Physocyclus palmarus, Jiménez & Palacios-Cardiel, 2013

Jiménez, Maria-Luisa & Palacios-Cardiel, Carlos, 2013, A new species of Physocyclus (Araneae: Pholcidae) from Mexico, Zootaxa 3717 (1), pp. 96-99 : 96-99

Physocyclus palmarus new species

Figures 3–13

Type. Male (Holotype): MEXICO: Baja California Sur, Municipality of La Paz, San Pedro Oasis , hand collected, 23°23′22.4″N, 110°12′30.2″W, 6 m. 4.III.2013, C. Palacios and M. L. Jiménez ( CARCIB 013 ), deposited at CARCIB .

Etymology. The specific name is a noun in apposition and refers to the palm where the type was collected.

Diagnosis. Physocyclus palmarus appears to be closely related to P. michoacanus Valdez-Mondragón and P. dugesi Simon , but can be distinguished by the following features. Males are diagnosed by having the lateral apophysis of the chelicerae (LA) long, lightly curved and directed forward, with sclerotised cones in the basal half of the frontal lamina. The pedipalps have the embolic sclerites (EE) rounded and the embolus (E) is very wide and long and almost rounded in dorsal view and across the base of the femur, ending in a tip. Epigynum of females with ventral apophyses (VA) long, thin and directed forward.

Description. Male (Holotype): Coloration. Prosoma pale yellow, with long and black setae that were detached when the specimens were preserved in alcohol ( Fig. 4 ). One longitudinal, asymmetric dark brown band on the carapace widens in an irregular form in the thoracic groove and tapers backward from this region. There is a black line from posterior row eyes to the thoracic groove. A dark brown band in the ocular region extends to the middle part of the clypeus. Clypeus with many setae and triangular dark spots at the distal edge. Carapace sides without marks. Ocular area slightly elevated with eight eyes surrounded by black rings; anterior row of eyes procurved and posterior row of eyes straight. Chelicerae: anterior face concave with sclerotized edges, frontal lamina with 64 cones with long setae mainly in the basal part an lateral sides of the lamina, with few cones extending to the distal part; lateral apophysis (LA) long and lightly curve in front view ( Fig. 5 ), straight and thick with rounded tip in retrolateral view; stridulatory organs (SO) occupying about half of the lateral side of the chelicerae ( Fig. 6 ). Sternum pale yellow with a grey diffuse spot in its posterior half. Labium pale yellow, darker at the basal part and lighter in distal part and with scarce setae. Convergent light yellow endites darker in the middle part. Legs ochre-yellow with numerous uniformly scattered setae, paired claws with twelve teeth. Tarsus I and II with 11 subsegments, coxae with distal darker edge and trochanters pale yellow, with a ventral dark spot, femora and patella slightly darker than coxae; tibia, metatarsus and tarsi dark yellow. Distal rings of femora, basal part of patella and basal and distal part of tibiae with dark rings. Opisthosoma globose creamy yellow with numerous black and short setae, with exception of a dorsal white band, and with numerous small irregular round grey spots grouping and extending to sides and backward of the opisthosoma. The dorsal white band extends backward like a thin line and widens just back of the opisthosoma ( Fig. 4 ). Ventral plate of male gonopore of trapezoid shape, spinnerets light yellow with exception of the posterior pair, which is darker. Measurements: Total length 4.6; Carapace length 2.15, width 2.48. Clypeus length 1.19. Eye diameter: AME 0.13, ALE 0.19, PME 0.16, PLE 0.19, AME-PME 0.16, PME- PME 0.26. Leg lengths: I—femur 11.87/patella 1.0/tibia 12.5/metatarsus 19.37/tarsus 2.5/total 47.24; II—9.5/1.0/9.75/ 15.12/2.0/37.37; III—7.5/1.0/7.12/10.75/1.37/27.74; IV-9.75/0.75/9.37/14.37/1.62/35.86. Leg formula: 1-2-4-3. Pedipalp: Dorsal apophysis of procursus (DA) and ventral notch ( VN) visible in retrolateral view, procursus wider in distal basal part, ending in a flat short spine with rounded tip, directed nearly to the base of femur, embolic sclerites (EE) basal, spatula shape and making a wide notch with the embolus (E), which is wide and long, perpendicular to the procursus, and with the tip lightly curved directed to the base of the femur in retrolateral view ( Fig. 7 ); spermatic operculum (OS) near to the apical part of the embolus in dorsal view ( Fig. 8 ).

