Pemona Huber, 2019

Huber, Bernhard A. & Carvalho, Leonardo S., 2019, Filling the gaps: descriptions of unnamed species included in the latest molecular phylogeny of Pholcidae (Araneae), Zootaxa 4546 (1), pp. 1-96 : 34

Pemona Huber gen. n.

Type species. Pemona sapo sp. n.

Etymology. The genus is named for the Pemón, an indigenous people in parts of Venezuela, Brazil, and Guyana; gender feminine.

Diagnosis/Description. See diagnosis and description of single known species below.

Notes. The recent molecular phylogeny of Pholcidae ( Eberle et al. 2018) placed this species as sister to the genus Kambiwa Huber, 2000 which was represented by the type species K. neotropica (Kraus, 1957) from NE Brazil and an undescribed species from Bolivia (“ Kambiwa MACN273”). This sister group relationship received maximum support. Thus, the new species could in theory be assigned to Kambiwa . However, the two sequenced species of Kambiwa and several additional undescribed congeners available in collections (L.S. Carvalho, B.A. Huber, unpublished data) have a very consistent male palp morphology that differs strongly from the species described below (see diagnosis below). This is here taken to justify the creation of a new genus.