Chorizopes frontalis

Levi, H. W., 1964, Redescription of the type species of the spider genera Artonis, Chorizopes and Mecynidis (Araneae: Araneidae and Linyphiidae)., Annals of the Natal Museum 16, pp. 209-214 : 4-6

Chorizopes frontalis O. P. - Cambridge

Chorizoopes frontalis O. P. - Cambridge, 1870, Proc. zool. Soc. Lond., p. 738, pl. 44, fig. 6, 9. Two female syntypes from Ceylon in the Hope Department of Entomology, University Museum, Oxford, examined.

Description - Carapace dark brown, hairy, chelicerae dark brown, sternum light brown, legs yellowish brown, with darker grey rings. Abdomen light brown with grey maculations and two white dorsal spots (fig. 13) or sometimes a single large white dorsal patch; black patch on each side above spinnerets. Carapace with a hump in thoracic region (fig. 14). Anterior median eyes slightly larger than posteriors, laterals slightly smaller than posterior medians. Anterior median eyes a little more than a diameter apart; posterior median eyes one and one-half diameters apart. Anterior median eyes one diameter from posterior medians. Lateral eyes touching. Chelicerae with a cluster of teeth on anterior margin (fig. 12); on posterior margin a loose fleshy extension attached to base of fang (fig. 15). Abdomen with three dorsal posterior humps. Epigynum a slightly convex plate, partly transparent; the posterior portion, containing a pair of black spots, is slightly concave(fig. 17). Total length of female, 3.1 mm. Carapace 1.25 mm long; 1.10 mm wide. First patella and tibia, 0.84 mm; second 0.84 mm; third, 0.60 mm. Fourth femur, 0.84 mm; patella and tibia, 0.96 mm; metatarsus, 0.52 mm; tarsus, 0.42 mm. Total length of male 2.5 mm. Carapace 1.2 mm long, 0.90 mm wide. First femur, 0.84 mm; patella and tibia, 0.96 mm; metatarsus. 0.54 mm; tarsus, 0.42 mm. Second patella and tibia, 0.90 mm; third, 0.52 mm; fourth, 0.88 mm.

Note. - The male described came from a different collection than did the syntypes, but was collected with females. The carapace of the male is slightly wider behind than that of the female figured, and the abdominal humps are more pronounced.

Males and females marked Chorizopes frontalis by Simon, probably coming from Ceylon and preserved in the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, are a very similar but probably distinct species. The thoracic hump is less pronounced, the epigynum is similar but less transparent, and the shape of the palpal sclerites differ. The chelicerae are as in C. frontalis .

The female holotype (figs. 21 - 26) of C. frontalis orientalis Simon, 1909, Bull. Sci. France Belgique, 42: 119, from Tonkin, is a different species and belongs to a genus, unknown to me, of the family Araneidae. The total length of the specimen is 4.0 mm. The sternum is wider than long (fig. 24).