Epigastrina typhlops Rix &amp; Harvey 2010, sp. n.
Creators: name: Rix, Michael
name: Harvey, Mark
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Micropholcommatidae
Epigastrina
Epigastrina typhlops

description: <i>Epigastrina typhlops</i> Rix &amp; Harvey, sp. n. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 39623469-D1A5-4EDD-974A-1F3AD909EBC8 Figs 63E, 65–66, 213 <b>Type material.</b> Holotype male: <i>Kubla Khan</i> (MC-1), Mole Creek karst, Tasmania, Australia, from sheet web with vertical stay lines in cracks of wall above pool, near lower entrance (dark zone), 41°33'12"S, 146°16'52"E, 24.X.1990, S. Eberhard (AMS KS29793). Paratypes: Allotype female, same data as holotype (QVM 13: 12765). <b>Etymology.</b> The specific epithet is derived from the Greek ‘typhlos’, meaning ‘blind’ (Brown 1956), and refers to the absence of eyes in this species. <b>Diagnosis.</b> Males and females of <i>Epigastrina typhlops</i> can be distinguished from all other described congeners by the complete absence of eyes (Fig. 65C). <b>Description.</b> <i>Holotype male</i>: Total length 1.18. Carapace 0.53 long, 0.39 wide. Abdomen 0.70 long, 0.47 wide. Leg I femur 0.48. Cephalothorax, legs very pale tan-yellow; abdomen pale cream. Carapace raised anteriorly, not fused to sternum except around petiole; dorsal surface of pars cephalica slightly convex in lateral view. Eyes absent. Chelicerae each with large, bulging anterior projection; promargin with three peg teeth. Legs relatively short (leg I femur-carapace ratio 0.91); distal, prolateral macroseta present on tibia I. Abdomen oval, covered with hair-like setae; dorsal scute large, indistinct, covering most of dorsal surface of abdomen; lateral sclerotic strips absent. Pedipalpal patella with retrolaterally-directed, hooked lRPA and ornate, ridged cuticular microstructure; tegulum large, bulging posteriorly, with excavate ETR and very large, divergent, fleshy medial conductor bearing rod-like prolateral process and massive, fleshy retrolateral process; embolus short (length &lt;5× width), spur-like, distally hooked, situated between divergent processes of conductor (Fig. 66). <i>Allotype female</i>: Total length 1.12. Carapace 0.49 long, 0.40 wide. Abdomen 0.76 long, 0.55 wide. Leg I femur 0.43. Cephalothorax, legs very pale tan-yellow; abdomen pale cream, with darker tan-yellow epigyne. Carapace raised anteriorly, not fused to sternum except around petiole; dorsal surface of pars cephalica slightly convex in lateral view. Eyes absent. Chelicerae without bulging anterior projections; promargin without peg teeth. Legs relatively short (leg I femur-carapace ratio 0.88); macrosetae absent. Abdomen oval, covered with hair-like setae; dorsal scute and lateral sclerotic strips absent. Pedipalp entire, five-segmented. Epigyne heavily sclerotised externally, with distinctive, wedge-shaped epigastric plate (Fig. 65D); spermathecae globular, connecting to parallel, filiform insemination and fertilisation ducts (Fig. 63E). <b>Distribution.</b> Known only from the cave <i>Kubla Khan</i> in the Mole Creek karst of north-central Tasmania (Fig. 213). <b>Remarks.</b> <i>Epigastrina typhlops</i> is a highly troglomorphic and completely blind species, otherwise very similar to <i>E. fulva</i> and <i>E. loongana</i>.
description: Published as part of <i>Rix, Michael &amp; Harvey, Mark, 2010, The spider family Micropholcommatidae (Arachnida: Araneae: Araneoidea): a relimitation and revision at the generic level, pp. 1-321 in ZooKeys 36 (36)</i> on pages 45-46, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.36.306, http://zenodo.org/record/576620
description: {"references": ["Brown RW (1956) Composition of Scientific Words: A Manual of Methods and a Lexicon of Materials for the Practice of Logotechnics. Smithsonian Books, Washington, DC, 882 pp."]}