Selenops curruganja, Crews & Galvis & Esposito, 2021

Crews, Sarah C., Galvis, William & Esposito, Lauren A., 2021, Gliding canopy flatties and relatives from the Selenops banksi group (Araneae: Selenopidae), Journal of Natural History 54 (35 - 36), pp. 2343-2365 : 2358-2362

Selenops curruganja sp. nov. Crews and Galvis

( Figures 1 (e), 2(j, q–r), and 7(b–c), Map 1)

Type material. Holotype: female, Corpoica , Tumaco, Dept. Nariño, Colombia, 30 m, 1.549° N, 78.698° W, 4–14.III.2015, W Galvis, collected manually at night in a palm crop in a very disturbed area (ICN-Ar-8289).

Other material examined. COLOMBIA: Dept. Chocó: Lloró, Centro de Prácticas e Investigación de la Universidad Tecnológica del Chocó ‘ Diego Luis Córdoba’ , 5.51183° N 76.55489° W, 72 m, 22–26 .I .2018, 1 imm., S Crews, sel_1371, on guava tree with moss, during day, overcast, disturbed from under bark, next to river ( Figure 7 (b–c)).

Etymology. The specific epithet comes from a combination of the words Currulao, a musical genre and dance from Afro-Colombian communities of the Southern Pacific

Region of Colombia and Northern Ecuador, and the names of two of the most important figures from the genre: Justino García and Inés Granja Herrera.

Diagnosis. Selenops curruganja sp. nov. can be differentiated from S. micropalpus and S. banksi by having the epigynal plate of nearly the same length and width ( Figure 6 (d, f–g)), and from S. ducke by appearing lichen-like in life and having a median lobe that is truncate anteriorly, rather than arc-shaped ( Figures 1 (e) and 6 (d, f–g)).

Description. Female. Colour ( Figures 1 (e) and 2(j, q–r)). Carapace in life grey-brown, with lots of white setae, especially anteriorly, preserved red-brown, setae have been rubbed off; sternum yellow-brown with brown border; chelicerae brown; maxillae tan, lightening distally; labium tan, lightening distally; abdomen, in life, grey-green with brighter green areas, dark stripe extending posteriorly about 2/3 of the abdomen length, then branching laterally, lots of white setal tufts, preserved, dorsally yellowwhite, abdomen damaged dorsally, dark splotches and flecks laterally; no markings on spinnerets; in life, legs grey-brown and black with annulations along the entire leg, the lighter parts of the annulations are tufts of white setae, interspersed with dark areas, with flecks or solid, lots of long and short, flat, white setae along femora, trochanters, and coxae, giving the animal a more lichen-like appearance, preserved, legs light brown with darker annulations, flat, white setae located proximally on the legs are still conspicuous, but many of the more distal tufts have been rubbed off. (Note: ‘in life’ information taken from an immature female).

Prosoma. 0.89 times longer than broad; clypeus 0.07 high.

Eyes. AER slightly recurved; PER recurved; PME and AME about the same size, PLE largest, ALE smallest; eye diameters, AME 0.26, ALE, 0.16, PME 0.26, PLE 0.39, interdistances AME-PME 0.15, PME-ALE 0.30, ALE-PLE 0.30, PME-PME 1.19, ALE-ALE 1.90; ocular quadrangle AME-AME 0.77, PLE-PLE 2.44.

Sternum. 1.02 times as long as wide, posteriorly indented.

Mouthparts. Chelicerae extended somewhat forward, with lots of white setae; maxillae longer than broad with setal tuft distally; labium truncate with rounded edges anteriorly.

Palp. Fm, spination 0-1-4; claw with 8 teeth increasing in size distally.

Epigyne ( Figure 6 (d)). Plate nearly as long as broad, LLs nearly touching in centre of plate, then diverging both anteriorly and posteriorly, ML narrows gradually from posterior to anterior, EPs located medially where LLs begin to diverge, COs at either side of median lobe at the point of the anterior-most part of the interior ducts.

Endogyne ( Figure 6 (d)). COs obscured by strongly sclerotised, coiled CDs, FDs located posteriorly on PS, small PFs.

Opisthosoma. With terminal setal tufts, more easily seen on live specimens.

Legs. Leg formula unclear because leg III is re-grown on the left side and missing on the right, 214 when leg III is not considered; scopulae present on Ta and Mt of legs I and II; ta I–IV with strong claw tufts; prolateral claws I–IV with ~11 teeth; spination: Leg I, Fm d 1-1-1, pr 1-1-0, Ti v 2-2-2, Mt v 2-2; Leg II, Fm d 1-1-1, pr 0, Ti v 2-2-2 Mt v 2-2; Leg III, Fm d 1-1-1, no other spines present, but this is a regenerated leg; Leg IV, Fm d 1-1-1, pr 1-0-0, Ti v 1-1, Mt v 1-1.

