Mystaria lata Honiball Lewis & Dippenaar-Schoeman 2014, comb. n.
Creators: name: Honiball Lewis, Allet S.
name: Dippenaar-Schoeman, Ansie S.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Thomisidae
Mystaria
Mystaria lata

description: Mystaria lata (Lawrence, 1927) comb. n.
Figs 17–19, 53–56, 118
Paramystaria lata Lawrence 1927: 32, pl. 1 fig. 20, pl 2 fig. 42 (descr. ♀).
Type material: Lectotype (by present designation): ♀, NAMIBIA: Kunene Region, Kunene river (Kaokoland) bordering Namibia and Angola [17°15’S, 11°47’E], March 1923, R. F. Lawrence (SAM/ARAN 2463) (specimens not well-preserved, bleached). Syntype series from SAM was examined. A female from the syntype series is elected as a new lectotype.
Paralectotypes: 3 ♀, same data as lectotype (SAM/ARAN 2463). Other material listed by Lawrence in same publication (no type label) (Lawrence, 1927), SOUTH AFRICA: Eastern Cape, 2 ♀, Dunbrody [33°28’S, 25°33’E], 1901–1902, J. O’Neil (SAM/ARAN 2464).
Other material examined. SOUTH AFRICA: Eastern Cape Province, 2 ♀, 4 ♂, Cwebe Nature Reserve [32°11’S, 28°55’E], beating coastal dune forests, 10 October–30 October 2006, R. Lyle & C. Haddad (NCA 2007/ 330, 2007/331, 2007/339); 2 ♂, 1 ♀, 2 juvenile, Mazeppa Bay [32°27’S, 28°38’E], beating coastal dune forest, 28 October 2006, R. Lyle & C. Haddad (NCA 2007/434, 2007/435, 2007/437); 1 ♂, 2 ♀, between East London and Port Alfred [33°26’S, 26°55’E], sweeping in bushes (1 December 1977), A.S. Dippenaar-Schoeman (NCA 77/ 1191); 3 ♀, 6 ♂, 1 juvenile, Kei River Mouth [32°41’S, 28°21’E], sweeping coastal forest, 8 December 2005, C. Haddad (NCA 2007/1441, 2007/1435, 2007/1429). KwaZulu-Natal Province, 1 ♀, Vryheid Nature Reserve [27°53’S, 30°54’E], grassland and wooded grassland, beating and sweeping, 31 January 2007, A.P. Marais (NCA 2009/5845).
Diagnosis. Female can be recognised by the distinct colour patterns on body (Fig. 17–19); both sexes with infuscated bands on femora (Figs 17–19) and a band on tibia IV, epigyne atrium small, teardrop-shaped to oval, closed anteriorly (Fig. 55). Male with broad RTA base (Fig. 53); resemble M. irmatrix sp. n. but copulatory organs and colour of body and legs different.
Re-description. Female. Size, measurements (n = 5). TL: 3.13 (1.91–3.68); CL: 1.01 (0.14–1.36); CW: 1.26 (1.14–1.36); CI: 0.81 (0.11–1.06); CH: 0.83 (0.70–0.96); CLL: 0.26 (0.23–0.26); MOQ-L: 0.29 (0.28–0.30). Colour. Carapace varies from mottled copper-brown to bright orange, copper-red or very dark copper, sometimes tinted with black, patterns and colour differ between individuals; clypeus either pale or with orange area extending onto cephalic area as a fine line; cheliceral tips may be dark; labium and mouth-parts dark; abdominal marks vary from dorsally uniformly pale to being decorated with a range of dark patterns (Fig. 17): a thin longitudinal central band, a big patch covering the anterior region and most of abdomen, or a longitudinal central band expanding laterally into two parts with or without small white patches within the darker band; abdomen ventrally very pale or yellow with metallic, dark blue or purple striae; metatarsi and/or tarsi IV or only tibia IV proximally dark. Carapace. Broad; smooth. Sternum. SL: 0.56; SW: 0.59; SI: 0.95. Eye s. Eye area wide, with eyes wider apart from each other in comparison to M. occidentalis, eye measurements: AME–AME: 0.29; ALE–AME: 0.36; AME–AME/AME–ALE: 0.81; PME–PME: 0.43; PLE–PME: 0.33; PME–PME/PME–PLE: 1.35; ALE/AME: 1.26; PLE/PME: 0.75; MOQ-AW/MOQ-PW: 0.67; MOQ-L/MOQ-W: 0.43; Clyp/AME–AME: 0.90. Legs. All leg segments bearing dense setae; femora and tibiae with a few short spiniform setae; leg formula: II:I:IV:III; leg measurements: leg I—Fe 0.88, Pat 0.30 Tib 0.68, Mt 0.57, Ta 0.43, total 2.86; II—Fe 0.89, Pat 0.31, Tib 0.69, Mt 0.59, Ta 0.40, total 2.88; III—Fe 0.65, Pat 0.26, Tib 0.45, Mt 0.38, Ta 0.29, total 2.02; IV—Fe 0.75, Pat 0.28, Tib 0.56, Mt 0.46, Ta 0.33, total 2.38. Abdomen. AL: 2.12; AW: 2.00; AI: 1.06. Epigyne. Atrium oval to teardropshaped with small flap posteriorly, closed anteriorly (Fig. 55); differ from M. irmatrix sp. n. in that the rim of the latter species is more slender and longer whilst intromittent canals of M. lata sp. n. is thicker and more complex (Fig. 56).
