Pronophaea vidua ( Lessert, 1923 ) Lessert, 1923

Haddad, Charles R. & Bosselaers, Jan, 2010, A revision of the genus Medmassa Simon, 1887 (Araneae: Corinnidae) in the Afrotropical Region, Zootaxa 2361, pp. 1-12 : 10-11

Pronophaea vidua ( Lessert, 1923) comb. nov.

( Figs 33–34 )

Medmassa vidua Lessert, 1923: 202 , fig. 53 (Ƥ holotype: SOUTH AFRICA: KwaZulu-Natal Province, Krantzkloof, leg. C.B. Cooper, NMSA 18874 – examined).

Remarks. The female holotype of Medmassa vidua is consistent in somatic and general genitalic morphology to P. natalica ( Figs 33, 34 ). As in female P. n a t a l i c a, a dorsal abdominal scutum is absent and the epigyne is usually plugged ( Fig. 34 ).

Lessert’s (1923) description of M. proxima and M. vidua from the same locality (Krantzkloof) suggests that these species are conspecific. In the description of M. proxima he added a note stating "If it were not for the lower cheliceral margin which has five teeth in M. vidua and two in M. proxima , I would not doubt to consider these two forms as the different sexes of the same species, such is the similarity in their other characteristics" ( Lessert 1923: 205). To resolve this matter the senior author examined material of P. natalica (both sexes), the male type of M. proxima , the female type of M. vidua , and material of four new Pronophaea species from South Africa and Lesotho for which both sexes are known. In all cases, both males and females had the same number of cheliceral teeth (usually three promarginal and two retromarginal teeth, only three promarginal and five retromarginal in one new species). Thus, P. proxima (with two retromarginal teeth) and P. vidua (five retromarginal teeth) should be considered separate species, and not synonyms.

Figures

FIGURES 25 – 34. Digital microscope photographs of Pronophaea natalica Simon, 1897 female (25 – 27) and male (28 – 30), Pronophaea proxima (Lessert, 1923) male (31, 32) and Pronophaea vidua (Lessert, 1923) female (33, 34), all from South Africa. (25, 28, 31, 33) habitus, dorsal view; (26, 29) habitus, lateral view; (27, 34) epigyne, ventral view, (30, 32) palp, ventral view. Abbreviations: CD—conductor; EM—embolus; EP—epigynal plug; MA—median apophysis; MSmodified distal cymbial seta; PES—post-epigastric sclerite. Scale bars: 25, 26, 28, 29, 31, 33 = 1.0 mm; 27, 30, 32, 34 = 0.25 mm.