Pholcus qingchengensis Gao, Gao & Zhu, 2002

Zhang, Feng & Zhu, Ming-Sheng, 2009, A review of the genus Pholcus (Araneae: Pholcidae) from China, Zootaxa 2037 (1), pp. 1-114 : 72

Pholcus qingchengensis Gao, Gao & Zhu, 2002

( Fig. 40 )

Pholcus qingchengensis Gao, Gao & Zhu 2002: 75 , f. 9–14.

Diagnosis. This species resembles P. qinghaiensis in the shape of the palpal bulb, but can be distinguished from it by the shape of the tip of the procursus ( Figs. 40E–F ), by the shorter ventral apophysis of the trochanter ( Fig. 40D ), and by the appendix with a longer branch centrally ( Fig. 40E ).

Redescription. Male (holotype), total length 4.8: cephalothorax 1.3 long, 1.6 wide; abdomen 3.5 long, 1.7 wide. Leg I: 45.2 (11.8+0.9+11.5+18.3+2.7), tibia II: 6.9, tibia III: 4.8, tibia IV: 6.2; tibia I L/D: 68. Prosoma shape as in Fig. 40A . Carapace short, broad and almost circular, ochre, with brown butterfly-shaped marks broadly connecting to ocular area. Cephalic region raised, without brown longitudinal mark centrally, ocular area dark yellow. Clypeus 0.44, slightly ochre, without marks. Distance AME–AME 0.08. Diameter AME 0.10, ALE 0.16, PME 0.14, PLE 0.16. Chelicerae as in Fig. 40C , with pair of black apophyses distally, pair of unsclerotized thumb-shaped apophyses proximolaterally and two pairs of large unsclerotized rounded apophyses proximocentrally. Labium and endites light yellow. Sternum slightly ochre, with some irregular brown spots as in Fig. 40B . Femora, patellae and tibiae ochre, with dark rings, metatarsi and tarsi brown. Abdomen cylindrical, pale ochre, dorsum with numerous brown spots as in Fig. 40A . Venter pale brown, without marks. Palps as in Figs. 40E–F , bulb with axe-shaped uncus, appendix with a median branch, tibia of palp with a round tubercle prolaterally, femur with a small dorsal projection retrolaterally, trochanter with small ventral apophysis.

Distribution. Known from type locality only.

Material examined. CHINA: Sichuan, Dujiangyan City, Mt. Qingcheng , October 26, 1975, male holotype ( MHBU) .

Figures

FIGURE 40. Pholcus qingchengensis Gao, Gao & Zhu, 2002 (illustrations modified from Gao, Gao & Zhu 2002). A. male body, dorsal view. B. male sternum, ventral view. C. male left chelicera, frontal view. D. trochanter of male left palp, retrolaterodorsal view. E. left palp, prolateral view. F. same, retrolateral view. Scale lines: 1.0mm (A), 0.5mm (B, C, E, F), 0.2mm (D).