Apopyllus kanguery, Piñanez Espejo & Kochalka & Garcete Barrett, 2019

Piñanez Espejo, Yolanda M. G., Kochalka, John A. & Garcete Barrett, Bolívar R., 2019, A new species and two new records of the ground spider genus Apopyllus (Araneae, Gnaphosidae) from Paraguay, Zootaxa 4664 (4), pp. 594-600 : 595-596

Apopyllus kanguery new species ( Figs 1–2 , 6b )

Type material. Female holotype from Estación Kanguery, Itapúa, Paraguay (26°30’43.5”S 55°47’34.0”W) 12–16.I.2017, Y. Piñanez coll., deposited in IBNP-Invert.-JAK-CR 2944.

Etymology. The specific name is taken from the type locality, Estación Kanguery, a biodiversity observation facility inside the Reserva para Parque Nacional San Rafael one of the last remnants of Interior Atlantic Forest in Paraguay.

Diagnosis. Females can be distinguished by the wide, sinuous anterior ridge with the middle part having the anterior border straight and the posterior border sinuous, with a small sinuous curve laterally on each side ( Fig. 1–2 ). It can be further distinguished by the TPD curved dorsally and by the secondary spermathecae about two thirds the diameter of the primary ones ( Fig. 1c,1d ). This species is similar to A. gandarela Azevedo, Ott, Griswold & Santos, 2016 and A. malleco Platnick & Shadab, 1984 but can be differentiated of them by the broader central portion of the anterior ridge ( Fig.2 ).

Description. Female (holotype): Total length 4.8. Carapace 1.95 long, 1.43 wide. Femur II 1.22 long. Carapace light brown, with light orange and dark reticulations ( Fig. 1a ). Legs and palps light brown, darker in leg femora. Femur I with a lighter area in the prolateral and the retrolateral proximal parts. Sternum and labium orange/brown. Endites light orangish brown with a lighter anterior border. Opisthosoma pale gray with the anterior part black. Due to its slightly deteriorated state of preservation it is not possible to distinguish the pattern of color on the dorsal surface of the opisthosoma. Eye sizes and interdistances: AME 0.047, ALE 0.085, PME 0.056, PLE 0.066, AME–AME 0.066, AME–ALE 0.018, ALE–PLE 0.047, PME–PME 0.05, PME–PLE 0.05. MOQ 0.2 wide. Leg spination: femora: I, II d1-1-1, p0-0-1; III, IV d1-1-1, r0- 1-1, p0-1-1; patellae: III, IV p1-1-0, r1- 1-0; tibiae: I v0-0-1p; II v2-1 p-0; III d0-2-0, p1-0-1, r0-1-1, v1 p-2-2; IV d1-1-0, p0-1-0, v1 p-2-2, r0-1-0; Metatarsi: I, II v2 -0-0; III d0-1-2, IV d0-2-2; III, IV r-1-1-1, p1-1-1, v1 p-2-2.

Remarks. The specimen was captured with a pitfall trap in natural grassland with occasional cattle grazing during the summer. Throughout the collection period no precipitation occurred and the temperature ranged between 25.3°C and 37. 9°C.

Male: Unknown.

Material examined. holotype.

Distribution. Known only from the type locality, Estación Kanguery, Alto Verá, Itapúa, Paraguay ( Fig. 6b ). The type locality is an area of natural grassland surrounded by patches of Interior Atlantic Forest. This area belongs to the largest interconnected fragment (78.000 ha) of Interior Atlantic Forest in Paraguay ( López et al. 2007; Cartes 2006; Cacciali 2013). with an average precipitation of 2.100 mm annually ( Esquivel et al. 2007).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Apopyllus kanguery new. sp., female (IBNP-Invert.-JAK-CR 2944). a Habitus, dorsal view. b Habitus, ventral view. c Cleared epigynum, ventral view. e Cleared epigynum, dorsal view. Abbreviations: ar: anterior ridge,ps: primary spermathecae, ss: secondary spermathecae, tpd: terminal part of copulatory duct

FIGURE 2. Apopyllus kanguery new. sp., female (IBNP-Invert.-JAK-CR 2944). Epigynum, ventral view. Abbreviations: ar: anterior ridge, ps: primary spermathecae, tpd: terminal part of copulatory duct

FIGURE 6. Geographic distribution records of Apopyllus species in Paraguay.