Cyrtognatha pathetica, Dimitrov & Hormiga, 2009

Dimitrov, Dimitar & Hormiga, Gustavo, 2009, Revision And Cladistic Analysis Of The Orbweaving Spider Genus Cyrtognatha Keyserling, 1881 (Araneae, Tetragnathidae), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2009 (317), pp. 1-140 : 54-55

Cyrtognatha pathetica , new species Figure 24

TYPE: Female holotype from Guatemala. No date information on the label ( BMNH 1890.7.1.5958).

Keyserling examined this specimen and named it ‘‘ C. sexmaculata ’’ (written on the label), but he never described this species.

ETYMOLOGY: The species epithet, a Latinized version of the Greek word pathetikos, is an adjective that refers to the pitiful physical condition of the only known specimen of this species.

DIAGNOSIS: Cyrtognatha pathetica can be easily distinguished from the similar C. paradoxa and C. lepida by the shape of the copulatory ducts that, in pathetica , are cylindrical and distally narrow (fig. 24B). C. pathetica does not have the chitinized ridge on the basal chamber present in C. paradoxa and C. lepida .

DESCRIPTION: Male. Unknown.

Female (holotype). Habitus as in figure 24F–H. Carapace with light brownish coloring, slightly darker in the center. Fovea well marked. Abdomen cylindrical with graybrownish color and strongly reduced proximal and distal tubercles. Spinnerets brownish, darker than the rest of the abdomen. Some remains of the guanine patches still can be observed. Legs long, darker than the cephalothorax. Total length 6.82. Cephalothorax 1.86 long, 1.24 wide, 0.93 high. Abdomen 4.96 long, 1.24 wide, 1.30 high. Sternum yellowish; 0.99 long, 0.86 wide. Endites and labium darker with brown pigmentation. Clypeus height 0.8 time one AME diameter. All eyes surrounded by darker pigmentation. ALE and PLE a bit smaller than the other eyes and placed very close to each other on short elevations. AME diameter 0.12. Distance between AME slightly less than their diameter; AME–ALE distance at about two AME diameters. Distance between PLE equal to their diameter. Chelicerae yellowish, not divergent and without dorsal tooth. Femur I 4.34, 2.3 times the length of the cephalothorax. Vulva as in figure 24A–C, E. Epigastric furrow as in figure 24E.

DISTRIBUTION: The type locality is not actually specified on the label. The only information regarding the distribution of this species available at present is that it was collected somewhere in Guatemala (fig. 5).