Measurements. Total length 12.2. Carapace length 4.47. Carapace width 4.97. Sternum length 2.33. Sternum width 2.28. Abdomen length 7.73. Abdomen width 5.89. Palp: Fm 1.63, Pt 0.6, Ti 0.94, Ta 1.47, total 4.63. Leg I Fm 4.13, Pt 2.18, Ti 4.61, Mt 3.58, Ta 1.5, total 17.02; Leg II Fm 5.93, Pt 2.35, Ti 5.12, Mt 3.84, Ta 1.55, total 18.79; Leg III (regenerated) Fm 5.3, Pt 1.56, Ti 4.26, Mt 3.37, Ta 1.47, total 15.96; Leg IV Fm 5.41, Pt 1.70, Ti 4.14, Mt 3.68, Ta 1.73, total 16.66.

Distribution. Pacific region of Colombia in the Depts. of Nariño and Chocó (Map 1).

Life history and habitat preferences. This species has been collected on trees at both a disturbed and less disturbed area. In Lloró, around where the immature specimen was collected, 5 days and 3 people collecting turned up only this one specimen. The animal is Map 1. Map encompassing range of S. banksi group in Central and South America. Yellow = S. banksi, Green = members of S. banksi group, probably banksi , but unclear as data were taken from published records lacking vouchers and inaturalist observations, Orange = S. banksi , ex- S. kikay syn. nov., holotype (Itabuna) and identified as (Manaus), Blue = S. ducke, Red = S. curruganja sp. nov.

very lichen-like as is its relative S. banksi , and it is possible that it has a similar lifestyle in treetops and canopies.

Figures

Figure 1. (a) Selenops banksi, female, guarding eggsac, Costa Rica; inset shows crosshatching pattern on eggsac (photos by Gernot Kunz) (b) S. banksi, Costa Rica (photo by Gernot Kunz). (c) S. banksi, eating a queen ant of Camponotus sp., Reserva Nacional Allpahuayo-Mishana, Loreto, Peru (photo by Projeto Mantis – https://www.projetomantis.com/) (d) S. banksi, on a tree, Iwokrama Rainforest Reserve, Guyana (photo by Paul Bertner) (e) S. curruganja sp. nov., on mossy guava tree, Lloró, Chocó, Colombia (photo by Sarah Crews) (f) S. micropalpus, on Bursera simaruba, St. Lucia (photo by Sarah Crews).

Figure 6. (a) Selenops banksi, epigyne and endogyne, highlighting various structures, epigyne: green – LLs, yellow – ML, violet – COs, pink – EPs, endogyne: purple – CDs, pink – PS, green – FD (b) S. banksi, epigyne and endogyne,Orellana,Ecuador (NMNH) (c) S. micropalpus, epigyne and endogyne, Dennery, St. Lucia (CAS) (d) S. curruganja sp. nov., epigyne and endogyne, Corpoica, Tumaco, Dept. Nariño, Colombia, (ICN-Ar-8289) (e) S. banksi, male, spinnerets, ventral, Orellana, Ecuador (NMNH) (f) S. ducke, paratype female, epigyne, Manaus, Brazil (MCN 21487) (g) S. ducke, paratype female, endogyne, Manaus, Brazil (MCN 21487) (h) S. banksi, female, spinnerets, ventral, Orellana, Ecuador (NMNH) (i) S. banksi, female, spinnerets, caudal, Orellana, Ecuador (NMNH) (j) S. micropalpus, female, spinnerets, caudal, Dennery, St. Lucia (CAS) (k) S. micropalpus, genitalia, caudal, Dennery, St. Lucia (CAS) (l) S. banksi, female, genitalia, caudal, Orellana, Ecuador (NMNH).

Figure 7. (a) Primary forest habitat of Selenops banksi in Costa Rica [where the specimen in Figure 1(b) was photographed] (photo by Gernot Kunz) (b) habitat around Lloró, Chocó, Colombia, where S. curruganja sp. nov. is found (c) exact locality where a specimen of S. curruganja sp. nov. was collected – arrow indicates the guava tree (d) typical dry forest habitat (forest at centre left) of S. micropalpus, St. Lucia; S. micropalpus is also found in wet forests (e) habitat of S. banksi group in Belize. This record extends the range of the group by ~700 km (photo by Athena Lam).