Tupigea, HUBER, 2000

HUBER, BERNHARD A., 2000, New World Pholcid Spiders (Araneae: Pholcidae): A Revision At Generic Level, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2000 (254), pp. 1-348 : 314-316

TUPIGEA , NEW GENUS

TYPE SPECIES: Tupigea lisei , new species.

ETYMOLOGY: The generic name honors the Tupi and the Gê. The former occupied eastern Brazil at the time of the conquest; their practice of ritualistic exocannibalism gave the Portuguese a moral excuse for exterminating them. The latter occupied the Brazilian coastline before the Tupi, but were driven into the interior by the Tupi before the arrival of the Portuguese. Gender feminine.

DIAGNOSIS: Tiny to small (total length 1.3– 1.9 mm), six-eyed (rarely with punctiform AME) pholcids with medium-long legs; globular, rectangular, or triangular (in lateral view) opisthosoma; distinguished from similar genera ( Canaima , Blancoa ) by the long male palpal patella (e.g., figs. 1266, 1300; a similar long patella occurs in some otherwise very different ninetine genera: Ibotyporanga , Gertschiola , Papiamenta ).

DESCRIPTION: Total length usually ~ 1.3– 1.9 mm. Carapace with distinct thoracic groove, ocular area moderately elevated, usually with six eyes, AME absent or reduced to dark specks; distance PME-ALE relatively large (60 –80% of PME diameter). Sternum without humps. Male clypeus unmodified. Basal segment of male chelicerae with one of various types of modifications (apophyses, modified hairs), only in T. nadleri , n. sp., unmodified; without stridulatory ridges laterally. Male palpal coxa with or without retrolateral apophysis, femur sometimes with pointed and upward-projecting (‘‘pup’’) apophysis (with two in T. maza , n. sp.; without in T. lisei , n. sp., and paula , n. sp.), patella almost cylindrical, ventral side unusually long; procursus relatively simple, often bent inward distally, bulb variable. Tarsal organ exposed (examined: T. lisei : fig. 83; T. nadleri ). Legs relatively long (leg 1 about 6–11 X body length; tibia 1 l/d usually 36– 78); leg 1 longest, leg 2 longer or about as long as leg 4, leg 3 shortest; legs without spines and curved hairs; usually with vertical hairs on tibiae (at least proximally; miss- ing in T. paula ); retrolateral trichobothrium of tibia 1 at ~ 7–23%; tarsus 1 with ~ 15– 25 pseudosegments. Opisthosoma variable in shape, usually about globular, with dark spots dorsally. Male gonopore without epiandrous spigots (examined: T. nadleri , lisei : fig. 135). ALS with only one piriform gland spigot each (examined: T. nadleri , lis- ei; figs. 170–171, 173), other spinnerets typical for family.

Sexual dimorphism slight. Epigynum very simple, variable in shape.

MONOPHYLY: The species included share the ventrally long, cylindrical patella of the male palp. The long patellae in Ibotyporanga , Gertschiola , and Papiamenta are consid- ered to have evolved convergently. T. altiventer (Keyserling) and T. iguassuensis (Mello-Leitão) are only known from females and are included tentatively.

GENERIC RELATIONSHIPS: The pointed and upward-projecting apophysis present in several species of the genus is strikingly similar to that in some Central American genera ( Modisimus , Anopsicus , Bryantina , Psilochorus ). This character is otherwise rarely seen in South American pholcids ( Waunana , Pisaboa ). The cladistic analysis suggests that this character has evolved at least twice in the New World. Apart from the fact that Tupigea is clearly part of the New World clade (thoracic groove, large distance PME-ALE, epiandrous spigots absent, ALS piriform gland spigots reduced to one, exposed tarsal organ), the phylogenetic relationships are obscure. The close relationship with Blancoa and Canaima proposed by the cladogram in appendix 2 is weakly supported: the reduction of the retrolateral coxal apophysis links Tupigea to Blancoa , and the reduction of AME links both to Canaima .

SPECIFIC RELATIONSHIPS: The type species T. lisei shares with T. teresopolis , n. sp., and T. sicki , n. sp., the low slope of the clypeus (figs. 1272, 1278). All other species have the more common steeper slope.

DISTRIBUTION: So far this genus is only known from southeastern Brazil (Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul). I have seen further undescribed species probably belonging to this genus from Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, and Rio Grande do Sul (mostly in MCN).

COMPOSITION: The genus includes the six newly described species below, and two tentatively assigned species: T. altiventer and T. iguassuensis (both redescribed below).