Mesabolivar cyaneomaculatus
Creators: name: Huber, Bernhard A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Pholcidae
Mesabolivar
Mesabolivar cyaneomaculatus

description: Mesabolivar cyaneomaculatus (Keyserling, 1891)
Figs 148–149, 227–232, 250
Pholcus cyaneo-maculatus Keyserling, 1891: 173, pl. 5, figs 119 a–d (♂♀, Brazil: Rio de Janeiro).
Blechroscelis cyaneo-maculatus/-a: Moenkhaus 1898: 100 –101. Mello-Leitão 1918: 107–108, figs 22–23. (Both authors just translated Keyserling’s original description, Mello-Leitão also copied Keyserling’s figures; both without adding new data).
Psilochorus cyaneomaculatus: Mello-Leitão 1947c: 2 (Brazil: Minas Gerais).
Mesabolivar cyaneomaculatus: Huber 2000: 210, figs 811–819 (Brazil: Rio de Janeiro). Machado 2007: 81 (Brazil: Minas Gerais, São Paulo). Huber & Rheims 2011: 281 (Brazil: Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo).
Probable and certain misidentifications (see Notes below)
Psilochorus cyaneomaculatus: Mello-Leitão 1943: 155 (Brazil: Pernambuco, Rio Grande do Sul). Blechroscelis cyaneo-maculatus: Mello-Leitão 1947b: 233 (Brazil: Paraná). Mesabolivar cyaneomaculatus: Huber 2015: 57 (Brazil: Espírito Santo).
Notes. I have not seen Mello-Leitão’s (1943, 1947b) specimens from Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, and Pernambuco, but consider these records dubious. Extensive recent collections along the entire Brazilian Atlantic Forest from Rio Grande do Sul to Rio Grande do Norte do not include M. cyaneomaculatus outside Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo states. In particular, Rio Grande do Sul and Pernambuco are far from the confirmed range of this species. The Paraná records might be valid but need confirmation. The Minas Gerais record in Mello-Leitão (1947c) receives some support from Machado’s (2007) record from this state. Finally, my own previous record from Espírito Santo (Huber 2015) is based on two females (ZFMK, Ar 19073, Br10-83) that are very similar to M. cyaneomaculatus but have lower epigynal processes in a more anterior position; they probably represent a different, undescribed species.
Diagnosis. Distinguished from most known congeners by armature of male chelicerae (Huber 2000: fig. 812; one pair of frontal apophyses near median line), shape of procursus (Huber 2000: figs 813–816, Figs 227–229; widely curved, distinctive distal structures), and shape of epigynum (Huber 2000: figs 817–818, Figs 230–232; trapezoidal anterior plate with pair of apophyses and median pocket); from the very similar M. claricae by longer and more slender procursus with different distal elements (compare Figs 227–229 and 233–235), and by larger epigynum (width>0.9, vs. <0.8 in M. claricae) with anterior pair of low humps (compare Figs 230–232 and 236– 237).
Type material. BRAZIL: Rio de Janeiro: 1♂ 1♀ syntypes, BMNH (1890.7.1.8325–7), Rio de Janeiro City(?), no further locality data, leg. E.A. Göldi, examined (Huber 2000).
New records. BRAZIL: Rio de Janeiro: 6♂ 3♀ 1 juv., ZFMK (Ar 19074–77), ~ 4 km NW Penedo (22°24.5’S, 44°33.0’–33.4’W), forest along river, 700–770 m a.s.l., 14–16.viii.2007 (B.A. Huber); 1♂ 1♀ in pure ethanol, ZFMK (Br 07/100-6, Br 07/100-43), same data. 4♂ 1♀, ZFMK (Ar 19078), Cachoeira da Pedra Branca near Paraty (23°11.8’S, 44°46.0’W), forest near river, ~ 230 m a.s.l., 22.viii.2007 (B.A. Huber). 1♀ in pure ethanol, ZFMK (Br 09-107), Reserva Ecológica Rio das Pedras (22°59.5’S, 44°06.0’–06.8’W), 50–200 m a.s.l., 25–26.ix.2009 (B.A. Huber). 1♀ in pure ethanol, ZFMK (G007), Itatiaia [22.45°S, 44.59°W], 8–15.vi.2001 (H. Japyassú).
São Paulo: 3♂ 4♀ 3 juvs, ZFMK (Ar 19079), Paranapiacaba, Estação Biológica do Alto da Serra (23°46.7’S, 46°18.6’W) 14–15.xii.2003 (B.A. Huber); 2♂ 2♀ in pure ethanol, ZFMK (Br 03/100-21), same data. 3♀, ZFMK (Ar 19080), Ubatuba, Fazenda Angelim (22°36.9’S, 52°17.9’W), 16–18.xii.2003 (B.A. Huber). 1♂, ZFMK (Ar 19081), São Paulo, Parque Estadual de Cantareira (23.417°S, 46.617°W), 20.xii.2003 (B.A. Huber); 1♂ in pure ethanol, ZFMK (Br 03/100-14a), same data.
Description (amendments; see Huber 2000). Tibia 1 in nine newly examined males: 13.1–17.7 (mean 15.6); in 11 newly examined females: 10.4–13.7 (mean 12.2). Male tibia 2/tibia 4 length (N=2): 1.05, 1.08. Femora 2 and 3 in some males much wider than other femora, in others barely wider. Prolateral trichobothrium present on tibia 1. Epigynal processes slightly variable (in lateral view; Figs 231–232).
Natural history. The spiders were found in large sheltered spaces among rocks and logs, also under bridges. They built rather flat webs that seemed to have no or a very limited tangle of lines above the sheet. During the day, the spiders sat on the rock or log; when disturbed, they ran into the web and started swinging with large amplitude and high frequency.
Distribution. Widely distributed in the Brazilian states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Minas Gerais, possibly ranging into Paraná state (Fig. 729).
description: Published as part of Huber, Bernhard A., 2018, The South American spider genera Mesabolivar and Carapoia (Araneae, Pholcidae): new species and a framework for redrawing generic limits, pp. 1-178 in Zootaxa 4395 (1) on pages 59-60, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4395.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1202519