Linothele quori Dupérré & Tapia, 2015

Drolshagen, Bastian & Bäckstam, Christian M., 2021, A taxonomic review of the mygalomorph spider genus Linothele Karsch, 1879 (Araneae, Dipluridae), Zoosystema 43 (10), pp. 163-196 : 182

Linothele quori Dupérré & Tapia, 2015

Linothele quori Dupérré & Tapia, 2015: 361 , figs 41-47.

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype. Ecuador • ♂; Santo Domingo de Las Tsáchilas, Parroquia San José de Alluriquín, La Florida ; 0°15’0.9144”S, 79°1’49.547”W; 884 m a.s.l.; 20.XI.2014; E. Tapia, I. Tapia, A. Tapia and N. Dupérré leg.; hand collected from female’s web; QCAZ.

Paratype. Ecuador • 1 ♀; same collecting data as for holotype .

TYPE LOCALITY. — La Florida, Ecuador.

DISTRIBUTION. — Only known from the type locality.

DIAGNOSIS. — “Males and females are diagnosed by their unique gold and purple colour […]. Males are further distinguished by the straight embolus with slightly bent tip […]; females by their wide and short spermathecae […], elongated and tapering apically in all other species.” see Dupérré & Tapia (2015: 361).

DESCRIPTION (FOLLOWING Dupérré & Tapia 2015)

Male

CL = 5.0. CT = 9. MC = ~22. Colouration alive: overall yellowish; opisthosoma “yellow-brown with purplish mesh pattern (purplish pattern appears dark brown in alcohol) […], ventrally with purplish pattern”; maculae present. Sternum, labium and maxillae: see Dupérré & Tapia (2015: fig. 45). Leg formula 4123. Preening-combs absent. Leg tarsi pseudo-segmented. Palpal organ: “bulb pyriform; embolus long and thin, half the length of the tibia”, see Dupérré & Tapia (2015: fig. 44). Megaspine and MP: see Dupérré & Tapia (2015: fig. 46).

Female

CL = 6.0. CT = 9. MC = ~25. Colouration alive: as for male, see Dupérré & Tapia (2015: figs 41, 47). Leg formula: 4123. Scopula divided. Leg tarsi weakly pseudo-segmented. Spermathecae: “joined at base, wide and short, with small vesicles medially, with or without stalks”, see Dupérré & Tapia (2015: figs 42, 43).

REMARKS

Unfortunately, we were unable to obtain images of the relevant structures, but the illustrations for male characters in the first description show a megaspine and MP at prolateral tibia and metatarsus I. The description mentions those to be situated retrolaterally. As a prolateral megaspine and MP have not been observed in any other Linothele , it is likely the terms “prolateral” and “retrolateral” have been swapped in the illustration legends.

NATURAL HISTORY

According to Dupérré & Tapia (2015), specimens of L. quori “[…] were collected in foothill forest. This species builds webs approximately 30 × 20 cm […], with a central funnel that is almost always 1 m from the ground, attached to epiphyte bases or tree trunks. The specimens collected live in sympatry with L. tsachilas and L. zaia , but in a very distinctive micohabitat. Two juveniles females were collected in a low evergreen forest at 1426 m, where they build webs of 30 × 20 cm from 1 m to 3 m from the ground, attached to epiphytes bases or tree trunks […]”.