Platygyndes titicaca Roewer, 1943

Pinto-Da-Rocha, Ricardo & Hara, Marcos Ryotaro, 2011, Redescription of Platygyndes Roewer 1943, a false Gonyleptidae, (Arachnida, Opiliones, Cosmetidae), ZooKeys 143, pp. 1-12 : 3-5

Platygyndes titicaca Roewer, 1943 Figs 13

Platygyndes titicaca Roewer, 1943: 16, pl. 1, fig 1; Soares and Soares 1954: 291 (cat); Acosta 1996: 222 (cat); Kury 2003: 187 (cat) (Peru ["Titicaca Seeufer"], male holotype, SMF RII 7736/112, examined).

Praelibitia titicaca Roewer, 1956: 442; Kury 2003: 82 (cat) (Peru ["bei Chucuito am Titicaca See, 3900 m"], female holotype, 11.III.53, H.W. Koepcke leg., SMF RII 9726; idem, 1 female & 4 juv. paratypes [however only 1 female & 2 juv. in vial], SMF 9727, examined). NEW SYNONYMY

Type locality.

Peru: Puno (shores of Titicaca Lake).

Note.

The label of type material of Platygyndes titicaca has no data beyond “Titicaca-Seeufer” (shores of Titicaca Lake), although Roewer (1943) clearly states Peru as the type locality of this species. Kury (2003) argued that the department of Puno (the sole department close to Titicaca Lake in the Peruvian side) seems to be a more precise type locality of the species; he also indicated that the correct country could be Bolivia. We agree with the latter suggestion of Kury (2003).

Material examined.

PERU. Puno: without further data on locality ("Titicaca Seeufer" [shores of Titicaca Lake]), male holotype of Platygyndes titicaca , without more precise locality, name of collectors or date, SMF RII 7736/112; Chucuito ("bei Chucuito am Titicaca See" [near Chucuito at Titicaca Lake], 3900 m), female holotype of Praelibitia titicaca , 11.III.53, H.W. Koepcke leg., SMF RII 9726; idem, 1 female & 2 juv. paratypes of Praelibitia titicaca , SMF RII 9727.

Description.

Male (holotype; SMF RII 7736/112). Measurements: carapace maximum length 1.8; carapace maximum width 2.1; dorsal scutum maximum length 4.6; dorsal scutum maximum width 4.1; femur IV length 3.1; legs I–IV length 6.8; 10.9; 9.9; 13.9. Dorsum (Fig. 1A, C, D): dorsal scutum shape type gamma ( Kury et al. 2007), flattened, granulated, widest at scutal area II. Paracheliceral projections not conspicuous, rounded. Anterior margin of dorsal scutum with three enlarged and fused together tubercles on each corner. Ocularium domed (without median depression), narrow (around a fifth of carapace width), densely minute-tuberculate. Lateral margin of dorsal scutum with less granules than scutal areas. Scutal grooves I–V clearly visible, delimiting four scutal areas. Scutal areas I–IV unarmed, I divided by a longitudinal groove. Posterior margin of dorsal scutum with a row of 14 conical, enlarged tubercles. Free tergites I–III granulated, each with a row of 11, 9 and 10 conical, enlarged minute tubercles, respectively. Anal opercle with anterior row of 6 and a group of 16 tubercles. Venter (Fig. 1B): coxae I–IV granulated, distal half of coxae I, distal posterior of coxae II–III with enlarged tubercles. Posterior margin fused to the stigmatic area slightly concave. Mesotergal sternites each with a row of minute tubercles. Anal opercle with one anterior and one posterior row of tubercles. Chelicera (Fig. 1A): not swollen. Bulla dorsally covered by tubercles. Movable and fixed fingers each with 4 tooth. Pedipalps (Fig. 1 E–G): trochanter with three ventral tubercles. Femur moderately flattened, not projected dorsally, with five dorsal wide tubercles, four ventral tubercles (subdistal one largest). Tibia spatulate, moderately projected ventrally, tibia–tarsus with lateral setae. Legs (Figs 1A, 2, 3 A–E): coxa I with one prolateral apophysis, this blunt, large and one retrolateral bifid apophysis; II with one prolateral apophysis, this large, obliterating ozopore and curved frontwards and one retrolateral apophysis, this fused with prolateral apophysis of coxa III; III with one prolateral, one retrolateral apophyses; IV anteriorly with a shoulder-like shape in dorsal view, reaching scutal groove IV, densely granulated, one prolateral apical apophysis with capitate apex directed backwards, on e retrolateral apical large tubercle. Trochanters I–IV granulate; I–II with two retrolateral enlarged tubercles; III with one retrolateral enlarged tubercle; IV retrolaterally with a median apophysis, this conical, its length half of the podomere width, one submedian and one apical enlarged tubercles. Femora and tibiae I–IV tuberculate and roughly arranged in longitudinal rows. Femora III–IV slightly curved, with two ventral rows of tubercles slightly increasing in size apicad, more conspicuous in femur III. Tibia–metatarsus IV ventrally with enlarged tubercles. Tarsi I with globose and short tarsomeres; III–IV with smooth claws, short tarsal process (around a fifth of tarsal claw length). Tarsal formula: 5(3), 5-6(3), 5, 5. Penis (Fig. 3F, G): glans elongated, covering most of stylus dorsally. Stylus with inflated apex and thin projections in distal margin dorsoventrally. Ventral plate rectangular, thick, with two pairs of curved distal setae, one pair of straight submedian setae, two pairs of basal setae (the basalmost one shortest), two pairs of very small setae (placed between the main groups of setae on the left or between submedian and basal group of setae on the right).

Female (holotype of Praelibitia titicaca ; SMF RII 9726). Measurements: carapace maximum length 1.8.; carapace maximum width 2.0; dorsal scutum maximum length 5.2; dorsal scutum maximum width 4.3; femur IV length 3.1; leg I–IV length 7.2; 10.9; 9.4; 12.9. Dorsum: dorsal scutum shape type alpha, wider at scutal groove II, narrowed at scutal area III. Posterior margin of dorsal scutum and free tergites I–III each with a row of 13, 9, 11 and 10 conical, enlarged tubercles, respectively. Legs: coxa IV only visible apically (in dorsal view), reaching groove III, with prolateral apical apophysis shorter than male. Trochanters I–IV without enlarged tubercles or apophyses. Femur and tibia–metatarsus IV ventrally with tubercles of similar size. Tarsal formula: 5(3), 5(3), 5, 5.

Remarks.

Platygyndes titicaca possesses the moderately flattened pedipalpal femora which are not projected dorsally and the moderated, laterally flattened pedipalpal tibia compared to the spoon-shaped (flattened and concave) in the majority of cosmetids; besides, it has the unusually well-marked scutal grooves I–V. These unusual features might have led Roewer to assign it to the Gonyleptidae , Pachylinae . It is worth mentioning that the male genitalia of Platygyndes titicaca are undoubtedly of the cosmetid groundplan, not of that of the Gonyleptidae . We have examined the Andean material deposited in the SMF and realized that Praelibitia titicaca described from a female was also collected close to the type locality of the monotypic Platygyndes . Considering the sexual dimorphism in cosmetids, the general body shape, ocularium and pedipalpal shape, dorsal scutum ornamentation and the remaining colour pattern, we have conclude that both names are synonyms. Thus the same species was classified by Roewer in different families, indicating once more that the Roewerian system of Opiliones is hardly reliable.