Stephanopis corticalis L. Koch, 1876

Machado, Miguel, Teixeira, Renato Augusto & Milledge, Graham A., 2019, On the Australian Bark Crab Spider Genus Stephanopis: Taxonomic Review and Description of Seven New Species (Araneae: Thomisidae: Stephanopinae), Records of the Australian Museum 71 (6), pp. 217-276 : 247-248

Stephanopis corticalis L. Koch, 1876

Fig. 22

Stephanopis corticalis L. Koch, 1876: 748 , pl. 65, Fig. 5 .

Type material examined. Holotype ♀, ZSMH, Gayndah , Queensland, Australia, [25°37'S 151°36'E].

Other material examined. Northern Territory: AMS KS.109399, 1♀, Yirrkala, 12°15'S 136°53'E, C. Chaseling. Queensland,: AMS KS.108717, 1♀, Mareeba, 17°S 145°26'E, N.C. Coleman, 11 May 1975. Western Australia: WAM T 142491, 1♀, Gidgegannup (1185 O’brien Road), 31°45'17"S 116°07'34"E, 3 August 2012; WAM T 146671, 1♀, Greenmount, 31°54'2.30"S 116°3'0.92"E, G.H. Lowe, June 1979; WAM 1517, 1♀, 20 Km south of Ravensthorpe, 33°37'6.97"S 120°3'20.71"E, G. Harold, 2 January 1994. New South Wales: AMS KS.108671, 1♀, Dubbo (Minore Village), 32°15'49.27"S 148°27'18.53"E, H. Levi, 29 January 1957. Diagnosis. The females of S. corticalis resemble those of S. lata in the predominantly reddish-brown body colouration, shape of their opisthosoma and size and proportion of their legs ( Fig. 22A ), however, they can be distinguished by the presence of a pair of acute and forward oriented cephalic projections above the ALE ( Fig. 22B ). S. corticalis can be also recognized by the wide and exposed copulatory CO ( Fig. 22C ) and internal ducts oriented sideways with glandularheads on top ( Fig. 22D ).

Description. Female (AMS KS.108671): Anterior eye row recurved and posterior straight ( Fig. 22B ); anterior legs and prosoma reddish-brown while the posterior legs and the median part of the opisthosoma are lighter ( Fig. 22A ). All legs bear a remarkable dorsal row of acute projections (a pair on the patellae and a triad on the tibiae). Spermathecae tubular, curling on itself and preceded by hyaline rounded pair of anterior chambers ( Fig. 22D ).

Measurements: eye diameters and interdistances: AME 0.13, ALE 0.25, PME 0.19, PLE 0.20, AME–AME 0.18, AME–ALE 0.10, PME–PME 0.26, PME–PLE 0.21, MOQ length 0.65, width 0.45; leg formula: 1-2-4-3: leg I—femur 4.52/ patella 2.21/ tibia 3.76/ metatarsus 2.11/ tarsus 1.13/ total 13.73; II—3.89/ 1.84/ 3.10/ 1.86/ 1.06 11.75; III—3.24/ 1.43/ 2.62/ 1.54/ 1.05/ 9.88; IV—3.35/ 1.29/ 2.33/ 1.36/ 0.93/ 9.26. Total body length 9.01; prosoma length 4.35, width 4.55; opisthosoma length 4.66; clypeus height 0.45; sternum length 2.03, width 1.76; gnathocoxae length 1.11, width 0.52; labium length 0.70, width 0.85.

Male: Unknown.

Figures

Figure 5. Stephanopis angulata Rainbow, 1899, male (MCZ 133894). (A) dorsal habitus; (B) front; (C) ventral view of the left palp; (D) left palp, retro lateral view.

Figure 22. Stephanopis corticalis L. Koch, 1876, female (AMS KS.108671). (A) dorsal habitus; (B) front; (C) epigynal plate, ventral view; (D) epigynal plate/spermathecae.