Stephanopis rufiventris Bradley, 1871

Machado, Miguel, Teixeira, Renato Augusto & Milledge, Graham A., 2019, On the Australian Bark Crab Spider Genus Stephanopis: Taxonomic Review and Description of Seven New Species (Araneae: Thomisidae: Stephanopinae), Records of the Australian Museum 71 (6), pp. 217-276 : 265-266

Stephanopis rufiventris Bradley, 1871

Fig. 41

Stephanopis rufiventris Bradley, 1871: 237 .

Type material examined. Holotype ♀, OUMNH 618 , Tia (40 km east of Walcha), New South Wales, [31°12'S 151°48'E], Australia.

Other material examined. Queensland: AMS KS.53360, 1♀, Kenilworth State Forest , 26°42'21"S 152°31'41"E, G. Milledge, 7 May 1998 . New South Wales: AMS KS.108723, 1♀, Vittoria ( Bathrust ), 33°27'S 149°20'E, C. Chadwick, 1 October 1967 ; AMS KS.73311, 1♀, Maroota State Forest , 33°31'S 150°59'E, G.A. Webb, 2 November 1979 . Victoria: AMS KS.108722, 4♀♀, Eltham , 37°43'S 145°09'E, C. Chadwick & R. E. Mascord , 2 January 1968 .

Diagnosis. Females of S. rufiventris resemble those of S. cambridgei in having an elongated body, predominantly orange colouration, striped legs ( Fig. 41A ) and external genitalia with shallow atrium and copulatory ducts hidden by the lateral folds of the epigynal plate ( Fig. 41C ). However, S. rufiventris can be distinguished by its more flattened prosoma ( Fig. 41B ) with shorter dark stripes, restricted to the median portion and sides of the cephalic area instead of long longitudinal marks extended until the PLE. Their epigynal plate is thicker, with sclerotized folds that are joined anteriorly forming a horse-shoe-shaped structure ( Fig. 41C ) instead of the pair of lateral pockets observed in females of S. cambridgei . The spermathecae are characteristically positioned on the sides and bear glandularheads on their top; the anterior chambers are rounded and medially positioned ( Fig. 41D ).

Description. Female (AMS KS.108722): Anterior eye row recurved and posterior straight, prosoma flattened, predominantly orange with two pairs of longitudinal cephalic stripes (one on the median area and one on the sides) ( Fig. 41A and B ); cephalic prominence absent. Legs orange with darker distal markings on the femora and metatarsi and proximal ones on tibiae. Opisthosoma obovate, slightly concave on its anterior border, presenting a median reentrance close to the anal region and three pairs of well-developed dark-brown muscular sigilla on the dorsum ( Fig. 41A ).

Measurements: eye diameters and interdistances: AME 0.08, ALE 0.15, PME 0.13, PLE 0.13, AME–AME 0.12, AME–ALE 0.07, PME–PME 0.14, PME–PLE 0.17, MOQ length 0.36, width 0.32; leg formula: 1-2-4-3: leg I—femur 2.33/ patella 1.06/ tibia 2.19/ metatarsus 1.11/ tarsus 0.90/ total 7.59; II—2.30/ 1.02/ 2.12/ 1.09/ 0.90 7.43; III—1.56/ 0.90/ 1.49/ 1.05/ 0.88/ 5.88; IV—2.17/ 1.00/ 1.70/ 1.04/ 0.90/ 6.81. Total body length 8.39; prosoma length 3.71, width 3.46; opisthosoma length 4.68; clypeus height 0.28; sternum length 1.61, width 1.48; gnathocoxae length 0.72, width 0.33; labium length 0.50, width 0.52.

Male: Unknown.

Distribution. Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, Australia ( Fig. 42 ).

Figures

Figure 41. Stephanopis rufiventris Bradley, 1871, 1869, female (KS.108722). (A) dorsal habitus; (B) front; (C) epigynal plate, ventral view; (D) epigynal plate/spermathecae.

Figure 42. Distribution records of S. nana sp. nov., S. nigra, S. palliolata and S. rufiventris.