Guaranita dobby Torres 2016
Creators: name: Huber, Bernhard A.
name: Meng, Guanliang
name: Král, Jiří
name: Ávila Herrera, Ivalú M.
name: Izquierdo, Matías A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Pholcidae
Guaranita
Guaranita dobby

description: Guaranita dobby Torres et al., 2016
Figs 2A – B, 3 – 7, 32A
Guaranita dobby Torres et al., 2016: 9, figs 6 – 12 (♂).
Diagnosis (amendments; see Torres et al. 2016)
Distinguished from known congeners by median process on male clypeus (cf. Torres et al. 2016: fig. 9; unmodified in congeners), by male cheliceral apophyses (Fig. 4A – C; short and diverging in distal view), by very small (compared with congeners) dorsal flap on procursus (Fig. 4F), and by roughly triangular (rather than trapezoidal as in congeners) anterior epigynal plate (Fig. 5A); also by relatively slender male palpal tibia (Fig. 3C; width/length 0.75; other species 0.85 – 1.00) and by female internal genitalia (Figs 5C – D, 32A; median structure poorly developed compared with congeners); from G. auadae sp. nov. and G. goloboffi also by narrow distal bulbal sclerite (Fig. 4G).
Material examined (new record)
ARGENTINA – Salta • 2 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀; ~ 55 km NW of Campo Quijano; 24.4716° S, 65.9272° W; 3040 m a.s.l.; 19 Mar. 2019; B.A. Huber and M.A. Izquierdo leg.; ZFMK Ar 24121 • 11 ♀♀ in pure ethanol (four prosomata used for molecular work; one female and one female abdomen used for SEM); same collection data as for preceding; ZFMK Arg187 • 2 ♀♀; same collection data as for preceding; LABRE-Ar 876 • 1 ♀, in pure ethanol; same collection data as for preceding; LABRE-Ar 865.
Redescription of male (amendments; see Torres et al. 2016)
Measurements of male from 55 km NW of Campo Quijano: total body length 1.1 (1.2 with clypeus process), carapace width 0.48; distance PME–PME 45 µm; diameter PME 40 µm; distance PME–ALE 20 µm; distance AME–AME 20 µm; diameter AME 25 µm. Leg 1: 2.33 (0.66 +0.16 + 0.62 +0.55 +0.34), tibia 2: 0.54, tibia 3: 0.48, tibia 4: 0.72; tibia 1 L/d: 9; diameters of leg femora 0.10 – 0.11, of leg tibiae: 0.065. Tibia 1 of second newly collected male: 0.58. Tip of clypeus process straight but at tip with hairs pointing upwards and backwards. Sternum slightly wider than long (0.34/0.30). Chelicerae as in Fig. 4A – C. Pedipalp as in Fig. 3A – C; tibia with two trichobothria; procursus as in Fig. 4D – F, with large transparent ventral membrane, distinctive dorsal flap, and tip bent towards dorsal; genital bulb as in Fig. 4G – I, with simple proximal sclerite and band-like distal sclerite (same width over most of its length). Legs without spines and curved hairs; vertical hairs not seen; retrolateral trichobothrium of tibia 1 at 60%; prolateral trichobothrium absent on tibia 1, present on other leg tibiae; tarsus 1 with 5 pseudosegments, poorly visible in dissecting microscope.
Description of female
In general similar to male (Fig. 2A – B) but clypeus without process, sternum without pair of anterior humps, and chelicerae without stridulatory files. Tibia 1 in seven females: 0.58 – 0.64 (mean 0.62). Epigynum (Figs 5A, 6B) with simple triangular anterior plate weakly bulging; posterior plate short and simple. Internal genitalia (Figs 5C – D, 32A) very simple, with median sclerotized structure (receptacle?), apparently with small pore plates. Each ALS with one strongly widened spigot, one long pointed spigot, and five cylindrical spigots (of which one is much wider than the others; Fig. 6C); each PMS with two conical spigots (Fig. 6D); PLS without spigots. Leg tibiae and metatarsi with tiny pores with cuticular rim (pore diameter 0.6 µm; Fig. 6E – F) and with small round cuticular ‘plates’ (diameter 4 – 5 µm; Fig. 6E). Tarsal organs with very small openings (diameters of openings 0.8 – 0.9 µm; Fig. 7D – E). Metatarsi 3 and 4 with one long slender hair each on retrolateral side (Fig. 7C).
Remarks (notes on type locality)
This species was previously known from two specimens supposedly from two localities in Salta province: the holotype locality, 9 km E of Cabra Corral dam; and a second locality, 1 km N of “Charrillos” (should be Chorrillos). Our newly collected specimens of G. dobby are from close to the second locality, in the same river valley, ~ 37 km NW of Chorrillos. However, we failed to find G. dobby at the holotype locality and at several nearby sites E of Cabra Corral dam we visited. Instead, we found G. goloboffi at two sites in that area. Previous collectors also found numerous specimens of G. goloboffi E of Cabra Corral dam (Torres et al. 2015). This sheds doubt on the origin of the G. dobby holotype. We suspect that the holotype specimen is mislabeled but according to José Corronca (pers. com. Jan. 2022) this is unlikely to be the case.
Natural history
The newly collected specimens were found under rocks in a very arid environment (Fig. 34A). Egg sacs (N = 4) contained 6 – 8 eggs and were carried in a single layer under the prosoma (Fig. 2B); egg diameter: 0.46 – 0.48.
Distribution
Known from three localities in Argentina, Salta Province (Fig. 33A); but see Notes on type locality above.
description: Published as part of Huber, Bernhard A., Meng, Guanliang, Král, Jiří, Ávila Herrera, Ivalú M. & Izquierdo, Matías A., 2023, Revision of the South American Ninetinae genus Guaranita (Araneae, Pholcidae), pp. 32-80 in European Journal of Taxonomy 900 (1) on pages 41-46, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2023.900.2301, http://zenodo.org/record/10062574