Pholcus ledang Huber, 2011

Bernard A. Huber, Joseph K. H. Koh, Amir-Ridhwan M. Ghazali, Kamil A. Braima, Olga M. Nuñeza, Charles Leh Moi Ung & Booppa Petcharad, 2016, New leaf- and litter-dwelling species of the genus Pholcus from Southeast Asia (Araneae, Pholcidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 200 (200), pp. 1-45 : 16-17

Pholcus ledang Huber, 2011

Figs 36–38 , 48–58

Pholcus ledang Huber, 2011: 180 , figs 753–756, 781–783, 814–818 (♂♀).

Diagnosis

Easily distinguished from most similar known relatives (other species of the P. ethagala group on the Malay Peninsula) by morphology of male palps (figs 814–815 in Huber 2011, Fig. 54 ; procursus with distinctive pair of retrolateral ridges and complex distal elements), and by details of female internal genitalia (figs 817–818 in Huber 2011; large U-shaped anterior sclerite; small oval pore plates far apart).

New material examined

MALAYSIA: 5 ♂♂, 7 ♀♀, 2 juvs, ZFMK ( Ar 15703–05 ) , and 1 ♂, 1 ♀, MZUM, Johor, Gunung Ledang , forest near Puteri Falls (2.355°N, 102.635°E), 110 m a.s.l., leaf litter, 17–18 Feb. 2015 (B.A. Huber) ; 1 ♂, 4 ♀♀, 1 juv., in absolute ethanol, ZFMK ( Mal 237, Mal 242 ), same data .

Description – amendments

Whitish area on procursus set with many small cuticular pointed processes ( Fig. 56 ). Appendix with prolateral groove and dense cover of small scales ( Figs 51, 52 ). Male gonopore with four epiandrous spigots ( Fig. 57 ). ALS with one large widened, one pointed, and six smaller cylindrically-shaped spigots ( Fig. 53 ). Tibia 1 in 5 males: 6.6–7.7 (mean 7.1); in 8 females: 5.0–6.0 (mean 5.5). Tarsus 4 comb-hairs as in Fig. 50 .

Natural history

Specimens were found under tree logs and under dead leaves on the ground. They barely moved when disturbed, other than a short burst of low-amplitude vibration.

Figures

Figs 32 – 38. Live specimens. 32 – 35. Pholcus gombak Huber, 2011, Kemensah (32) and Gunung Liang (33 – 35), ♂, ♀ with parasitized egg-sac seven days before eclosion of wasps (33), one day before eclosion (34), and at eclosion (35). 36 – 38. P. ledang Huber, 2011, Gunung Ledang, ♂ and ♀ with egg-sac.

Figs 48 – 53. Pholcus ledang Huber, 2011, SEM micrographs (ZFMK, Ar 15704 – 05). 48 – 49. Male and female prosomata, frontal views. 50. Comb hairs on male tarsus 4. 51 – 52. Right appendix and embolus, prolateral and distal views. 53. Female ALS. Scale bars: 48 = 300 µm; 49 = 200 µm; 50 = 10 µm; 51 – 52 = 100 µm; 53 = 20 µm.

Figs 54 – 58. Pholcus ledang Huber, 2011, SEM micrographs (ZFMK, Ar 15704 – 05). 54. Left procursus, retrolateral view. 55. Right procursus, distal view. 56. Cuticular processes on whitish retrolateral area of left procursus. 57. Male gonopore. 58. Epigynum, ventral view. Scale bars: 54, 58 = 200 µm; 55 = 100 µm; 56 = 10 µm; 57 = 30 µm.