Pocobletus coroniger, SIMON, 1894

Moreira, Thiago Da Silva & Hormiga, Gustavo, 2021, Systematics of the Neotropical spider genera Jalapyphantes and Selenyphantes and the circumscription of the Pocobletus clade (Araneae: Linyphiidae), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 192 : -

POCOBLETUS CORONIGER SIMON, 1894

( FIGS 41E, F, 42–44)

Pocobletus coroniger Simon, 1894: 705 (description female); Chickering, 1969: 54, figs 1–9 (description male and female).

Graphomoa theridioides Chamberlin, 1924: 8 , pl. 2, figs 10–12 (description female). New synonymy.

Theridium sex-setosum Barrows, 1940: 132 , fig. 4 (description male).

Theridium setosum Barrows 1940: 133 (fig. 4). Lapsus calami .

Theridion sex-setosum Gertsch & Archer, 1942: 3 , figs 1, 13, 14 (description female).

Graphomoa theridioides Gertsch , in Archer, 1946: 16 (synonym male); Draney and Buckle, 2017: 132, figs 35.67, 35.68.

Type material: Pocobletus coroniger Lectotype one male (designated 1958) “14665 Caracas, Venezuela” ( VENEZUELA: Caracas ) MNHN (examined; no female syntype specimen seem to be available).

Graphomoa theridioides Holotype one female, La. Amesville, 6/25/21 ( USA: Louisiana: Marrero. 25.06.1921) ( RV Chamberlin leg. MCZ 567; examined).

Theridium sex-setosum . Holotype one male. USA: Tennessee: Great Smoky Mountain National Park (Ohio State University Entomology Collection, Museum of Biodiversity , Columbus , Ohio; not examined).

Note: Simon (1894) described Pocobletus coroniger based on specimens that he collected in Caracas and noted (on p. 688) that the species was common on bushes in Venezuela. Chamberlin (1924) described a female of the same species from Louisiana as Graphomoa theridioides (in Linyphiidae ) and Barrows (1940) described a male from Tennessee as Theridium sexsetosum (in Theridiidae ). In 1958, Herb W Levi visited the Eugène Simon spider collection at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris and illustrated the palp of a male syntype of Pocobletus coroniger and the epigynum of P. bivittatus (unpublished sketches, available at the MCZ). Thanks to his study and illustration of the syntype of P. coroniger, Levi was able to identify specimens of that species that Arthur M Chickering, a Research Associate at the MCZ, had been collecting in Panama since the 1930s. Based on these specimens from Panama (and some from Costa Rica), Chickering (1969) redescribed and illustrated P. coroniger .

Additional material examined: PANAMA: Canal Zone, males females, Summit. ( AM Chickering leg; August 1950 – MCZ) ; two males, one female, same. ( AM Chickering leg; August 21/ 29 July 1950 – MCZ); males, females, Forest Reserve, AM Chickering leg, 10/12 Aug. 1939 – MCZ ); one male, two females, Experimental Gardens ( AM Chickering leg, 29 July 1954 – MCZ); males, females, Barro Colorado Island . ( AM Chickering leg; Jan.–Mar. 1958 – MCZ) ; one female, Frijoles ( AM Chickering leg., Jan. 1958 – MCZ) . COSTA RICA: Turrialba two males, one female ( AM Chickering leg. Aug. 4, 1965; MCZ); Heredia one female, La Selva, near Puerto Viejo, W Eberhard leg, March 1983; NICARAGUA: Granada, one male, Volcán Mombacho, El Progreso # 3, non-organic coffee plantation, malaise trap, ( JM Maes leg, 30 September 1998 – USNM) ; one male, Volcán Mombacho , El Progreso # 3, non-organic coffee plantation, 700– 800 m . ( JM Maes leg, 30 August 1998 – USNM) ; three males, one female, Volcán Mombacho, Santa Ana # 1, organic coffee plantation, malaise trap, ( JM Maes leg, 30 June 1998 – USNM) ; MEXICO: Quintana Roo three females, Cenote Kantun-Chi, 22 km S Playa del Carmen , M Ramírez leg. 20 May 2002 – MACN ); UNITED STATES: Georgia 17 males, 25 females, Rabun Co.: Ellicott Rock Wilderness Area , 1 km SW Ellicott Rock cove hardwood forest. N34°59’46’’: W83°6’54’’, 750– 800 m . (JE Bond, B Dellinger & JR Dobyns leg. May–June 1993 – USNM) ; Florida one female, Highlands Co., Highlands Hammock State Park, Ancient Hammock Trail , marsh, day [27.468, –81.549 [, 55 m (G Hormiga and RJ Kallal, leg, 21 July 2016 TSM 860 MCZ); males, females Highlands Co., Archbold Biological Station, nr. Red Hill Cottage, flatwood scrub [27.184, –81.336] 129 m (G Hormiga and RJ Kallal leg, 19–20 July 2016 GH2411 MCZ).

Diagnosis: Males of P. coroniger differ from other congeners by having a conspicuous row of about six short macrosetae between the AMEs and the PMEs ( Fig. 42A–C, F); this ‘crown’ is absent (or not as conspicuous) in other species. The embolic membrane of coroniger is digitiform, apically pointed and small (only visible with light compound microscopy or SEM), while much larger in other congeneric species. Females can be diagnosed by the large size of the epigynal sacs, which are slightly longer than wide (smaller or absent in other congeners), combined with the straight or almost straight caudal margin of the dorsal plate (indented to some degree in most species).

Description: (Note: The descriptions of the somatic features of Pocobletus coroniger , based on specimens from Panama, by Chickering, 1969, is detailed. Chamberlin, 1924, Barrows, 1940 and Archer, 1946 also describe its somatic morphology. None of these authors describe the details of the male and female genitalia. Here we complement the aforementioned species descriptions with a detailed account of the genitalic morphology.)

Male palp ( Figs 41E, F, 43A–E, 44E): tibia apical margin lined with a row of long macrosetae, with one pro- and two retrolateral trichobothria; cymbium with a blunt apex and a well-defined ectobasal process; tegulum narrow, with an apical membranous region (protegulum); suprategulum only partially visible in ventral view, between the mesal margin of radix and lamella; distal suprategular apophysis small and pointed, in ventral view hidden behind lamella; column visible ectally in the unexpanded palp, with a small digitiform and apically pointed embolic membrane; lamella characteristica projecting and tapering anteriorly and folded to house the distal region of embolus; embolus filiform, broader at the base, contiguous with a non-discrete radix.

Epigynum ( Fig. 44A–D, F, G) slightly sclerotized exteriorly, with a caudoventral opening to an atrium. Copulatory ducts circling a small, globular spermathecae. Fertilization ducts anteromedially oriented. A pair of large, ovoid membranous sacs extend anteriorly of the spermathecae. It is unclear how these sacs connect to the ducts and reservoir.

Distribution: USA: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio ( Bradley, 2018), Tennessee; MEXICO: Quintana Roo; NICARAGUA: Granada; COSTA RICA: Turrialba; PANAMA: Canal Zone; VENEZUELA.

Variation: There is some variation in the shape of the male palpal tibia and in the thickness of the macrosetae of its distal row, which we have interpreted as intraspecific, given the broad distribution range of the species.