Mysmenopsis tepuy, Dupérré & Tapia, 2020

Dupérré, Nadine & Tapia, Elicio, 2020, Megadiverse Ecuador: a review of Mysmenopsis (Araneae, Mysmenidae) of Ecuador, with the description of twenty-one new kleptoparasitic spider species, Zootaxa 4761 (1), pp. 1-81 : 49

Mysmenopsis tepuy new species

Figs 139–143 , map 2 (blue rectangle).

Material examined. Female holotype from Ecuador, Zamora-Chinchipe Province, Tepuy Guanza (-04.14633 - 78.67509) 1527m, 5 March 2016, in Linothele web, E. Tapia ( QCAZ).

Etymology. The specific name is a noun in apposition taken from the locality, Tepuy Guanza where the species was found.

Diagnosis. The female most resemble M. schlingeri and M. pachacutec but can be distinguished from M. schlingeri by the larger and sub-apical tubercle on femur I ( Fig. 140 ); smaller and almost apical in the latter ( Platnick & Shadab 1978, fig. 68); from M. pachacutec by the smaller and elongated oval spermathecae ( Fig. 143 ), whereas the spermathecae are large and rounded in the latter species ( Baert 1990, figs 7, 8).

Description. Female (holotype): Total length: 2.6; carapace length: 0.97; carapace width: 0.80; abdomen length: 1.63. Carapace dark brown, pear-shaped; suffused black along pars cephalica and radiating lines ( Fig. 139 ). Sternum light brown suffused with black; covered with long setae. Clypeus dark brown; low (3x AME). Chelicerae brown suffused with black; promargin with three teeth; retromargin not observed. Eyes: eight, rounded, all approximately equal size; ocular region on low protuberance; AME separated by their diameter, AME-LE touching; ALE-PLE contiguous, LE-PME separated by their diameter; PME separated by their radius. Abdomen: oval, dark grey with foliate pattern of white patches ( Figs 139, 140 ). Legs: femur I dark orange-brown basally and apically, femora II-IV light brown with dark bands ventrally, basally, medially and apically; tibiae I-IV orange-brown with dark brown patches medio and apico-ventrally; metatarsi I-IV light orange-brown with dark band apically, tarsi light orange; femur I enlarged with large sub-apical pointed tubercle ( Fig. 140 ). Legs spination: patellae I-IV with one macroseta; tibiae I-IV with one macroseta dorso-proximally; metatarsi I-II with seven short spines ventrally ( Fig. 141 arrow). Total length leg I: 3.91 (1.31/0.4/0.99/0.66/0.55). Genitalia: epigynum flat, anterior epigynal margin not well delimited, posterior epigynal margin concave ( Fig. 142 ). Dorsal epigynal plate short with straight anterior margin ( Fig. 143 ). Internal genitalia: spermathecae elongated oval; copulatory ducts not observed; fertilization ducts comma-shaped, well sclerotized basally, curved apically ( Fig. 143 ).

Male: Unknown.

Distribution. Only found at the type locality in Zamora-Chinchipe Province.

Natural history. The single female was collected at 1527m in a low evergreen mountain forest of the Cordillera del Condor-Kutuku (BsBa03) ( Morales, Chinchero & Medina-Torres, 2013). M. tepuy n. sp. lives in sympatry with M. baerti n. sp. and M. guanza n. sp.

Figures

FIGURES 139–143. Mysmenopsis tepuy n. sp., 139, Habitus, dorsal view. 140, Abdomen, posterior view. 141, Leg I, prolateral view (arrow points to short spines). 142, Epigynum, ventral view. 143, Internal genitalia, dorsal view. Scale bar: 139, 140: 0.5mm; 141: 0.1mm.