Pharta bimaculata Thorell, 1891

SURESH P. BENJAMIN, 2011, Phylogenetics and comparative morphology of crab spiders (Araneae: Dionycha, Thomisidae), Zootaxa 3080, pp. 1-108 : 18

Pharta bimaculata Thorell, 1891

Figs 5 E, 48A–D

Sanmenia kohi Ono, 1995: 162 , figs 7-15. New synonymy.

Type material: Holotype of Pharta bimaculata : 1 subadult female from Singapore ( SMNH 1167), examined ( Fig 5 E).

Other material examined. SINGAPORE: 1 male, Lim Chu Kang Road, abandoned farm, foliage of creeping plant, 29 April 1990, JKH. Koh ( USNM). 1 female, Woodlands Road, grasses, 7 April– 15 June 2002, JKH. Koh ( USNM).

Synonymy. Several adult specimens from Singapore described in the now invalid genus Sanmenia (see above) by Ono (1995), can be unambiguously assigned to P. b i m a c u l a t a, due to their general shape and markings of the prosoma, as well as the two black spots of the opisthosoma ( Fig 5 E). Further, this is the only known species of the genus from Singapore. As the holotype of P. bimaculata is a subadult, genitalic characters cannot be compared. Examination of the types of Sanmenia kohi was unnecessary as they are well illustrated.

Diagnosis. Separated from all other species of the genus by the presence of two apical apophyses which originate more or less from the same position of the tibia ( Figs 48 A, 48B). Pharta brevipalpus has two tibial apophyses, of which one is furnished with short, strong hairs ( Fig 47 C; Ono 1995). Pharta gongshan has a single apophysis that diverges into three parts ( Fig 47A, B ). See also Ono and Song (1986) and Ono (1988).

Description. This species is well described under its older name, Sanmenia kohi ( Ono 1995) .

Distribution. Know only from Singapore ( Ono 1995).

Figures

FIGURE 5. Photographs of Thomisidae. A Borboropactus bituberculatus (MNHN 5460 / 1572); B Borboropactus squalidus (MNHN 5045 / 1572); C Cebrenninus rugosus (MNHN 8652 / 1572), prosoma; D Stephanopis cambridgei (SMNH 1163); E lectotype of Pharta bimaculata (SMNH 1167); F C. rugosus, opisthosoma; G S. cambridgei (SMNH 1163), epigynum; H Epidius lyriger (13705); I Epidius rubropictus (MNHN 22347).

FIGURE 48. Pharta bimaculata (USNM). A – B male palp (A ventral, B retrolateral); C epigynum, ventral view; D vulva, dorsal view. Scale bars = 0.1 mm (A, C, D), 0.2 mm (B).

FIGURE 47. A, B, D – F Pharta gongshan. C, P. brevipalpus (MNHN 22113 / 1574). A – C male palp (A, C ventral, B retrolateral); D epigynum, ventral view; E – F vulva (E ventral, F dorsal). Scale bars = 0.1 mm (D – F), 0.2 mm (A – C).