Avima venezuelica Soares & Avram, 1981

Garcia, Andres F., Vargas, Alex Gonzalez & Estrada, Miguel Gutierrez, 2022, New records and a new cave-dwelling species of Agoristenidae (Arachnida, Opiliones) from Colombia, Zoosystematics and Evolution 98 (1), pp. 55-63 : 55

Avima venezuelica Soares & Avram, 1981

Figs 5 , 6A

Avima venezuelica Soares & Avram, 1981: 95; Villarreal & Kury, 2009: 67

Vima venezuelica : González-Sponga, 1987: 543, fig. 708-713.

Trinella venezuelica : Pinto-da-Rocha, 1996: 323; Kury, 2003: 34.

Type Locality.

VENEZUELA• Zulia, río Guasare, cueva de Cerro Verde; [10.725000 -72.620000]. Remark. It is in Zulia, not Falcón, as in the original description

Records.

VENEZUELA• Zulia, Mara, cueva de los Gavilanes [or Mara]; [11.017000 -72.425000]; 200 m a.s.l. • Maracaibo, cueva Francisco Zea; [10.758000, -72.609000]; 360 m a.s.l.

New records.

COLOMBIA• 2 ♀: La Guajira, Barrancas, corregimiento San Pedro, Las Pavas, camino a la cueva, finca La Fortuna; 10°50'27.9 ’’ N 72°40'23.9 ’’ W [10.841083 -72.673306]; 1529 m a.s.l., 4 July 2016; Miguel Gutiérrez leg.; ICN-Ao-1979; 1 ♀: same data as previous, MNRJ 59053. First records for the country.

Complementary description.

DS Epsilon type 2. Ocularium low, smooth, and with median concavity (Fig. 5B, E ). Mesotergum delimited, divided into four areas: area I divided into two halves; areas II-IV undivided (Fig. 5B ). Anterior margin of coxa I with three tubercles, the basalmost bifid, and a medial longitudinal row of small tubercles (Fig. 5C ). Pedipalpal segments slender and with long setae (Fig. 5B-D ). Legs increasing in thickness from leg I to leg IV, unarmed; leg I filiform. Fe IV four times DS length (Fig. 5A ).

Natural history.

A. venezuelica was found outside the cave where A. troglobia was collected, as previously noted by Pinto-da-Rocha (1996) for the same species in Venezuelan caves.

Figures

Figure 5. Avima venezuelica Soares & Avram, 1981 (MNRJ 59053), female. Habitus in panoramic (A), dorsal (B), ventral (C), lateral (D), and frontal (E) views. Scale bars: 2 mm.

Figure 6. Geographic distribution of Avima venezuelica, Avima troglobia and Avima wayuunaiki sp. nov. in Northern South America. A. Map with previous and new records of the species in Colombia and Venezuela (colored areas represent the WWF ecoregions (Olson et al. 2001 )); B. Banaderos cave in La Guajira (Colombia), habitat of A. wayuunaiki sp. nov.; C. Living specimen of A. wayuunaiki sp. nov. Photographs by Miguel Gutierrez Estrada (B), and Alex Gonzalez Vargas (C).