Mysmenopsis amazonica, Dupérré & Tapia, 2020

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 : 60-63

Mysmenopsis amazonica new species

Figs 174–179 , map 3 (white diamond).

Material examined. Male holotype and male paratype from Ecuador, Napo Province: Misahualli, Via Arajuno (- 01.090117 -77.543352) 458m, 19 May 2019, in Lycosidae web, E.E. Tapia ( QCAZ).

Etymology. The specific name is a noun in apposition taken from the Ecuadorian amazonian region where the species is found.

Diagnosis. Males are distinguished from all species by the presence of a sclerotized lamellae at the tip of the tegulum ( Figs 177, 179 ).

Description. Male (holotype): Total length: 1.38; carapace length: 0.66; carapace width: 0.59; abdomen length: 0.72. Cephalothorax: carapace dark brown, pear-shaped; suffused black along pars cephalica and radiating lines ( Fig. 174 ). Sternum brown suffused with black; covered with long setae. Clypeus dark brown; high (4x AME). Chelicerae light brown suffused with black; promargin with three teeth; retromargin not observed. Eyes: eight, rounded, all approximately equal size; ocular region on protuberance; AME separated by their radius, AME-LE touching; ALE-PLE contiguous, LE-PME separated by their diameter; PME separated by their diameter. Abdomen: rounded, dark grey with six white spots anteriorly and with semi-circular white spots dorsally ( Figs 174, 175 ). Legs: femora I-IV orange-brown suffused with dark gray; tibiae and metatarsi I-IV orange-brown with dark band apically, tarsi orange; femur I not enlarged, metatarsus I almost straight. Legs spination: patellae I-IV with one macroseta; tibia I with one prolateral clasping spur; metatarsus I with one clasping spur ( Fig. 176 ); tibiae I-IV with one macroseta dorso-proximally; tibiae I-II with five macrosetae ventrally. Total length leg I: 2.16 (0.66/0.2/0.65/0.32/0.38). Genitalia: palpal tibia globular; retrolateral ledge with elongated projection with two small cusps; ventral ledge square without cusps; two retrolateral trichobothria ( Fig. 177 ). Cymbium apically pointed, slightly excavated; paracym- bium small, curved prolatero-dorsally ( Fig. 178 ). Tegulum oval with lamella situated apically on the underside ( Figs 177, 179 , arrow points to tegular lamella). Embolus straight pointed apically, with wide, curved base and large pointed embolic apophysis (not visible hidden behind the tegulum lamella) ( Figs 177, 179 ).

Female: Unknown

Distribution. Only found at the type locality in Napo Province.

Natural history. The two males were found in a Lycosidae ( Aglaoctenus sp.) web at 458m, in evergreen foothill forest on the Northeastern Andes in the Amazonian ecoregion (BsPn03) ( Guevara, Mogollón, Cerón & Josse, 2013). M. amazonica n. sp. was found in sympatry with M. atahualpa and M. penai .

MAP 1. Distribution map of new species of Mysmenopsis from Ecuador, littoral and Andean ecoregions. MAP 2. Distribution map of new species of Mysmenopsis from Ecuador, Amazonian region.

MAP 3. Distribution map of new species of Mysmenopsis from Ecuador, Amazonian region.

Figures

FIGURES 174–176. Mysmenopsis amazonica n. sp., 174, Male habitus, dorsal view. 175, Abdomen, posterior view. 176, Leg I, prolateral view. Scale bar: 174, 175: 0.5mm; 176: 0.1mm.

FIGURES 177–179. Mysmenopsis amazonica n. sp., 177, Male palp, retrolateral view. 178, Male palp, prolateral view. 179, Embolus and apophysis retrolateral view (arrow points to tegular lamella).