Maso douro Bosmans & Cardoso, 2010

Bosmans, Robert, Cardoso, Pedro & Crespo, Luis Carlos, 2010, A review of the linyphiid spiders of Portugal, with the description of six new species (Araneae: Linyphiidae) 2473, Zootaxa 2473 (1), pp. 1-67 : 28

Maso douro Bosmans & Cardoso new species

( Figs 47–49)

Type material: Holotype male from Portugal, Bragança: Douro Internacional Natural Park, Tó, pitfall traps in a Quercus pyrenaica forest in a slope over a small river, 21. II.2001, P. Cardoso leg; deposited in KBIN.

Etymology: The species is a noun in apposition derived from the type locality, the Douro river.

Diagnosis: The species is closest to Maso gallicus (Simon) but differs by its smaller size, the cone on the cymbium with two clavate spines (three in M. gallicus ) and the circular embolus ( Fig. 47).

Remark: The characters of the genus Maso (type species: Maso sundevalli Westring, 1851 ) are the unmodified prosoma, the position of the metatarsal trichobothria (Mt> 0.9), the presence of two longitudinal rows of stout ventral spines on the tibiae ( Wiehle 1960; Locket & Millidge 1953) and the embolus in the form of a coil or part of a coil ( Millidge 1977). The position of this new species in the genus Maso is problematic, as only the characters of the male palp point to it. There is a strong resemblance to Maso gallicus by the presence in the male palp of a strong dorsal cymbial tubercle, clavate hairs on the tibia and a circular embolus. At the moment, and in absence of the female, the genus Maso fits the species best.

Description: Male: Measurements: Total length 1.1, prosoma 0.51 long, 0.43 wide. Colour: Prosoma yellowish orange, slightly suffused with grey; legs yellowish orange, patellae and basal and distal parts of tibiae whitish; abdomen pale grey. Prosoma: Unmodified, unless for a small pit behind the PL, smaller than the eye’s diameter; in lateral view with median concavity. Eyes: Relatively small; a = 0.33, b = 1.5, c = 2, d = 1.5. Chelicerae: Fang groove with 4 promarginal and 2 retromarginal teeth. Legs: L Sp Ti I = 0.4; P Sp Ti I = 0.1; Mt I broken off; Tb Mt II = 0.3; Tb Mt IV absent. Palp ( Figs 47–49): Tibia with large, rounded retrolateral apophysis, pointed terminally; cymbium with strong anterior tubercle, with one dorsal and one retrolateral clavate spine, as in Maso gallicus ; paracymbium with basal, curved spine; tailpiece long and elongated; embolus circular, describing slightly more than one circle.

Female: Unknown.

Distribution: Only known from the type locality.

Habitat type: The type locality is a Quercus pyrenaica forest on a slope above a small river.

Phenology: The only male was collected in February.