Guaranita dobby, Torres & Pardo & González-Reyes & Rodriguez-Artigas & Corronca, 2016

Torres, Víctor Manuel, Pardo, Paolo Luciano, González-Reyes, Andrea Ximena, Rodriguez-Artigas, Sandra Mónica & Corronca, José Antonio, 2016, Contributions on the spider families Nesticidae and Pholcidae (Araneae) from Argentina, Turkish Journal of Zoology 40 (1), pp. 6-13 : 9-10

Guaranita dobby sp. nov.

Figures 6–12

Type material. Male holotype ( FML 02179 ), Provincial Route 47, 9 km E of Cabra Corral dam (25°17ʹ40.8ʺS, 65°17ʹ1.8ʺW, 947 m a.s.l.), La Viña Department, Salta Province, Argentina, 03.XI.2006, IEBI Team Cols. Male paratype ( MCN-IEBI 003-000918 ) 1 km N of Charrillos (24°44ʹ16.8ʺS, 65°45ʹ16.8ʺW, 2238 m a.s.l.), Rosario de Lerma Department , Salta Province, Argentina, 24.II.2006, IEBI Team Cols.

Etymology. The specific name is a noun in apposition taken by the second author from “ Dobby ” of the Harry Potter saga, an elf whose nose resembles the frontal clypeal projection in this species.

Diagnosis. The species is distinguished from all other members of the genus ( G. yaculica , G. goloboffi , and G. munda ) by the procursus with a smaller concave dorsal flap ( Figures 7 and 8) and the anterior hooked clypeal projection ( Figure 9 ).

Male holotype. Total length 1.16, carapace width 0.42; leg 1: (0.15 + 0.08 + 0.63 + 0.14 + 0.59 + 0.50, tarsus missing), tibia II: 0.50, tibia III: 0.45, tibia IV missing; tibia I L/d: 9. Lateral habitus as in Figure 9 ; entire prosoma pale ocher-yellow. Carapace without thoracic groove; distance PME–ALE about 30% of PME diameter; clypeus with an anterior hooked projection; sternum with a pair of small frontal humps (Figure 373, in Huber, 2000); chelicerae resemble those of G. goloboffi , with a pair of long, distally hooked, and frontal apophyses, with few stridulatory ridges laterally ( Figure 10 ), stridulatory pick is a modified hair proximally on palpal femur (see arrow in Figure 11 ); palp in general as in G. munda , except by meaningfully different procursus, with a smaller and concave dorsal flap and slightly different distal sclerites ( Figure 12 ), coxa without a retrolateral apophysis, femur almost cylindrical, wider distally, tibia globular, bulb as in Figure 11 . Legs without rings; probably without spines, without curved and vertical hairs (most hairs missing). Opisthosoma gray, ventrally pale, with slightly darker genital plate ( Figure 9 ).

Remark. The types of G. dobby sp. nov. come from the Yungas and Monte de Sierras y Bolsones ecoregions of the province of Salta. The holotype was collected from a humid rainforest (Yungas) considered one of the most diverse regions in the country. The Monte is characterized by a semiarid environment dominated by xerophilous plants such as Larrea sp. , Prosopis sp. , and Atriplex sp. , and several cactus species such as Cereus sp. and Trichocereus sp. (Bertonatti and Concuera, 2000; Morello et al., 2012). This ecoregion is important for conservation, since it presents a certain grade of degradation due to natural desertification processes and anthropogenic activities (González Reyes et al., 2012).

Female. Unknown.

Distribution. Known for Salta Province, Argentina ( Figure 6 ).

Figures

Figure 6.Geographic distribution of Nesticus salta sp. nov., Guaranita dobby sp. nov., and G. yaculica Huber, 2000.

Figures 9‒15. Guaranita dobby sp. nov.: male holotype: 9. habitus, lateral view; 10. prosoma, frontal view; 11. left palpus, prolateral view (arrow points to stridulatory pick); 12. retrolateral view (arrow points to dorsal flap on the procursus).Scale bars:9‒10 = 0.20 mm; 11‒12 = 0.10 mm.Guaranita yaculica Huber, 2000: female: 13. epigynum, dorsal view; 14. epigynum, ventral view; 15. habitus, dorsal view. Scale bars: 13‒14 = 0.10 mm; 15 = 0.20 mm.