Spermophora dieke, Huber, 2009

Huber, Bernhard A., 2009, Life on leaves: leaf-dwelling pholcids of Guinea, with emphasis on Crossopriza cylindrogaster Simon, a spider with inverted resting position, pseudo-eyes, lampshade web, and tetrahedral egg-sac (Araneae: Pholcidae), Journal of Natural History 43 (39 - 40), pp. 2491-2523 : 2514-2516

Spermophora dieke n. sp.

( Figures 12 , 36–40 , 124–127 , 150 )

Type

Male holotype from Forêt Classée de Diéké (7°32.0′N, 8°49.9′W), Guinée Forestière, Guinea; 430 m a.s.l., 1.xii.2008 (B.A. Huber), in ZFMK .

Etymology

The species name is taken from the type locality and used as a noun in apposition.

Diagnosis

Easily distinguished from known congeners by the strong median projection on the male clypeus ( Figure 36 ), and the distally unmodified male chelicerae. A probably closely related, undescribed species (with very similar male palps and chelicerae) occurs in Ghana (deposited in MRAC), but in that species the male has paired clypeus projections (B.A. Huber, unpublished data).

Male (holotype)

Total body length 1.9, carapace width 0.7. Leg 1 missing, tibia 2: 2.9, tibia 3: 1.9, tibia 4: 2.8, tibia 2 L/d: 43. Habitus as in Figures 36 and 37 ; carapace whitish grey with black margin and short posterior line medially, ocular area and clypeus also mostly black, chelicerae without black marks, sternum pale grey, legs pale ochre-yellow with black marks on femora and tibiae subdistally, abdomen whitish-grey with black marks dorsally and laterally, ventrally two pairs of black marks frontally. Distance PME–PME 115 µm, diameter PME 105 µm, distance PME–ALE 35 µm, no trace of AME. Each triad slightly elevated. No thoracic furrow, only median dark line. Clypeus with distinctive median projection with bifid tip. Chelicerae without distal modification, only pair of light proximo-lateral apophyses. Sternum wider than long (0.55/0.40), unmodified. Palps as in Figures 124 and 125 , coxa unmodified, trochanter with long ventral and retrolateral apophyses, procursus with retrolatero-ventral flap, distally complex with long sclerotized filament, bulb with proximal sclerite, membranous embolus and sclerotized hooked bulbal apophysis. Legs without spines and curved hairs, few vertical hairs; retrolateral trichobothrium on tibia 2 at 10%; tarsal pseudosegments indistinct, distally ∼10 visible in dissecting microscope.

Female

In general similar to male ( Figure 39 ), triads only slightly closer together (distance PME–PME 95 µm), clypeus unmodified. Tibia 1: 4.4 (missing in other female); tibia 2: 2.6, 2.3. The two females differ in extent of black pigment: darker female with black sternum and more spots dorsally on abdomen. Epigynum light brown, trapezoidal, weakly protruding, frontal internal structures visible through cuticle ( Figures 38 , 126 ); internal genitalia as in Figures 40 and 127 .

Distribution

Known from type locality in Guinea only ( Figure 150 ).

Material examined

GUINEA: Guinée Forestière : Forêt Classée de Diéké, male holotype above ; same data, 2♀ in pure ethanol, in ZFMK .

Figures

Figures 7–14. Further Guinean leaf-dwelling pholcids. (7) Leptopholcus guineensis, male, as seen against the light, without flash; (8–9) Leptopholcus tipula, females with newly hatched spiderlings and with egg-sac; (10–11) Pholcus kakum, n. sp., male and female with egg-sac; (12) Spermophora dieke n. sp., female; (13) Pehrforsskalia conopyga, male; (14) Nyikoa limbe, female with egg-sac.

Figures 32–44. Pholcus, Spermophora, and Pehrforsskalia. (32–33) Pholcus kakum, male in dorsal and lateral views; (34, 35) P. kakum, epigynum ventral and cleared dorsal views; (36–37) Spermophora dieke, male in dorsal and lateral views; (38) S. dieke, female abdomen, ventral view; (39) S. dieke, female, dorsal view; (40) S. dieke, cleared epigynum, dorsal view; (41–42) Pehrforsskalia conopyga, male in dorsal and lateral views; (43, 44) P. conopyga, epigynum in ventral and cleared dorsal views.

Figures 124–127. Spermophora dieke. (124, 125) Left palp, prolateral and retrolateral views; (126, 127) Cleared female genitalia, ventral and dorsal views. Notes: b, bulb; ba, bulbal apophysis; e, embolus; pp, pore plate; pr, procursus; ta, trochanter apophysis. Scale lines: 0.3 mm.

Figures 150–151. Known distributions of Spermophora dieke, Pholcus kakum, and Pehrforsskalia conopyga. For Nyikoa limbe, see Huber (2007).