Male. Size, measurements (n = 2). TL: 2.86 (2.68–3.03); CL: 1.20 (1.16–1.25); CW: 1.09 (1.08–1.10); CI: 1.10 (1.07–1.13); CH: 0.55 (0.38–0.73); CLL: 0.21 (0.15–0.26); MOQ-L: 0.28 (0.26–0.30). Differ from female as follows: Colour. Carapace uniform dark copper-red or orange (Fig. 19); sternum copper-brown; abdomen dorsally copper-red or dark with a narrow white or blue anterior border; ventrally pale cream or blue with shiny black to pinkish-blue metallic striae, sometimes with white spots on or between striae; eyes usually surrounded by a thin orange-red border; lateral eyes situated on small black tubercles; legs yellow-orange to copper-brown with dark infuscated bands dorso-ventrally on femora I, II and IV including patella, and on tibiae, metatarsi and/or tarsi IV. Carapace. Smooth. Sternum. SL: 0.49 SW: 0.56 SI: 0.89. Eyes. Eye measurements: AME–AME: 0.21; ALE–AME: 0.30; AME–AME/AME-ALE: 0.71; PME-PME: 0.36; PLE-PME: 0.28; PME–PME/PME–PLE: 1.31; ALE/AME: 1.40; PLE/PME: 0.76; MOQ-AW/PW: 0.59; MOQ-L/MOQ-W: 0.49; Clyp/AME–AME: 0.94. Legs. Covered densely with setae, slightly longer spiniform setae present on femora and tibiae; leg formula: II:I:IV:III; leg measurements: leg I—Fe 0.99, Pat 0.30, Tib 0.71, Mt 0.61, Ta 0.43, total 3.02; II—Fe 1.04, Pat 0.46, Tib 0.80, Mt 0.69, Ta 0.50, total 3.50; III—Fe 0.65, Pat 0.30, Tib 0.54, Mt 0.41, Ta 0.33, total 2.23; IV—Fe 0.75, Pat 0.26, Tib 0.55, Mt 0.52, Ta 0.35, total 2.43. Abdomen. With slightly granular scutum, dorsal view almost oval, anteriorly border straight, slightly pointed posteriorly; AL: 1.65; AW: 1.47; AI: 1.12. Palp. RTA base broad, tip extending diagonally (Fig. 53); VTA almost equal in length to RTA (Fig. 54); tutaculum present.
Natural history. Specimens were sampled by beating and sweeping vegetation in grass- and wooded grasslands of coastal dune forests, they were also found near rivers and estuaries. Adults were sampled between October and January and juveniles in December.
Distribution. Namibia and South Africa (Eastern Cape Province, new record: KwaZulu-Natal Province) (Fig. 118).
description: Published as part of Honiball Lewis, Allet S. & Dippenaar-Schoeman, Ansie S., 2014, Revision of the spider genus Mystaria Simon, 1895 (Araneae: Thomisidae) and the description of a new genus from the Afrotropical region, pp. 101-144 in Zootaxa 3873 (2) on pages 120-121, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3873.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4948115