Mysmenopsis hunachi, 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 : 33-34

Mysmenopsis hunachi new species

Figs 91–96 , map 1 (yellow star).

Material examined. Male holotype from Ecuador, Cotopaxi Province, Via Sigchos-Rio Hunachi (-0.657704 - 78.876737) 2347m, 15 Mar. 2019, ex: Linothele sp. verdosa, E. Tapia ( QCAZ).

Additional material examined. Ecuador: Cotopaxi Province, Via Sigchos -Rio Hunachi (-0.657704 -78.876737) 2347m, 15 Mar. 2019, 3juv. ex: Linothele sp. verdosa, E. Tapia ( QCAZ, ZMH-A0001913 ) .

Etymology. The specific name is a noun in apposition taken from the type locality, the Rio Hunachi.

Diagnosis. Males are distinguished from all species by the following combination of characters; retrolateral ledge of palpal tibia long with 13 cusps and embolus hook-shaped ( Figs 94, 96 ).

Description. Male (holotype): Total length: 2.08; carapace length: 1.00; carapace width: 0.91; abdomen length: 1.08. Carapace dark brown, pear-shaped; suffused black along pars cephalica and radiating lines ( Fig. 91 ). Sternum black; covered with long setae. Clypeus dark brown; high (5x AME). Chelicerae 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 diameter, AME-LE touching; ALE-PLE contiguous, LE-PME separated by their diameter; PME separated by their diameter. Abdomen: rounded, light grey with mixed patterned of dark grey and whites patches ( Figs 91, 92 ). Legs: femur I dark brown; femora II-IV light yellow with dark bands basally, medially and apically; tibia I brown with apical dark band; tibiae II-IV yellow with dark patches apically; metatarsi I-IV light orange-brown with dark band apically, tarsi light yellow; femur and tibia I enlarged, metatarsus I slightly curved. Legs spination: patellae I-IV with one macroseta; tibia I with two prolateral clasping spurs and one macroseta; metatarsus I row of six macrosetae prolatero-ventrally and two clasping spurs apically ( Fig. 93 ); tibiae I-IV with one macroseta dorso-proximally; tibia I with three macrosetae retrolaterally; tibia II with three macrosetae ventrally. Total length leg I: 3.39 (1.03/0.34/0.93/0.57/0.52). Genitalia: palpal tibia globular; retrolateral ledge wide bearing 13 short cusps, ventral ledge absent; two retrolateral trichobothria ( Fig. 94 ). Cymbium apically truncated, deeply excavated; paracymbium triangular not excavated prolatero-dorsally ( Fig. 95 ). Tegulum oval ( Fig. 94 ). Embolus short, hook-shaped, with small pointed basal apophysis ( Figs 94, 96 ).

Female: Unknown.

Distribution. Only known from the type locality in Cotopaxi Province.

Natural history. The male holotype and three juveniles were collected in an evergreen mountain shrubland of the western Andes (AsMn01) ( Josse & Aguirre, 2013) at 2347m in a Linothele sp. web.

Figures

FIGURES 91–93. Mysmenopsis hunachi n. sp., 91, Male habitus, dorsal view. 92, Male abdomen, posterior view. 93, Leg I, prolatero-dorsal view. Scale bar: 91, 92: 0.5mm; 93: 0.1mm.

FIGURES 94–96. Mysmenopsis hunachi n. sp., 94, Male palp, retrolateral view. 95, Male palp, prolateral view (arrow points to the flat base of paracymbium). 96, Embolus and apophysis retrolateral view.