Pholcus jiulong, Tong & Li, 2010

Tong, Yanfeng & Li, Shuqiang, 2010, Eight new spider species of the genus Pholcus (Araneae, Pholcidae) from China, Zootaxa 2355, pp. 35-55 : 47

Pholcus jiulong sp. nov.

Figs 2D–F, 9A–F

Type material: Holotype male, CHINA: Sichuan Province, Jiulong County, Tanggu Town, Helagou (29°08.645´N, 101°30.321´E, alt. 3252 m), 18 October 2005, X. Xu & X. Zhang leg. Paratypes: 3 males and 1 female, same data as for holotype .

Etymology: The species name is a noun in apposition derived from the type locality.

Diagnosis: The new species is similar to P. qinghaiensis Song & Zhu, 1999 , but can be distinguished by the marks on carapace and sternum (compare figs 2D, M and 2F, O), the shapes of procursus (compare figs 9B and 13B) and the internal structure of female genitalia (compare figs 9E and 13E).

Description: Male (holotype). Total length 4.32 (4.48 with clypeus), carapace width 1.45. Leg 1: 40.83 (10.71+0.57+10.42+16.99+2.14), tibia 2: 6.43, tibia 3: 3.85, tibia 4: 5.43; tibia 1 L/d: 66. Habitus as in figs 2D, E. Carapace yellow, with large brown marks medially and brown marginal band; ocular area yellowish, with brown band at median and laterally; clypeus brown; sternum yellowish, with brown marks (fig. 2F). Opisthosoma gray, with some spots dorsally and laterally. Distance PME–PME 0.22; diameter PME 0.14; distance PME–ALE 0.05; diameter AME 0.09. Chelicerae as in figs 9C, D, with pair of black apophyses distally, pair of unsclerotized apophyses proximolaterally, and pair of small prominences frontally. Palps as in figs 9A, B; bulbal appendix with a pointed branch medially. Legs yellowish, leg I with indistinct, but leg II with distinct darker rings on femora (subdistally) and tibiae (proximally and subdistally), leg III and IV with distinct darker rings on femora (proximally, medially and subdistally) and tibiae (proximally, medially and subdistally), without spines, curved and vertical hairs; tarsus 1 with some pseudosegments, but only about 15 distinct distally.

Variation: Tibia 1 in other males (n = 3): 8.85, 10.28, 10.71 (mean: 9.95).

Females: In general similar to males. Tibia 1: 5.43. Epigynum as in fig. 9F, brown with distinctive pattern; with a short, thick cylindrical outgrowth. Dorsal view as in fig. 9E.

Distribution: Only known from type locality.