Modisimus cienaga Huber & Fischer & Astrin 2010, SP. NOV.
Creators: name: Huber, Bernhard A.
name: Fischer, Nadine
name: Astrin, Jonas J.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Pholcidae
Modisimus
Modisimus cienaga

description: MODISIMUS CIENAGA HUBER & FISCHER SP. NOV.   
(Figs 26, 85, 87, 92, 100–103, 113, 182–184, 200)  
 Type: Male holotype from near La Ciénaga (19°03 ′ N, 70°53 ′ W; ~ 1000 m a.s.l.), La Vega Province, Dominican Republic; forest along river, among the dry leaves of a dead epiphyte on the ground, 9 November 2005 (B.A. Huber), in ZFMK (DR 17 a).   
 Etymology: The species name refers to the type locality; it is used as a noun in apposition.   
 Diagnosis: Small, short-legged species, similar to M. culicinus (carapace pattern, Fig. 26; palpal femur, Fig. 182), but male chelicerae (Fig. 183) and male clypeus unmodified, distinctive procursus tip (Figs 100, 103).   
 Male (holotype): Total length, 1.2; carapace width, 0.55. Leg 1: 5.2 (1.4 + 0.2 + 1.4 + 1.6 + 0.5); tibia 2, 1.4; tibia 3, 0.7; tibia 4, 1.0. Tibia 1 L/d: 23. Habitus as in Figure 26, carapace light ochre-yellow, with three pairs of distinct dark spots and dark median Y-shaped mark, clypeus with a pair of brown stripes, narrowing towards chelicerae, sternum whitish; legs light ochreyellow, very indistinct darker rings subdistally on tibiae and femora, tips of femora and tibiae whitish; abdomen bluish grey with large black spots in a row on each side of heart and laterally; genital area light brown. Ocular area moderately elevated (Fig. 85); thoracic furrow distinct (Fig. 87). PME–PME, 45 Mm; PME diameter, 55 Mm; PME–ALE, 45 Mm; no AME. Sternum wider than long (0.4/0.3), unmodified. Chelicerae unmodified (Fig. 183). Palps as in Figure 182, coxa with light retrolateral apophysis, femur with rounded basal and more pointed distal ventral apophyses, procursus complex distally, with membranous and sclerotized structures (Figs 100, 103), bulb with simple distal apophysis and membranous dorsal structure (Fig. 102). Legs without spines and curved hairs; no short vertical hairs on femora; retrolateral trichobothrium on tibia 1 at 31%; prolateral trichobothrium apparently absent on tibia 1, but present on other tibiae; tarsus 1 with ~15 pseudosegments.   
 Variation: Tibia 1 in two other males: 1.3 and 1.4.   
 Female: In general similar to male, but dark rings on legs more distinct, and with additional rings on femora (proximally and medially) and tibiae (proximally). Tibia 1 in seven females: 0.96–1.10 (mean 1.03). Epigynum, very simple externally; dorsal view as in Figure 184, with contiguous pore plates.   
 Distribution: Known from type locality only (Fig. 200).   
 Material examined: Dominican Republic: La Vega Province, near La Ciénaga, 1♂, holotype above; same data, 2♂ and 7♀ (ZFMK; 1♂ used for SEM; chelicerae of other male lost; DR 17); same data, 3♀ and one juvenile, in pure ethanol (ZFMK, DR 100-13).
description: Published as part of Huber, Bernhard A., Fischer, Nadine & Astrin, Jonas J., 2010, High level of endemism in Haiti's last remaining forests: a revision of Modisimus (Araneae: Pholcidae) on Hispaniola, using morphology and molecules, pp. 244-299 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 158 (2) on pages 286-287, DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00559.x, http://zenodo.org/record/5438272