Pseudomaevia cognata Rainbow, 1920

Richardson, Barry J., 2014, A redescription of the type species of the jumping spider genus Pseudomaevia (Araneae: Salticidae) from Lord Howe Island, Australia, Zootaxa 3811 (3), pp. 387-392 : 389-392

Pseudomaevia cognata Rainbow, 1920

Figs 1–15

Pseudomaevia cognata Rainbow 1920: 269 , Pl XXXI, figs 123–127.

Type material. Holotype ♂, Lord Howe Island, 31.50°S, 159.03°E, Australia, XII.1915, A.M. Lea ( SAMA NN 305 [N1981366]).

Other material examined. AUSTRALIA, Lord Howe Island: 1♀, Stn 3, North Bay, grassy area along track, 31.52°S, 159.03°E, 30.I.1971, M. Gray (AM, KS22224); 1♂, 1♀, Stn 40, near top of Goat House Track, 31.55°S, 159.08°E, 2.X.1971, M. Gray (AM, KS22225); 1 imm., 31.55°S, 159.08°E, 1.I.1928, G. Troughton (AM, KS22217); 1♀, Erskine Valley, 31.55°S, 159.08°E, 1.II.1971, M. Gray (AM, KS22223); 1♂, Erskine Valley, 31.57°S, 159.07°E, 29.I.1979, T. Kingston (AM, KS86867); 1♀, Stn 42, foot of saddle rise, Erskine Valley, 31.57°S, 159.07°E, 15.II.1971, M. Gray (AM, KS22222); 1♂, Mt Gower, 390m, site G3, 31.57°S, 159.08°E, 20.XI.2004, N. Velez (AM, KS 122111); 1 imm., Stn 45, NE area of Mt Gower Summit, 31.58°S, 159.07°E, 15.II.1971, M. Gray (AM, KS22221); 1♂, Mt Gower Summit, 31.58°S, 159.08°E, 19.VIII.2000, D. Michael (AM, KS68266); 1♂, Mt Gower, 230m, site G9, 31.58°S, 159.08°E, 20.XI.2004, N. Velez (AM, KS 122110); 1♂, Mt Gower, 690m, site G27, 31.58°S, 159.08°E, 29.X.2005, N. Velez (AM, KS 122070); 1♀, Mt Gower, 360m, site G14, 31.58°S, 159.10°E, 1.IV.2006, N. Velez (AM, KS 122087); 1♀, Mt Gower, 390m, site G15, 31.58°S, 159.10°E, 29.X.2009, N. Velez (AM, KS 122036); 1♂, Mt Gower, bottom of gulley, 18.XI.2001, C. Reid (AM, KS90265); 1♂, Mt Gower, 800m, site G32, 31.62°S, 159.08°E, 1.IV.2006, N. Velez (AM, KS 122112).

Description. Male: Holotype: Cephalothorax long and very flat, mid to dark orange with scattered pennate grey hairs around the eyes and along the sides. Surrounds of ALE, PME and PLE, black with scattered grey hairs. Clypeus tiny, without a fringe of hairs ( Figs 1–2 ). Chelicerae mid to dark orange, straight, with fangs folded a little backwards towards a tapering inner surface ( Figs 3–4 ). Two, well separated, medium sized promarginal teeth and one medium sized, fissident, retromarginal tooth with two large terminal and a variable pattern of one or two small intermediate cusps ( Fig. 15 ). Endites and labium orange grading to yellow distally. Sternum orange. Abdomen long and narrow, dorsal surface yellow with a pair of longitudinal brown stripes (more recently collected males are not so faded and all show a pattern of brown and yellow bands grading to solid brown laterally down the sides of the abdomen (as in Fig. 8 ). Spinnerets small, yellow. Ventral abdomen light orange. Legs mid to dark orange. L1 more robust and larger than other legs, with grey fringe on tarsus and metatarsus. Strong spines on the patella, tibia and tarsus of L1; all other spines tiny or missing. Palp: light orange, with one short ( Figs 6–7 ) and one medium sized blunt tibial apophysis. Cymbium short, rounded. Tegulum rounded, without lobe. Embolus arises from a distinct mound on the prolateral distal edge of the tegulum and moves away from the tegulum before forming an anti-clockwise quarter circle. Dimensions: CL 3.90, EFL 1.55, CW 2.54, AEW 1.92, AMEW 1.24, PEW 2.17, AL 4.64, P1+T1 3.22, L1 7.49 (2.23+1.24+1.98+1.42+0.62), L2 4.02 (1.23+068+0.93+0.74+0.43), L3 4.27 (1.36+0.68+0.93+0.87+0.43), L4 6.01 (1.80+0.93+1.61+1.18+0.50).

Female. As for the male, except animal much larger. Epigynum : median facing, ‘C-shaped’, guides and copulatory openings indistinct. Insemination ducts first move vertically a short distance (not apparent in figures). The ducts then move in a posterior direction with small lateral diverticula, and finally curve laterally and move forward again to end in the fertilization ducts ( Figs 11–14 ). There is no obvious shape differentiation of a spermatheca, however it may be that the vertical section is the insemination duct, the first two thirds of the horizontal section (orange coloured, Fig. 14 ) is the spermatheca and the final third the fertilization duct. Dimensions: CL 5.15, EFL 1.92, CW 3.47, AEW 2.48, AMEW 1.55, PEW 2.79, AL 8.61, P1+T1 4.46, L1 10.4 (2.97+1.85+2.72+2.04+0.80), L2 6.93 (2.17+1.24+1.73+1.30+0.50), L3 5.94 (1.92+0.99+1.24+1.24+0.56), L4 8.17 (2.35+1.24+2.35+1.61+0.62).

Distribution and biology. The species is known only from Lord Howe Island, an Australian administered island 700km north-east of Sydney in the Tasman Sea. It has been collected on foliage and in pitfall traps.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 4. Male holotype of Pseudomaevia cognata. 1 dorsal view; 2 lateral view; 3 mouthparts, ventral view; 4 face, anterior view. Scale: total body 2 mm.

FIGURES 5 – 7. Pseudomaevia cognata, male palp (AM, KS 86867). 5 prolateral view; 6 ventral view; 7 retrolateral view. Arrows highlight the position of the second, smaller, tibial apophysis. Scale: 0.2 mm.

FIGURES 8 – 11. Pseudomaevia cognata, female (AM, KS 122087). 8 dorsal view; 9 lateral view; 10 mouthparts, ventral view; 11 epigyne, ventral view. Scale: total body 2 mm; epigyne 0.2 mm.

FIGURES 12 – 15. Pseudomaevia cognata, female (AM, KS 22223). 12 epigyne, ventral view; 13 same, cleared, dorsal view; 14 same, transmission photograph; 15 two examples of variation in the retromarginal tooth. Scale: 0.2 mm.