Wanniyala viharekele Huber 2019, sp. n.
Creators: name: Huber, Bernhard A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Pholcidae
Wanniyala
Wanniyala viharekele

description: Wanniyala viharekele sp. n.
Figures 141–143, 152–153, 190–196, 217
Wanniyala SL71: Eberle et al. 2018 (molecular data). Huber et al. 2018: fig. 7.
Diagnosis. Males are distinguished from congeners by details of palp (retrolateral sclerite of procursus with sickleshaped dorsal process with obtuse tip and small ventral process; distinctive processes of palpal trochanter, and short curved bulbal apophysis; Figs 190–193) and by modification of clypeus (pair of small pointed processes and small median process; similar only in W. labugama). Females are distinguished from known congeners by shape of epigynum (strongly projecting but rounded in lateral view; Fig. 195) and by details of internal genitalia (narrow anterior ‘valve’; prominent median membranous structure; shapes of fragmented pore plates; Figs 196, 217).
Etymology. The specific name is derived from the type locality (noun in apposition).
Type material. SRI LANKA: ♂ holotype, ZFMK (Ar 20090), Southern Province, Viharekele Forest (6.099°N, 80.594°E), 120 m a.s.l., 17.iii.2017 (B.A. Huber).
Other material examined. SRI LANKA: 1♂ 1♀, NMSL, 7♂ 9♀ 4 juvs, ZFMK (Ar 20091–92), and 1♀ 1 juv. in pure ethanol, ZFMK (SL155), same data as holotype. 1♂ 1♀, ZFMK (Ar 20093), and 1♂ in pure ethanol, ZFMK (SL159), Southern Province, Kottawa Forest (6.097°N, 80.308°E), 60 m a.s.l., 17.iii.2017 (B.A. Huber). 1♀, RMNH, same locality, “under leaves”, 15.x.1982 (F. Wanless). 1♂ in pure ethanol, ZFMK (Benj 38), Kombala- Kottawa Forest Reserve (6.098°N, 80.314°E), 60 m a.s.l., 19.v.2010 (S.P. Benjamin, S. Batuwita). 2♂, RMNH, Southern Province, Deniyaya [~ 6.34°N, 80.56°E], 400 m a.s.l., secondary forest margin, 25.viii.1981 (C.L. & P.R. Deeleman).
Description. Male (holotype). MEASUREMENTS. Total body length 1.7, carapace width 0.75. Distance PME- PME 110 µm, diameter PME 90 µm, distance PME-ALE 30 µm; AME absent. Sternum width/length: 0.52/0.36. Leg 1: 13.2 (3.2 + 0.3 + 3.3 + 4.9 + 1.5), tibia 2: 1.8, tibia 3: 1.4, tibia 4: 2.0; tibia 1 L/d: 60.
COLOR (in ethanol). Carapace ochre yellow with median and lateral dark bands; ocular area posteriorly dark; clypeus with pair of dark bands below eye triads; sternum black, without light mark; legs ochre-yellow, with dark rings on femora (subdistally) and tibiae (proximally and subdistally); abdomen ochre-gray with dark marks dorsally and laterally, ventrally also with dark pattern.
BODY. Habitus as in Figs 141–142; ocular area slightly raised; carapace with shallow but distinct median furrow; clypeus with pair of small pointed processes and small median process; sternum unmodified.
CHELICERAE. Similar to W. mudita (cf. Figs 156–157), with pair of small apophyses proximally laterally and pair of long apophyses directed forwards, tips of apophyses distally directed downwards, distance between tips of apophyses: 0.61.
PALPS. As in Figs 152–153; coxa unmodified; trochanter with several distinctive processes (Fig. 190); femur with small dorsal apophysis proximally; tibia very long (0.92); procursus with several distinctive elements (Figs 192–193); bulb with simple membranous embolus and short, weakly curved and pointed apophysis (Fig. 191).
LEGS. Without spines and curved hairs; with short vertical hairs in higher than usual density on all metatarsi (especially proximally); retrolateral trichobothrium on tibia 1 at 13%; prolateral trichobothrium absent on tibia 1; tarsus 1 with ~20 pseudosegments, distally distinct.
Male (variation). Tibia 1 in 11 other males: 2.9–3.6 (mean 3.3). Sternum in some males medially lighter. Ventral process of retrolateral sclerite of procursus (arrow in Fig. 193) slightly more slender in males from Kottawa.
Female. In general similar to male but clypeus unmodified and legs with usual low number of short vertical hairs. Tibia 1 in 12 females: 2.5–2.9 (mean: 2.7). Epigynum as in Figs 194–195, strongly protruding but evenly rounded in lateral view; posterior plate apparently reduced(?) to two lateral sclerites mostly hidden behind epigynal plate and poorly visible in ventral view; internal genitalia as in Figs 196, 217, with narrow anterior ‘valve’, prominent median membranous structure, and pore plates posteriorly fragmented into several smaller platelets.
Natural history. The spiders were found in the leaf litter.
Distribution. Known from three localities in southern Sri Lanka (Fig. 227).
description: Published as part of Huber, Bernhard A., 2019, The pholcid spiders of Sri Lanka (Araneae: Pholcidae), pp. 1-57 in Zootaxa 4550 (1) on pages 44-46, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4550.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/2625030