Epicadus heterogaster ( Guérin-Méneville, 1829 )

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 : 513-514

Epicadus heterogaster ( Guérin-Méneville, 1829)

Fig. 16E

Thomisus heterogaster Guérin-Méneville, 1829: 6 , pl. 1, fig. 4.

Eripus heterogaster ( Guérin-Méneville, 1829) . Walckenaer 1833: 438, 441; 1837: 541, pl. 12, fig. 6; White 1841: 476; C. L. Koch 1845: 46, figs 984–985; Keyserling 1880: 164, pl. 3, fig. 90; Göldi 1886: 411, pl. 11, figs. 1–7.

Eripus quinquegibbosus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1877: 557 , pl. 56, fig. 5.

Eripus quinquestriatus Keyserling, 1880: 164 , pl. 3, fig. 91 [= E. quinquegibbosus O. Pickard-Cambridge , lapsus calami].

Epicadus heterogaster ( Guérin-Méneville, 1829) . Simon 1895: 1052, fig. 1085; F. O. Pickard-Cambridge 1900: 160, pl. 10, fig. 34; Vellard 1924: 9, fig. 4; Mello-Leitão 1929: 94 pl 31, fig. 44; Silva-Moreira & Machado, 2016: 286, figs 2–6; Machado et al. 2017: 448, figs 3B, S2C, S 5F.

Epicadus heterogaster scholagriculae Piza, 1933: 50 , fig 3.

Other material examined: PANAMA: Panamá Oeste: 1 female, Barro Colorado Island 9°09'07"N, 79°50'47"W ( AMNH) . VENEZUELA: Carabobo: 1 female, Puerto Cabello, Rancho Grande, 10°27'21"N, 68°00'16"W, August 1946 ( AMNH) . GUIANA: Cuyuni-Mazaruni: 1 female, Bartica , 6°24'15"N, 58°37'32"W, 1921, ( AMNH) . COLOMBIA: Santander: 3 females, 6°38'37"N, 73°39'13"W, January 1947, L. Ritcher ( AMNH) . Antioquia: 1 female, La Frontera , 5°54'38"N, 75°54'33"W, 1928, H. Bassler ( AMNH) . Tolima: 1 female, Monte Redondo , 4°07'17"N, 74°39'34"W, June 1947, L. Ritcher ( AMNH) . BRAZIL: São Paulo: 1 female, Ibaté , 21°57'11"S, 48°00'02"W, 15 April 1961, G. Eiten ( AMNH) ; 1 female, São Paulo, Horto Florestal , 23°27'21"S, 46°37'48"W, 9 April 1960, B. Malkin ( AMNH) . Santa Catarina: 1 female, 27°14'13"S, 50°13'17"W, 1935 ( AMNH) . ARGENTINA: Río Negro: 1 female, El Bolson , 41°57'53"S, 71°32'07"W, 1965, A. Kovacs ( AMNH) .

Diagnosis. Females of E. heterogaster share some characters with those of E. rubripes , as the stout and vertically oriented MS and the presence of conical ocular projections above the ALE (see Silva-Moreira & Machado 2016: figs 2A–E). However, they can be easily recognized and distinguished by their opisthosoma with the anterior border bearing an extra pair or eminences, totalizing to seven opisthosomal projections instead of three or five, and by a pair of vertical black lines “masking” their eyes ( Fig. 16E ). As in females, males of E. heterogaster also present remarkable ocular projections above the ALE, and they possess five opisthosomal projections (instead of three as in other species of the genus see Silva-Moreira & Machado 2016: figs 4A–E). Their palp is characterized by the embolous emerging from tegulum at eight o’clock position and by a flattened and long RTA slightly folded on its dorsal surface (see Silva-Moreira & Machado 2016: figs 5A–E, 15C).

Description. See Silva-Moreira & Machado (2016).

Distribution. ARGENTINA: Río Negro; BRAZIL: Santa Catarina, São Paulo; COLOMBIA: Tolima, Antioquia, Santander; GUIANA: Cuyuni-Mazaruni; PANAMA: Barro Colorado Island; VENEZUELA: Carabobo ( Fig. 17C ).

Figures

FIGURE 16. Female specimens in vivo. A Epicadus taczanowskii (RoeWer, 1951); B Epicadus dimidiaster sp. nov.; C Epicadus rubripes Mello-Leitão, 1924 (adapted from Silva-Moreira & Machado 2016: fig. 1F); D Epicadus camelinus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1869); E Epicadus heterogaster (Guérin-Méneville, 1829); F Epicadus trituberculatus (TaczanoWski, 1872). Photo credits:César Favacho (A); Arthur Anker (B); Almir Cândido de Almeida (C); Karl Kroeker (D); Edson Roberto (E); Edelcio Muscat (F).

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