Metagonia mariguitarensis ( González-Sponga, 1998 )

Huber, Bernhard A. & Villarreal, Osvaldo, 2020, On Venezuelan pholcid spiders (Araneae, Pholcidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 718, pp. 1-317 : 179-181

Metagonia mariguitarensis ( González-Sponga, 1998)

Figs 640–643 , 1052

Anomalaia mariguitarensis González-Sponga, 1998: 25 , figs 21–32 (fig. 28 missing).

Metagonia mariguitarensis – Huber 2000: 67, figs 256–267; 2004: 318, figs 1–35. — Carvalho et al. 2017: 13.

Type material

VENEZUELA – Sucre • 5 ♂♂, ~ 10 ♀♀, 2 juvs types (see Note below), MIZA 105768 ( MAGS 1004 ), Marig ̹itar [10.445° N, 63.905° W], 22 Dec. 1986 (A. Campos); examined .

New records

VENEZUELA – Sucre • 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀, 1 juv., ZFMK (Ar 22011), Marigüitar (10.445° N, 63.905° W), ~ 5 m a.s.l., underside of palm leaves in hotel garden, 28 Nov. 2002 (B.A. Huber) • 3 ♀♀, ZFMK (Ar 22012), Cascada el Chorro (10.392° N, 63.633° W), ~ 160 m a.s.l., 30 Nov. 2002 (B.A. Huber). – Falcón • 1 ♀, ZFMK (Ar 22013), and 4 ♀♀ in pure ethanol, ZFMK (Ven20-149), forest near Santa Cruz de La Alegría (10.8795° N, 68.4949° W), 100 m a.s.l., 15 Feb. 2020 (B.A. Huber, O. Villarreal M., Q. Arias C.). – Bolívar • 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀, ZFMK (Ar 22014), and 3 ♀♀ in pure ethanol, ZFMK (Ven18-163), Ciudad Guayana , Parque La Llovizna (8.3130° N, 62.6724° W), 50 m a.s.l., 11 Nov. 2018 (B.A. Huber, O. Villarreal M.) • 4 ♀♀, 3 juvs, ZFMK (Ar 22015), Parque La Llovizna (8.3112° N, 62.6742° W), 30 m a.s.l., 14 Nov. 2018 (B.A. Huber, O. Villarreal M.) • 4 ♀♀, ZFMK (Ar 22016), between Canaima and Ucaima camp (6.2426° N, 62.8551° W), ~ 400 m a.s.l., 5 Dec. 2002 (B.A. Huber). 2 ♀♀, ZFMK (Ar 22017), forest near Salto El Sapo at Canaima (6.254° N, 62.848° W), ~ 400 m a.s.l., 8 Dec. 2002 (B.A. Huber) .

Note

In the original description ( González-Sponga 1998), the male holotype and a female paratype are said to be separated from the other specimens and labeled as “MAGS-1004a” and “MAGS-1004b”, respectively. This is not the case. All specimens are joined in a vial with the label “1004”. Since there is no doubt that all males are indeed the same species, there is no need to select a lectotype and all specimens are here simply treated as ‘types’.

Distribution

Apparently widely distributed in northern South America ( Huber 2000), but specimens from Peru were explicitly assigned tentatively and may not be conspecific ( Huber 2000, 2004). In Venezuela , the species has been recorded in the states Sucre, Falcón, and Bolívar (Fig. 1052).

Natural history

All specimens were collected from the undersides of leaves, and mostly in disturbed rather than wellpreserved areas. The type series was collected in “jardines de áreas urbanas” (urban gardens); the specimens from the type locality reported in Huber (2004) were from a small banana plantation near a degraded forest near the town of Marig̹itar; the specimens from Cascada el Chorro were also from banana plants at the margin of a disturbed forest; the newly collected specimens from Parque La Llovizna were collected from dicot plants in a semi-natural forest within the large park area. The specimens from Santa Cruz de La Alegría were collected in a well-preserved forest but close to the forest margin; two further species of Metagonia shared this locality, one of them ( M. guttata Huber sp. nov.) seemed to prefer the same large dicot plant leaves.

Figures

Figs 640–645. Metagonia Simon, 1893; live specimens. 640–643. M. mariguitarensis (González- Sponga, 1998); males and females with egg sacs from Bolívar, Ciudad Guayana. 644–645. M. sp. ‘Br16- 216’ (undescribed); from Brazil, Manaus, Reserve Ducke; this species is very similar to M. guianesa Huber sp. nov.; of which no live photos are available.