Perania picea ( Thorell, 1890 )

Schwendinger, Peter J., 2013, A taxonomic revision of the spider genus Perania Thorell, 1890 (Araneae: Tetrablemmidae: Pacullinae) with the descriptions of eight new species, Revue suisse de Zoologie 120 (4), pp. 585-663 : 640-644

Perania picea ( Thorell, 1890) Figs 27-29

Phaedima picea Thorell, 1890: 305 (description of male and female).

Paculla picea ( Thorell, 1890) . – Simon, 1894: 573 (transfer).

Perania picea ( Thorell, 1890) . – Bourne, 1980: 254, figs 6-11 (redescription of types; designation of lectotype; transfer). – Lehtinen, 1981: 16, figs 7, 11 (redescription of types; designation of lectotype; transfer).

Phaedima granulosa Thorell, 1881 . – Levi & Levi, 1962: fig. 308 [free-hand drawing of male palp; not a synonym but a misidentification and confusion in labelling (see Lehtinen, 1981: 16)].

TYPES: MCSNG; Ƌ lectotype and 1 ♀ paralectotype; Indonesia, Sumatra, West Sumatra Province, Singalang (= Gunung Singgalang; about 0°23’S, 100°21’E) near Bukittinggi; VIII.1878; leg. O. Beccari.

NEW MATERIAL EXAMINED: MHNG, sample Sum-00/12; 1 Ƌ, 1 ♀; Indonesia, Sumatra, Jambi Province, Gunung Kerinci , footpath to summit, W of Kersik Tua (about 1°44’S, 101°15’30”E), 1800-1980 m; 16.II.2000; leg. P. J. Schwendinger.

DIAGNOSIS: Large species. Males distinguished by indistinct clypeal process in combination with shallow embolus lacking a subapical ventral lamella and ending in an even shallower, pointed, hook-shaped apex carrying a distinct, triangular, distaddirected subterminal lamella; females distinguished by long genital atrium in combination with kidney-shaped spermathecae containing large internal chambers with strongly broken walls.

RE-DESCRIPTION: Both sexes with small marginal teeth posterolaterally on “thoracic” portion of carapace; cowpat-shaped tubercles on carapace low, indistinct; anterior portion of fovea pitlike and slightly wider than posterior portion. Males with FIG. 27

Perania picea , male lectotype (A-B, E), new male (C-D, F). (A) Carapace, dorsal view. (B) Same, lateral view. (C) Anterior portion of carapace, dorsal view. (D) Same, lateral view. (E-F) Rudiment of postgenital plate at posterior margin of pulmonary plate, ventral view. Scale lines 1.0 mm (A-D; E-F).

a short, conical clypeal process (Fig. 27A-D); no cheliceral modifications; few conical setal bases prolaterally to proventrally in distal portion of tibia I, and several such tubercles prolaterally to proventrally along most of metatarsus I, none on leg II; anterior pair of ventrolateral plates largely free, only their posterior tips fused with margin of pulmonary plate; postgenital plate at least medially not fused with pulmonary plate (Fig. 27E-F); all microplates on posterior side of opisthosoma isolated; cymbium with relatively long and shallow apex (Fig. 28E, J); bulbus ovoid; with a U-shaped transition to embolus; the latter long and sigmoid, its distal portion sharply tapering to a hook-shaped apex with a short, triangular or widely rounded, distad-directed subterminal lamella at the base, and with a relatively long, pointed, ventrad-directed embolic part (Fig. 28A-D, F-I); no subapical ventral lamella as in P. harau sp. n. Females with anterior opisthosomal plate fragmented into microplates, several of these slightly larger than the rest; preanal plate completely fragmented; vulva with an unusually long genital atrium with a strong pigmentation over entire width of its ventral wall (Fig. 29A-B); spermathecae kidney-shaped, with a shallow invagination in common anterior margin and with a pair of widely separated, not inter- FIG. 28

