Mysmenopsis penai Platnick & Shadab, 1978

Dupérré, Nadine & Tapia, Elicio, 2020, Megadiverse Ecuador: a review of Mysmenopsis (Araneae, Mysmenidae) of Ecuador, with the description of twenty-one new kleptoparasitic spider species, Zootaxa 4761 (1), pp. 1-81 : 64-69

Mysmenopsis penai Platnick & Shadab, 1978

Fig. 190–199 , map 3 (black diamond).

Mysmenopsis penai Platnick & Shadab, 1978 a: 16 , f. 46-48 (Description male); Lopardo & Hormiga, 2015: 781, f. 60A-H, 61A- D, 62A-H, 131A, 140L (male and female).

Type material. Male holotype from Coca, Rio Napo , Ecuador (May, 1965; L. Peña) ( MCZ). Not examined .

Material examined. Ecuador: Napo Province: Misahualli, Via Arajuno (-01.090117 -77.543352) 458m, 19 May. 2019, 1♂ 1♀, in Lycosidae sp. web, E.E. Tapia ( QCAZ) .

Diagnosis. Males are distinguished from all species by the embolus accompanied by a large elongated, curved apophysis ( Fig. 195 ), absent in M. yupanqui ( Baert 1990, fig. 10) and three large macrosetae on the retrolateral ledge of the palpal tibia ( Figs 195 ). Females are differentiated from most species by the absence of tubercle on femur I ( Fig. 194 ) and the posterior margin of the epigynum deeply excavated ( Figs 198 ); from M. yupanqui by the triangular base of the spermathecae ( Fig. 199 ), rectangular in the latter species ( Baert 1990, fig. 11).

Description. Male: See Platnick & Shadab 1978 (figs 180, 181, 183, 185–187). Female: Total length: 1.26; carapace length: 0.5; carapace width: 0.48; abdomen length: 0.76. Cephalothorax: carapace brown, pear-shaped; suffused black along pars cephalica and radiating lines ( Fig. 190 ). Sternum dark brown; covered with long setae. Clypeus dark; low (2x AME). Chelicerae dark brown suffused black; promargin with three teeth; retromargin not observed. Eyes: Eight, rounded, all approximately of equal size; ocular region on very low protuberance; AME separated by their radius, AME-LE touching; ALE-PLE contiguous, LE-PME separated by their radius; PME separated by their diameter. Abdomen: oval, dark gray with white patches in hourglass pattern ( Figs 190, 191 ). Legs: femur I yellow-brown, femora II-IV light yellow with basal, medial and apical dark band; tibia I yellow suffused with brown ventrally; tibiae and metatarsi II-IV light yellow with medial and apical dark band, tarsi light yellow with medial dark band; femur I not enlarged without tubercle ( Fig. 194 ). Legs spination: patellae I-IV with one macroseta; tibiae I-IV with one macroseta dorso-proximally. Total length leg I: 1.87 (0.6/0.17/0.42/0.36/0.32). Genitalia: epigynum protruding, anterior epigynal margin not well delimited, posterior epigynal margin excavated medially ( Fig. 198 ). Dorsal epigynal plate anterior margin with large sclerotized plate ( Fig. 199 ). Internal genitalia with large irregularly shaped (triangular) spermathecae; copulatory ducts not observed; fertilization ducts large well sclerotized basally, curving apically and semi-transparent ( Fig. 199 ).

Distribution. Ecuador, Napo and Orellana Provinces.

Natural history. The male and female M. penai were found in Aglaoctenus sp. ( Lycosidae ) web in the Napo region where they live in sympatry with M. athahualpa and M. amazonica n. sp. Specimens of a Theridiiae ( Faiditus sp.) and a Mimetidae ( Ero sp.) were also collected in the web. This species inhabits the Amazonian ecoregion and was found in an evergreen foothill forest on the Northeastern Andes (BsPn03) ( Guevera, Mogollón, Cerón & Josse, 2013).

Figures

FIGURES 190–194. Mysmenopsis penai Platnick & Shadab, 1978, 190, Male and female habitus, dorsal view. 191, Male abdomen, posterior view. 192, Female abdomen, posterior view. 193, Male leg I, prolatero-dorsal view. 194, Female leg I, prolateral view. Scale bar: 190–192: 0.5mm; 193, 194: 0.1mm.

FIGURES 195–199. Mysmenopsis penai Platnick & Shadab, 1978. 195, Male palp, retrolateral view. 196, Male palp, prolateral view. 197, Embolus and apophysis retrolateral view. 198, Epigynum, ventral view. 199, Internal genitalia, dorsal view.