Epicadus pulcher ( Mello-Leitão, 1929 )

Machado, Miguel, Teixeira, Renato Augusto & Lise, Arno Antonio, 2018, There and back again: More on the taxonomy of the crab spiders genus Epicadus (Thomisidae: Stephanopinae), Zootaxa 4382 (3), pp. 501-530 : 514-515

Epicadus pulcher ( Mello-Leitão, 1929)

Figs 7A–D

Tobias pulcher Mello-Leitão, 1929: 90 , figs 189–190.

Tobias epicadoides Mello-Leitão, 1944: 11 (holotype female from Aurá [1°25'34.80"S, 48°23'10.86"W, Belém, Brazil], deposited in MNRJ 0 0 82, examined).

Tobias regius Birabén, 1955: 74 , figs 5–8 (holotype female from Buena Vista [17°27'32.00"S, 63°39'33.00"W, Santa Cruz, Bolivia], deposited in MLP 0 405, examined).

Epicadus pulcher (Mello-Leitão) . Machado et al. 2017: 448, figs S2A, S5C, S13D.

Type material: Holotype (original designation): female, São Paulo de Olivença [3°38'59.84"S, 69°5'48.85"W, Amazonas, Brazil], ( MNHN 137, examined).

Other material examined. BRAZIL: Bahia: 1 female, Governador Lomanto Júnior , 14°48'36.65"S, 39°28'18.31"W, 28 June 1968, leg. CEPLAC, ( MNRJ 06861 ).

Diagnosis. Females of E. pulcher resemble those of E. tigrinus in their vivid yellow body coloration with remarkable black stripes on femora and flattened prosoma with large TWS. However, they can be distinguished by the presence of five opisthosomal projections instead of three, being the median posterior one thin and tail-like. The anterior border of the opisthosoma is strongly concave rather than straight as in E. tigrinus ( Fig. 7A ) and the epigynal plate is shallow, with neither folds nor a conspicuous median septum ( Fig. 7C ).

Description. Female (from São Paulo de Olivença; MNHN 137): Anterior eye row recurved and posterior procurved. Prosoma yellow with black stains at cephalic region, TWS well developed and surrounded by a dual LBL ( Fig. 7A ); MS absent ( Fig. 7B ). Chelicerae yellow with proximal black stains. Sternum, endites and labium uniformly yellow. Opisthosoma with five projections faced backward; lower lateral ones longer than others and median posterior tail-like,whitish-yellow with a median LBL and dark, scattered punctuations ( Fig. 7A ). Clypeus with a divided upside down V-shaped black mark ( Fig. 7B ); anterior legs (I and II) yellow with black stripes; posterior legs (III and IV) predominantly yellow with tiny black spots at the distal portion of femora. Epigynum presents the simplest external design of all Epicadus species, with no septum, elevated lateral folds or differentiation between the median field and the rest of the epigynal plate ( Fig. 7C ). The copulatory ducts are short when compared to those of other representatives of the genus and the primary spermathecae have rough surface and spherical shape ( Fig. 7D ).

Measurements: eye diameters and interdistances: AME 0.10, ALE 0.14, PME 0.08, PLE 0.06, AME–AME 0.36, AME–ALE 0.20, PME–PME 0.44, PME–PLE 0.22; MOQ length 0.72, MOQ posterior width 0.68, MOQ anterior width 0.66; leg formula: 1-2-4-3: leg I—femur 4.92/ patella 2.58/ tibia 3.05/ metatarsus 2.10/ tarsus 1.40/ total 14.05; II—4.50/ 2.45/ 3.15/ 2.00/ 1.65/ 13.75; III—2.25/ 1.50/ 1.50/ 1.35/ 0.65/ 7.25; IV—2.75/ 1.44/ 1.79/ 1.75/ 0.65/ 8.38. Total body length 9.70; prosoma length 4.75, width 4.55; opisthosoma length 4.95; clypeus height 0.50; sternum length 2.10, width 1.60; endites length 1.20, width 0.66; labium length 0.76, width 0.78.

Distribution. BOLIVIA: Santa Cruz; BRAZIL: Pará, Amazonas, Bahia ( Fig. 17B ).

Figures

FIGURE 17. Data of distribution records of Epicadus species compiled from Machado et al. (2015, 2017); Silva-Moreira and Machado (2016); present study.

FIGURE7. Epicadus pulcher (Mello-Leitão, 1929), female (MNHN 137). A, B habitus (A dorsal, B frontal); C epigynal plate (ventral); D spermathecae and copulatory ducts (dorsal). Scale bars:2 mm (A), 1 mm (B),0.2 mm (C, D).