Female (paratype from the type locality) (CARCIB 086): Coloration: Similar to male but with some differences ( Figs. 3 , 9 ). Clypeus with a complete dark band. Chelicerae ochre-dark yellow and with scattered setae. In some specimens, chelicerae are lighter; sternum grey but with some white spots in front of each coxae. Measurements: Total length 4.87, prosoma length 2.0, width 2.12. Clypeus length 1.15. Eye diameter: AME 0.13, ALE 0.23, PME 0.19, PLE 0.23, AME-PME 0.13, PME-PME 0.19. Legs length: I—femur 9.0/patela 1.0/tibia 9.75/metatarsus14.37/tarsus 2.25/total 36.37; II—7.25/0.87/7.5/11.12/1.62/28.36; III-5.25/0.75/5.62/8.37/1.37/21.36; IV-7.87/0.87/7.5/11.62/1.37/29.16. Leg formula: 1-2-4-3. Epigynum . Ventral apophyses (VA) wide at the base but long, thin and directed forward ending in a tip ( Figs. 10, 11, 13 ), porous plates (PP) pear-form with the anterior edge convergent and basal edge more sclerotized, with a sclerotized wide arch with ends bent sideways, the middle part of the arch with a triangle-shaped protrusion ( Fig. 12 ).

Additional material examined. Paratypes: MEXICO: Baja California Sur, Municipality of La Paz , same locality as holotype , 2♂, 18.I.2013 ( CARCIB 070-071 ) ; 3♂, 9♀, 4.III.2013 ( CARCIB 072-083 ) by hand collecting, C. Palacios and M. L. Jiménez .

Variation. Total body length in males (n = 5) varies from 4.25–5.12, carapace length 1.62, wide 1.87–2.5. Frontal lamina of chelicerae with a mean of 67 cones (n = 4). Legs length: I—femur 9.25–9.87/patella 0.75–0.87/tibia 10.0–11.0/ metatarsus 15.62–16.9/tarsus 2.12–2.25/total 7.59–8.1; II—7.5–10.12/0.87–1.0/8.10–7.51/12.16–25.0/1.51–1.87/6.02– 7.99; III-6.12–8.0/0.76–1.12/5.87–8.0/8.25–11.37/1.25–1.5/4.44–5.99/; IV-8.12–10.87/0.87–1.0/8.37–11.01/11.12–15.5/ 1.37–1.61/5.97–7.99. Total body length in females (n = 9) varies from 4.0–5.37, carapace length 1.5–2.0, wide 1.25– 2.25. Legs length: I-femur 7.87–11.62/patella 0.75–1.12/tibia 8.5–12.75/metatarsus 11.5–19.0/tarsus 1.5–2.25/total 6.12– 9.34; II—6.25–9.0/0.75–1.12/6.62–10.25/9.25–14.2/1.5–1.87/4.9–7.27; III 4.25–7.25/0.75–0.87/5.0–7.75/6.87–10.87/ 1.25–1.62/3.62–5.67; IV 6.62–10.0/0.75–1.0/6.37–9.75/9.37–12.75/1.37–1.50/4.9–7.0.

Habitat. The oasis is a pond, fed by a spring and separated from the sea by a broad beach and sand dunes ( Fig. 2 ; Llinas & Jiménez 2004). Further inland is a grove of Washingtonian palms Washingtonia robusta and date palms Phoenix dactylifera ( Fig. 1 ). Specimens were captured on the dry leaves of W. robusta from a height of 30 cm to 2 m in the wet area of the oasis. Males, females, females with sacs ( Fig. 3 ), and 27 juveniles were captured. Specimens also were collected from dry palm leaves, where females wove their webs.

Distribution. Known only from the type locality.

Figures

FIGURES 1–3. 1. Distribution of Physocyclus palmarus, sp. nov.; 2. Typical habitat of the spider Physocyclus palmarus, sp. nov.; 3. Physocyclus palmarus sp. nov. female with egg sac on a palm leave.

FIGURES 4–13. 4–8. Male Physocyclus palmarus sp. nov. 4, Habitus. 5, Chelicerae, frontal view. 6, Chelicerae retrolateral view. 7, Left pedipalp, retrolateral view. 8, Left pedipalp dorsal view. LA (lateral apophysis of chelicerae). SO (stridulatory organ). DA (dorsal apophysis of procursus). VN (ventral notch of procursus). EE (embolic sclerites). E (embolus). SO (spermatic operculum). Scale bars: 2 mm (Fig. 4), 0.2 mm (Figs. 5-6), 0.5 mm (Figs. 7–8). 9–13. Female Physocyclus palmarus sp. nov. 9, Habitus, 10, Epigynum, ventral view. 11, Epigynum, retrolateral view. 12, Epigynum, anterior view showing lateral apophyses. 13, Epigynum, dorsal view, VA (ventral apophyses). PP (porous plates). Scale bars: 2 mm (Fig. 9), 0.5 mm (Figs. 10–13).