Perania picea , left palp of male lectotype (A-E) and of new male (F-J). (A, F) Cymbium and palpal organ, proventral view. (B, G) Palpal organ, ventral view. (C, H) Embolus, distal view. (D) Cymbium and palpal organ, retrodorsal view. (E, J) Cymbium, dorsal view. (I) Palpal organ, retrodorsal view. Abbreviations: ep = embolic part of apex of palpal organ), stl = subterminal lamella, tn = sharp transition from deeper median portion of embolus to shallower apex. Scale lines 1.0 mm (A-D, F-I; E, J).

connected internal chambers with broken prolateral and retrolateral walls (Fig. 29B); anterolateral sides of spermathecae without trenches (Fig. 29C); porepatches large, extending far onto dorsal side of spermathecae; anterior collar of vulva short and wide, only little surpassing common anterior margin of spermathecae (Fig. 29A).

VARIATION AND MEASUREMENTS: The types are slightly smaller than the new specimens. Carapace length in two males (two females) is 4.5-4-7 (4.8-4.9), carapace width 2.7-2.8 (3.0-3.3). The male lectotype has a slightly longer clypeal process (Fig. 27A-B cf. Fig. 27C-D) and a shallower cymbial apex (Fig. 28E cf. Fig. 28J) than the new male. In the lectotype the postgenital plate is not connected to the pulmonary plate (Fig. 27E), in the new male it is fused laterally (at least on one side) but still free medially (Fig. 27F). The lectotype has several conical setal bases prolaterally and FIG. 29

Perania picea , new female (A-C) and female paralectotype (D). (A) Vulva dorsal view. (B) Same, ventral view. (C) Same, anterior view. (D) Posterior portion of pulmonary plate showing outlines of underlying vulva, ventral view. Scale lines 0.5 mm (A-B; C; D).

proventrally in the distal half of tibia I, whereas the new male has there only one on the right leg and none on the left leg. The new female has a relatively wider dorsal opisthosomal plate than the female paralectotype, being only slightly longer than wide.

RELATIONSHIPS: Judging from the shape of fovea and vulva, P. picea belongs in the nigra -group, closest to P. harau sp. n. These two species share a small clypeal process in males, a long sigmoid embolus with a small to very small distad-directed subterminal lamella and a relatively long and shallow, ventrad-directed embolic part of the apex. They also possess a long and entirely pigmented ventral wall of the genital atrium, somewhat kidney-shaped spermathecae enclosing a pair of internal chambers with thin, entire or broken walls, and a short but wide (almost as wide as the genital atrium) anterior collar.

DISTRIBUTION: Perania picea was described from Gunung Singgalang (Fig. 1, locality 29) and later collected on Gunung Kerinci (Fig. 1, locality 32), two volcanoes in the Bukit Barisan range of western Sumatra, about 180 km away from each other. I have some doubts whether the type specimens of. P. picea were really collected on or near Gunung Singgalang, which is also the type locality of P. armata and P. nigra .

BIOLOGY AND REMARKS: I collected several Perania at two places in the rain forest along the footpath to the summit of Mt Kerinci. Not recognizing in the field that they belong to different species, I did unfortunately not keep them apart. However, I remember having collected fully pigmented specimens from webs on a stream bank below the second shelter at 1980 m. These are most likely the specimens that I here attribute to P. picea .

The female paralectotype was not dissected, but the outlines of the vulva are visible from under the cuticle of the pulmonary plate (Fig. 29D). These correspond perfectly well to the vulva of the newly collected female (Fig. 29B).

In their revision of theridiid spider genera, Levi & Levi (1962: fig. 308) published a free-hand sketch of the palp of a Perania male deposited in the Genoa Museum, which they incorrectly attributed to Phaedima granulosa (now in Paculla). Lehtinen (1981: 16) assumed that this sketch depicts Perania nigra . I rather believe that it shows the palp of the male lectotype of P. picea , with the strange subterminal swelling of the embolus corresponding to the sharp transition from the deeper median portion of the embolus to the shallower apex (see Fig. 28A). What looks like a subterminal dorsal boss or bulge in Fig. 28A and Fig. 28F is in fact that transition.