Santinezia albilineata Roewer, 1923 (Revalidated)

Villarreal, Manzanilla Osvaldo & Rodríguez, Carlos J., 2011, Revalidation of Santinezia albilineata Roewer, 1932 (Arachnida: Opiliones: Cranaidae), Journal of Threatened Taxa 3 (11), pp. 2202-2206 : 2204-2205

Santinezia albilineata Roewer, 1923 (Revalidated) Images 6–10 ; Figs. 7–9 .

ventral 1.13–1.25. Apical portion of the penis trunk dorsally projected ( Figs. 1–6 ). Species of the genus Santinezia frequently present conspicuous sexual dimorphism.

Females of S. curvipes have differences with the males, on the yellow spots, showing additional spots on the groove III in the dorsal scute ( Image 5 ). This species can be distinguished from S. albilineata , by the absence of spots inside mesotergal area III (S.

Santinezia albilineata Roewer, 1932: 290 , fig 7; Soares & Soares 1948: 617; Goodnight & Goodnight, 1949: 23; Caporiacco, 1951: 27; Rambla, 1978: 8; Avram, 1987: 87; Decu et al., 1987: 34; Rambla & Juberthie, 1994: 221 (type ZMB 7468, female holotype, not examined).

Santinezia curvipes : Pinto-da-Rocha & Kury, 2003: 198.

Santinezia decui ( Avram, 1987): 86, figs 16-19 (Types ISER female holotype lost?). (Synonymy established by González-Sponga 2003) .

Material examined: 18.iv.2004, 11 males and 7 females, 1200m, road Tiara-La Esperanza , Aragua, Venezuela ( MHNLS IV-244 ) (O. Villarreal M. & H. Escalona) ; 19.x.1973 / 03.ix.1980, 12 males, 17 females, Campamento Rangel , Tiara, Aragua, ( MAGS 016 ) (Ayala-Kaletta /A. R.D.G; V. A.G. D.; M.A.G. S.) .

Emended diagnosis: Carapace uniform dark brown; mesotergum reticulated dark brown ( Image 6 ). Santinezia albilineata can be differentiated easily from S. curvipes , by the following characters of the males: development and direction of the ventral process of the coxa IV, typical for the genus: in S. albilineata can be large (more than three times larger than wide) and perpendicular to direction of the coxa ( Image 7 ), while in S. curvipes they are smaller and they are posteriorly projected, forming a acute angle with the posterior part of the coxa; form and direction of the retrolateral distal tubercle of the trochanter IV, perpendicular with blunt tip in S. albilineata ( Image 8 ) and sharp and posteriorly projected in S. curvipes ; retrolateral proximal tubercle of the femur IV absent ( Images 8–9 ), this is present in S. curvipes . Penis: Ventral plate with 5 lateral setae, the 3 proximal aligned and larger. Distal setae distal straight. With 2 small mesodorsal setae. Apical portion of the truncus swollen, without dorsal projection. Ventral plate enlarged, with large/ width ratio: 1.48. Distal margin of the plate with a slight cleft ( Figs. 7–9 ).

Females with two elongate spots on the mesotergal area III ( Image 10 ).

Remarks: Santinezia albilineata Roewer, 1923 was described with material coming from San Casimiro, a locality in the south of Aragua State, in the central track of Cordillera de la Costa, Venezuela and posteriorly recorded from Rancho Grande, Aragua State and Los Teques, Miranda State ( di Caporiacco 1951). González-Sponga (2003) in his taxonomic review of the genus in Venezuela redescribed this species with specimens from Tiara, a town near from the type-locality [the same presented by the Avram (1987) as a type-locality of S. decui, the latter species proposed as synonym of S. albilineata by González- Sponga (2003)].

In his phylogenetic analysis of Santinezia, Pintoda-Rocha & Kury (2003) agreed with González- Sponga (2003) about the status of S. decui living in San Casimiro and around, however, both species are considered by them as junior synonyms of S. curvipes . These authors did not have access to material type of S. albilineata , mentioning that a request of this type material made to ISER (Dr. V. Decu) was not answered and that the material type could have been lost (Pintoda-Rocha & Kury 2003).

Based on the study of some exemplars from Tiara, we propose the revalidation of Santinezia albilineata , keeping S. decui as its synonym. This species belongs to the group “ curvipes ” proposed by Pinto-da-Rocha & Kury (2003).

A detailed review of the species from Cordillera de la Costa in Venezuela is still needed to determine their taxonomic status. The taxonomic and geographical boundaries between species of Santinezia in this region are unknown.

Figures

Images 6–10. Santinezia albilineata (male from Tiara, Aragua): 6 - Habitus in dorsal view; 7 - Coxa IV, stigmatic area and free sternites in ventral view; the arrow pointing the yellow strip on the sternite; 8 - Right trochanter IV in dorsal view; the arrow pointing the retrolateral tubercle on the trochanter; 9 - Right femur IV, in dorsal view; 10 - Female from Tiara, Aragua. Left posterolateral zone of dorsal scute, in dorsal view.

Figures 1–9. Santinezia spp., distal portion of the penis: ventral, lateral and dorsal views. 1–3 - Santinezia curvipes (P.N. Henri Pittier, Aragua state); 4–6 - Santinezia curvipes (P.N. Avila, Distrito Capital); 7–9 - Santinezia albilineata (Tiara, Aragua state).

Images 1–5. Santinezia curvipes (male from Rancho Grande, Aragua): 1 - Habitus in dorsal view; 2 - Coxa IV, stigmatic area and free sternites in ventral view; 3 - Right trochanter IV in dorsal view; the arrow pointing the retrolateral tubercle on the trochanter; 4 - Right femur IV, in dorsal view; the arrow pointing the proximal and retrolateral tubercle on the femur; 5 - Female from El Ávila, Miranda. Left posterolateral zone of dorsal scute, in dorsal view.