Pholcus jinniu, 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 : 44-47

Pholcus jinniu sp. nov.

Figs 1M–O, 8A–E

Type material: Holotype male, CHINA: Hebei Province, Xinglong County, Jinniu Cave (40°30.882´N, 117°30.279´E), 9 April 2005, X. Xu, Q. Wang, Y. Zheng & Y. Bi leg. Paratypes: 5 males and 4 females, same data as for holotype .

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

Diagnosis: The new species is very similar to P. jixianensis Zhu & Yu, 1983 , in the long male palpal trochanter, the short appendix, the horn-shaped apophysis on male clypeus and the small cylindrical outgrowth on female epigynum, but can be distinguished by the shapes of uncus (ear-shaped in P. jixianensis , but triangular shaped in P. jinniu ) and procursus, the shapes and position of pore plates of female genitalia.

Description: Male (holotype). Total length 4.43 (4.64 with clypeus, not including apophysis), carapace width 1.75. Leg 1: 40.26 (10.28+0.71+10.28+16.42+2.57), tibia 2: 6.85, tibia 3: 4.71, tibia 4: 6.85; tibia 1 L/d: 66. Habitus as in figs 1M, N. Carapace yellowish, with brown radiated stripes and brown marginal band; ocular area yellowish, with brown band at median and laterally; clypeus yellowish, with a horn-shaped apophysis (arrow in figs 1M, N); sternum brown. Opisthosoma pale gray, with some spots dorsally and laterally. Distance PME–PME 0.24; diameter PME 0.14; distance PME–ALE 0.05; diameter AME 0.09. Chelicerae as in fig. 8C, with pair of black apophyses distally, pair of unsclerotized long apophyses proximolaterally, and pair of tiny nipple-shaped prominences frontally. Palps as in figs 8A, B; bulbal appendix very short. Legs yellow, but dark brown on basal part of tibiae, with darker rings on femora (subdistally) and tibiae (subdistally), without spines, curved and vertical hairs; tarsus 1 with pseudosegments, but only about 10 distinct distally.

Variation: Tibia 1 in other males (n = 5): 9.71–10.71 (mean: 10.06). Females: In general similar to males. Tibia 1 in females (n = 4): 7.99–8.71 (mean: 8.35). Epigynum as in figs 1O and 8D, brownish with indistinctive pattern; with a small cylindrical outgrowth. Dorsal view as in fig. 8E. Distribution: Only known from type locality.