Malagiella fisheri, Ubick & Griswold, 2011

Ubick, Darrell & Griswold, Charles E., 2011, The Malagasy Goblin Spiders Of The New Genus Malagiella (Araneae, Oonopidae), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2011 (356), pp. 1-86 : 79-80

Malagiella fisheri , new species Figures 301–328 , 474 , 485 , 487 ; maps 1–4; table 1

TYPE: Male holotype and female allotype from sifting leaf litter in rainforest, at 28.5 km S Midongy-Sud, Mount Papango, 23 ° 50.19S, 46 ° 57.89E, 940 m, P.N. Befotaka-Midongy, Fianarantsoa Province, Madagascar (13–15 Nov 2006, Fisher et al.), deposited in CAS (CASENT 9030777, PBI _OON 03452).

ETYMOLOGY: This species is named after Brian Fisher, collector of this and several other species of Malagiella , in honor of his impressive sampling program of the Malagasy fauna.

DIAGNOSIS: The male of this species differs from other Malagiella in lacking sternal bristles (fig. 474) and in having a huge palpal patella (figs. 321–324, 485). The female differs from others in having a distinctly procurved posterior margin of the PES (figs. 327, 328) and a slightly curved receptaculum (W/L about 0.3).

MALE (PBI_OON 03452): Total length 1.62, carapace length 0.82, width 0.69. CEPHALOTHORAX: Eye area about 0.5 carapace width; subequal to clypeus length (figs. 302, 303, 306). Sternum lacking stiff bristles found in other species (figs. 305, 474), median concavity absent. ABDOMEN (figs. 304, 308–310): as in M. valterova . GENITALIA (figs. 321–326): Palp with patella greatly enlarged (fig. 485), about five times femur length, but less than four times in other species (figs. 481–484, 485).

FEMALE (PBI_OON 03452): Total length 1.70 (1.70–1.86), carapace length 0.80 (0.78– 0.80), width 0.70 (0.68–0.70), N 5 2. CEPHALOTHORAX (figs. 311–313): Clypeus shorter than eye region length. Eye area about 1.8 clypeus length (fig. 313). ABDO- MEN (figs. 314, 318–320): Pedicel tube (fig. 337) shorter than in male. GENITA- LIA: Postepigastric scutum with posterior margin procurved, receptaculum only slightly curved, W/L about 0.3 (figs. 327, 328).

OTHER MATERIAL EXAMINED: MADA- GASCAR: Fianarantsoa Province: P.N. Befotaka-Midongy, Papango 27.7 km S Midongy-Sud, Mount Papango, 23 ° 50.59S, 46 ° 57.59E, 1250 m, montane rainforest, sifting leaf litter, 17–19 Nov 2006 (B. Fisher et al., CASENT 9030776, PBI_OON 03442), 1♀.

DISTRIBUTION: Known only from P.N. Befotaka-Midongy, Madagascar.

Figures

Figs. 301–310. Malagiella fisheri, new species, male (PBI_OON 03452). 301. Habitus, ventral view. 302. Same, dorsal view. 303. Same, lateral view. Scale bar 5 1 mm. 304. Abdomen, ventral view. 305. Cephalothorax, ventral view. 306. Same, anterior view. 307. Same, posterior view. 308. Abdomen, anterior view. 309. Same, lateral view. 310. Same, posterior view.

Figs. 311–320. Malagiella fisheri, new species, female (PBI_OON 03452). 311. Habitus, ventral view. 312. Same, dorsal view. 313. Same, lateral view. Scale bar 5 1 mm. 314. Abdomen, ventral view. 315. Cephalothorax, ventral view. 316. Same, anterior view. 317. Same, posterior view. 318. Abdomen, anterior view. 319. Same, lateral view. 320. Same, posterior view.

Figs. 321–328. Malagiella fisheri, new species, male and female (PBI_OON 03452, except 327 5 PBI_OON 03542). 321. Palp, femur to bulb, prolateral view. 322. Same, retrolateral view. 323. Same, dorsal view. 324. Same, ventral view. 325. Same, anterior view. 326. Same, posterior view. 327, 328. Epigynal region, ventral view.

Figs. 472–480. Malagiella species, sternum, ventrolateral view, males (472–477) and females (478–480). 472. M. andringitra, PBI_OON 03234. 473. M. valterova, PBI_OON 03461. 474. M. fisheri, PBI_OON 03452. 475. M. ranomafana, PBI_OON 01999. 476. M. vohiparara, PBI_OON 03078. 477. M. toliara, PBI_OON 03377. 478. M. ranomafana, PBI_OON 01999. 479. M. vohiparara, PBI_OON 03078. 480. M. toliara, PBI_OON 03221.

Figs. 481–486. Malagiella species, male palpus, femur to bulb, prolateral view. 481. M. ranomafana, PBI_OON 03224. 482. M. andringitra, PBI_OON 03234. 483. M. valterova, PBI_OON 03461. 484. M. vohiparara, PBI_OON 03078. 485. M. fisheri, PBI_OON 03452. 486. M. toliara, PBI_OON 03377. Scale bar (200 Mm) applies to all palpi.

Fig. 487. Size variation in Malagiella measured as a function of carapace length to carapace width. Plot is based on measurements of 26 male specimens (‘‘x’’) and 30 female specimens (‘‘o’’). Blue lines enclose male values for a given species and red lines female values; disjunct conspecific readings are connected by straight lines. Green dotted lines enclose the three species groups. Brown dashed lines refer to the size of female DS, with the large dashes (upper right) enclosing species with the largest scutes and small dashes (lower left) those with the smallest. Abbreviations for species names: amba 5 M.ambalavo, andr 5 M. andringitra, fish 5 M. fisheri, good 5 M. goodmani, niki 5 M. nikina, rana 5 M. ranavalona, rano 5 M. ranomafana, toli 5 M. toliara, valt 5 M. valterova, vohi 5 M. vohiparara.