Tupigea teresopolis Huber, 2000

Huber, Bernhard A. & Rheims, Cristina A., 2011, Diversity and endemism of pholcid spiders in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, with descriptions of four new species of the Atlantic Forest endemic genus Tupigea (Araneae: Pholcidae), Journal of Natural History 45 (5 - 6), pp. 275-301 : 297-299

Tupigea teresopolis Huber, 2000

( Figures 3 C–F, 4K–N, 10C–E, 11A–F)

Tupigea teresopolis Huber 2000: 317 , figs. 1272–1277.

Notes

This species was previously known from a single male specimen from Teresópolis, without further locality information. The new material below was collected about 160 km west of Teresópolis but the distinctive morphology of the male palps appears indistinguishable. However, the male chelicerae consistently have an additional pair of small apophyses ( Figure 10C ), which is here tentatively regarded as intraspecific variation.

Updated diagnosis

Even considering intraspecific variation (see Note above) the male chelicerae are highly diagnostic; further distinguishing characters are the male palpal femur (ventral apophysis; Figure 11D ), the bulb with transparent dorsal projection ( Figure 11E ), and the procursus with subdistal spine (fig. 1274 in Huber 2000); females have extremely simple external genitalia but internal structures are visible through the cuticle that make them distinguishable morphologically from close relatives ( Figures 4K , 10D ).

Male (see Huber 2000)

Newly collected male specimens with dark brown sternum, chelicerae with additional pair of small lateral apophyses ( Figure 10C ), total length 1.8 rather than 1.4 as in holotype. Tibia 1 in 11 males: 4.7–5.6 (mean 5.2); tibia 1 L / d: 86; retrolateral trichobothrium on tibia 1 at 11%, tarsus 1 with> 20 pseudosegments; vertical hairs on femora and tibiae. Tarsus 4 comb-hairs as in Figure 11C .

Female

Body shape similar to male but sternum whitish and carapace without brown Y-mark, clypeus mostly with pair of small light brown spots below triads, in two females entire clypeus light brown; tips of palps darkened, no vertical hairs on legs. Tibia 1 in six females: 3.2–3.7 (mean: 3.5). Epigynum very simple externally ( Figure 11B ), internal greenish-brown structures visible through cuticle ( Figure 4K , 10D ); internal genitalia as in Figure 10E . Some females with genital plugs.

Natural history

Leaf-dwelling species (see above).

Distribution

Known from two localities in Rio de Janeiro state ( Figure 2 ).

New record

BRAZIL: Rio de Janeiro: ∼ 4 km northwest Penedo (22 ◦ 24.5 ′ S, 44 ◦ 33.0 ′ to 33.4 ′ W), forest along river, 700–770 m a.s.l., 14–16 August 2007 (B.A. Huber), 12♂, 8♀ in MNRJ (1♂, 1♀) and ZFMK (11♂, 7♀) ; same data, 4♀ in pure ethanol, in ZFMK .

Figures

Figure 2. Known distribution of Tupigea. Grey shade in inset: extension of Atlantic Forest in Brazil (inset modified from Ribeiro et al. 2009). Grey shade in main map: extension of Serra do Mar biogeographic sub-region, from Silva and Casteleti (2003) in Ribeiro et al. (2009).

Figure 3. Leaf-dwelling Tupigea species and their web in the natural habitat. (A, B) T. ale from Rio das Pedras (A) and Paraty (B). (C–F) T. teresopolis from Penedo, males (C, D), female (E), and web dusted with starch to improve visibility (F). (G). Unidentified species from Guapiaçú (“Br09-32” in Table 2), female with egg sac.

Figure 4. Preserved specimens of Tupigea species showing habitus, epigynum and genital plugs. (A–C) T. angelim, male (A), epigyna without (B) and with (C) genital plug. (D–H) T. penedo sp. nov., male (D, E), female (F), epigyna without (G) and with (H) genital plug. (I, J) T. maza, male (I) and epigynum (J). (K–N) T. teresopolis, epigynum (K), male (L, M), and female (N). (O, P) T. ale sp. nov., male.

Figure 10. Tupigea maza (A, B) and T. teresopolis (C–E). Cleared female genitalia in ventral (A, D) and dorsal (B, E) views, and male chelicerae of male from Penedo (C). Scale bars: 0.2 mm.

Figure 11. Scanning electron micrographs of Tupigea teresopolis (A–F), T. penedo sp. nov. (G), and T. cantareira (H–M). (A) Male prosoma, frontal view; (B) epigynum; (C) female tarsus 4 tip with comb-hairs; (D–G) male right palps in retrolateral (D), retrolatero-dorsal (E) and dorsal (F, G) views; (H) male prosoma, dorsolateral view; (I) male chelicerae; (J) female anterior lateral spinnerets; (K) epigynum; (L) cleared female genitalia, dorsal view; (M) detail of pore plate. Scale bars: 10 µm (J, M), 20 µm (C), 80 µm (D, E), 100 µm (B, F, G, I, L), 200 µm (A, H, K).