width 0.49. Leg 1: 8.59 (2.21+0.22+2.28+2.97+0.91), tibia 2: 1.38, tibia 3: 0.87, tibia 4: 1.48; tibia 1 L/d: 41. Carapace yellow, with brown marks laterally; sternum yellowish; legs yellow, without darker rings; opisthosoma pale white, without spots. Ocular area not elevated, thoracic furrow absent; distance PME-PME 0.05; diameter PME 0.05; distance PME-ALE 0.02; AME absent. Clypeus unmodified. Sternum nearly as long as wide (0.42). Chelicerae as in fig. 26, with pair of frontal curved apophyses, tips 0.31 apart. Palps as in figs 24, 25 and 27; trochanter with short retrolateral apophysis, femur with indistinct hump proximo-dorsally, procursus complicated distally, with ventral membranous flap, bulb with complicated embolus, without sclerotized apophysis. Retrolateral trichobothrium of tibia 1 at 19%; legs without spines, vertical hairs, and curved hairs; tarsus 1 with some pseudosegments, but only 10 distinct distally.

Females (paratypes). In general similar to male. Habitus as in figs 1 and 2. Tibia 1 (n = 5): 1.93–2.03 (mean: 1.97). Epigynum simple and flat externally, with distinctive internal dark structures visible through cuticle ( Figs 3 , 28 ), pockets 0.28 apart. Dorsal view as in fig. 29.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 23. Belisana desciscens sp. nov., 1 – 3; Belisana exian sp. nov., 4 – 6; Belisana maogan sp. nov., 7 – 9; Belisana yalong sp. nov., 10 – 12; Modisimus culicinus (Simon, 1893), 13 – 15; Pholcus exceptus sp. nov., 16 – 19; Holocneminus huangdi sp. nov., 20 – 23. (1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 20, male habitus, dorsal view; 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 21, male habitus, lateral view; 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 23, female abdomen, ventral view; 19, 22, male sternum, ventral view.)

FIGURES 24 – 29. Belisana desciscens sp. nov. 24 – 25. Male left palp, prolateral (24) and retrolateral (25) views; 26. Male chelicerae, frontal view; 27. Male bulb with bulbal apophysis and embolus, lateral view; 28 – 29. Cleared epigynum, ventral (28) and dorsal (29) views. Scale lines: 24 – 26, 28, 29 = 0.2 mm; 27 = 0.1 mm.