Tobias Simon, 1895

Machado, Miguel, Teixeira, Renato Augusto & Lise, Arno Antonio, 2015, Taxonomic notes on the crab spider genus Tobias Simon, 1895 (Araneae, Thomisidae, Stephanopinae), Zootaxa 4034 (3), pp. 565-576 : 566

Tobias Simon, 1895

Tobias Simon, 1895: 1053 . Mello-Leitão 1929: 80, pl. 2, figs 183–196.

Type species. Tobias camelinus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1869) by original designation.

Diagnosis. Tobias species resemble those of Epicadus in the high thoracic region with a median spire and conical abdominal projections (this latter character is shared with Epicadinus as well), and Stephanopis in the wood barklike aspect of body with organic particles attached. However, Tobias can be distinguished by the quadratic aspect of legs, with patellae, tibiae, metatarsi and tarsi with truncated corners, ventrally and laterally compressed; conical ventral and dorsolateral tubercles on femora I and II and presence of sensorial pits on tibiae and metatarsi. Females have epigynal plate with sclerotized edges joining on the middle to form a median septum; copulatory ducts long, sclerotized; two pairs of spermatecae. Male palp holds an elongated and canoe-shaped RTA fused at its basis to a short, acute and curved DTA.

Description. Medium size spiders, males about five times smaller than females (total length 2.56–3.22 in males and 8.28–15.42 in females). General body coloration yellow with black stains or stripes on prosoma and legs, or predominantly dark-brown. Prosoma as long as wide, with rough surface and needle-shaped setae on spherical sockets; prosoma may bear a distinct white spot on thoracic region with a longitudinal black line to the middle of PME. Clypeus high (about five times the diameter of AME), eyes subequal in size, arranged in a recurved anterior row and slightly procurved posterior row. Chelicerae armed with three promarginal and two retromarginal teeth; endites longer than wide, rounded on the edge, with a scarce promarginal scopula; labium short, truncated; sternum scutiform with concave anterior border. Opisthosoma with five or three remarkable projections (four or two lateral ones and a single median posterior) and straight to concave anterior border. Legs I, II and III anteriorly oriented and leg IV posteriorly oriented; anterior legs larger and stouter than posterior ones, the dorsal surface of tibiae and tarsi with a proximal and a distal depression with many duster-shaped setae surrounding a group of 5–7 trichobothria (sensorial pit); tibiae and tarsi I and II with three pairs of strong ventral macrosetae. Epigynum shows long copulatory ducts with enlarged upper curve, forming a kidney-shaped secondary spermateca; primary spermateca rounded or kidney-shaped, fertilization ducts thin and laterally curved. Male palp characterized by a peer-shaped cymbium and a filiform embolous encircling the discoid tegulum.