Brignolia diablo, Platnick & Dupérré, 2011

Platnick, Norman I. & Dupérré, Nadine, 2011, The Goblin Spider Genus Brignolia (Araneae, Oonopidae), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2011 (349), pp. 1-131 : 103-106

Brignolia diablo , new species

Figures 641–650

TYPE: Female holotype taken in bamboo thicket in Nam Nao National Park, Phetch- abun Prov., Thailand (Nov. 19, 1976; P. Lehtinen), deposited in ZMUT (PBI_OON 15972) .

ETYMOLOGY: The specific name is a noun in apposition taken from the Spanish for devil, and refers to the horned carapace.

DIAGNOSIS: Females can easily be recognized by the enlargements of the tubercles on the high shoulders of the carapace, which form hornlike ornaments (figs. 641–643, 647). In this respect they resemble four species of Opopaea found in southern China that were discussed by Tong and Li (2010). While it is possible that discovery of the male of this species may show that it also belongs to Opopaea rather than Brignolia , the easily observable carapace pits (fig. 641) and the associated lateral sclerotizations of the posterior carapace margin (fig. 643), along with the apparent posterior tube in the female genitalia (fig. 650), suggest that the male will likely have a Brignolia - type palp. Yanfeng Tong has been kind enough to examine females of one of those Chinese horned species, Opopaea cornuta Yin and Wang (1984) , and has confirmed that they have lateral sclerotizations of the posterior carapace margin similar to those of B. diablo . However, we do not believe the specimens can be conspecific, as the Thailand female has a clypeus that is only slightly higher than the AME diameter, whereas in O. cornuta the clypeus is more than 2.5 times that height (Tong and Li, 2010, fig. 1K).

MALE: Unknown.

FEMALE (PBI_OON 15972, figs. 641– 650): Total length 2.14. Carapace pale orange, without any pattern; pars cephalica strongly elevated in lateral view; posterolateral edge with pair of pits, posterior declivity with hornlike projection on each side, each projection with small tubercle on median side, posterior margin squared, with diamond-shaped slcerotization on each side. Sternum without pits, with elevated posterior margin. Scuto-pedicel region with deeply Wshaped scutal ridge so weakly sclerotized near midline as to appear like two V-shaped ridges, each with sharply pointed tubercle opposite pedicel triangle and additional, strong, more dorsally situated ridge. Postepigastric region with broadly U-shaped ridge occupying most of space between

epigastric furrow and posterior spiracular groove; posterior tube short, rounded.

OTHER MATERIAL EXAMINED: None.

DISTRIBUTION: Thailand.

Figures

Figs. 641–650. Brignolia diablo, new species, female. 641. Carapace, dorsal view. 642. Same, anterior view. 643. Same, posterior view. 644. Cephalothorax, ventral view. 645. Abdomen, anterior view. 646. Same, ventral view. 647. Carapace, lateral view. 648. Abdomen, lateral view. 649. Genitalia, ventral view. 650. Same, dorsal view.