Khorata palace Nie & Yao & Pham & Li 2018, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Nie, Lei
name: Yao, Zhiyuan
name: Pham, Dinh-Sac
name: Li, Shuqiang
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Pholcidae
Khorata
Khorata palace

description: Khorata palace Yao & Li sp. nov.
http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:B77966CE-B9B7-4B37-9BA0-7B6171C5FF14
Figs 7–8
Type material. Holotype: Male, Palace Cave (20°21.350′N, 105°36.282′E, elevation 523 m), Cuc Phuong National Park, Ninh Binh, Vietnam, 19 August 2015, Q. Zhao, Y. Li and Z. Chen leg. Paratype: 1 female, same data as holotype.
Etymology. The specific name refers to the type locality, and is a noun in apposition.
Diagnosis. This species can be easily distinguished from all known congeners by combination of following characters: strong, distally swollen frontal apophyses on male chelicerae (arrows in Figs 8C–D), presence of retrolateral spine distally on procursus (arrow in Fig. 7D) and large, nearly semicircular pore plates (Fig. 8B).
Description. Male (holotype): Total length 3.32 (3.48 with clypeus), carapace 1.03 long, 1.21 wide, opisthosoma 2.29 long, 1.62 wide. Leg I: 34.68 (8.35 + 0.52 + 8.38 + 13.80 + 3.63), legs II and III missing, leg IV: 20.37 (6.10 + 0.46 + 4.83 + 7.78 + 1.20); tibia I L/d: 67. Habitus as in Figs 8E–F. Carapace yellowish, with black margins and narrow, dark median line; sternum black. Legs brownish, but slightly whitish on distal parts of femora and tibiae, with distinct darker rings on subdistal parts of femora and tibiae. Opisthosoma yellowish, with large black spots. Distance PME-PME 0.14, diameter PME 0.15, distance PME-ALE 0.04, AME absent. Ocular area slightly elevated and separated from rest of carapace. Thoracic furrow shallow, but distinct. Clypeus unmodified. Sternum slightly wider than long (0.83/0.78). Chelicerae (Figs 8C–D) with pair of small proximo-lateral apophyses, pair of small distal apophyses on front-lateral surface, pair of strong, distally swollen frontal apophyses (arrows in Figs 8C–D) provided with scales each, and pair of long, hooked frontal apophyses (distance between tips: 0.03). Pedipalps as in Figs 7A–D; trochanter with short retrolateral apophysis and small ventral apophysis; femur with retrolateral apophysis; patella large; procursus simple proximally but complex distally, with two ventral apophyses and retrolateral spine distally (arrow in Fig. 7D); bulb simple, no other projections except for embolus. Retrolateral trichobothria of tibia I at 7% proximally; legs with short vertical setae on tibiae, metatarsi and tarsi, without spines and curved setae; tarsus I with 7 distinct pseudosegments.
Female: Similar to male, habitus as in Figs 8G–H. Total length 2.59 (2.75 with clypeus), carapace 0.89 long, 1.14 wide, opisthosoma 1.70 long, 0.99 wide; Leg I: 32.12 (7.80 + 0.49 + 7.85 + 12.58 + 3.40), leg II: 20.60 (6.05 + 0.48 + 4.95 + 7.15 + 1.97), leg III: 15.11 (4.55 + 0.43 + 3.55 + 5.15 + 1.43), leg IV: 19.45 (5.88 + 0.41 + 4.63 + 7.25 + 1.28); tibia I L/d: 68. Distance PME-PME 0.16, diameter PME 0.15, distance PME-ALE 0.03, AME absent. Sternum slightly wider than long (0.64/0.62). Epigynum (Fig. 8A) brown, without pockets. Vulva (Fig. 8B) with slightly curved anterior arch and pair of large, nearly semicircular pore plates.
Variation: Unknown.
Natural History. The species was found on its irregular web between rocks in the entrance zone of the Palace Cave.
Distribution. Vietnam (Ninh Binh, type locality; Fig. 11).
description: Published as part of Nie, Lei, Yao, Zhiyuan, Pham, Dinh-Sac & Li, Shuqiang, 2018, Five new species of the spider genus Khorata Huber, 2005 (Araneae: Pholcidae) from Vietnam, pp. 480-496 in Zootaxa 4486 (4) on pages 487-492, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4486.4.4, http://zenodo.org/record/1442282