Masteria L. Koch 1873
Creators: name: Passanha, Victor
name: Brescovit, Antonio D.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Dipluridae
Masteria

description: Masteria L. Koch, 1873
Masteria L. Koch, 1873: 458. Type species by monotypy, Masteria hirsuta L. Koch, 1873; Raven, 1979, 624; Raven, 1981: 57.
Accola Simon, 1889: 191. Type species Accola lucifuga Simon, 1891. First synonymised by Raven, 1979: 624.
Antrochares Rainbow, 1898: 332. Type species by monotypy, Antrochares macgregori Rainbow, 1898. First synonymised by Raven, 1979: 624.
Microsteria Wunderlich, 1988: 46. Type species by monotypy, Microsteria sexoculata. Based on a fossil in Dominican amber; first synonymised by Raven, 2000: 573.
Diagnosis. Species of Masteria resemble those of Siremata n. gen. in the presence of an australotheline crescent (Fig. 2A) and distribution of trichobothria on the tarsus, metatarsus (Fig. 4D) and tibia of all legs, but can be distinguished by the absence of micro-spines around the ocular region (Fig. 3A–C), presence of prolateral process on apical portion of tibia I of males (Fig. 4C) and ovate pattern of eyes (Fig. 3A–C). They differ from Striamea in the presence of an australotheline crescent (Fig. 2C) at the base of the spinnerets.
Description. Small mygalomorph spiders, total length 2.50–6.06. Color: carapace in dorsal view, chelicerae and legs varying from whitish to dark brown, with variations of yellow, orange and light brown. Endites, labium and sternum light brown to whitish. Abdomen whitish or light yellow. Clypeus narrow (0.01–0.10) in relation to ALE. Chelicerae without rastellum. Basal segment of chelicerae with prolateral row of 9–14 teeth and 7–20 mesobasal microteeth in line (Fig. 1B). Ocular tubercle wider than long, with eight or six eyes (Fig. 3A–C), vestigial in M. pecki (Fig. 24A, B); anterior row straight, posterior row straight to strongly recurved. Labium wider than long, without cuspules. Endites without cuspules, with a linear serrula on apical edge (Fig. 1A). Oval sternum longer than wide, without evident sigilla. Tarsus without scopulae, with sensorial setae thin and slightly interspaced or thick and abundant. Superior tarsal claws with one row of teeth (5–15), inferior tarsal claw on all legs with 2–7 teeth (Fig. 3D). Femora of all legs with distinct dorsal row of thin and elongated spines (5–16); in ventral view, two rows of thin spines (4–20). Tarsal organ without elevation, with low and concentric keels (Fig. 1C, D). Male tibia of leg I with prolateral processes or megaspines, with two megaspines (M. manauara; Figs 23D, 30F), group of megaspines (M. aimeae; Fig. 20C) or prolateral process divided in P1, P2 and P3. Prolateral process with two processes (P2, P3) as in M. petrunkevitchi (Figs 8D, 29A) or three (M. tayrona n. sp.; Figs 4C, 30E), P1 a distal spur, P2 a strong spine with normal base, P2 with double spines (M. yacambu n. sp.; Figs 12F, 29D); P3 with two strong spines emerging from same base (M. tayrona n. sp.; Figs 22E, 30E); P3 with only one spine on projected base (M. petrunkevitchi, M. amarumayu n. sp. and M. mutum n. sp.; Figs 16C, 30B). In addition, P1, P2 and P3 are developed in Masteria toddae Raven, 1991 and M. franzi Raven, 1991 (See Raven, 1979, figs 18¯19; Raven 1991, fig. 60). Metatarsus of leg I with a basal depression (BD) associated with prolateral process of tibia I, with a flattened basal spine (BS) as in Masteria tayrona n. sp. (Figs 4C, 30E); BD absent only in M. barona (Fig. 9D). Trichobothria with filiform setae, corrugated bases, with longitudinal keels along entire length (Fig. 1E). Trichobothria: legs with one dorsal row on tarsus and two on metatarsus (one dorsal and one dorso-retrolateral) (Fig. 4D) and two dorsal rows on tibia; palp with one row on tarsus and two on tibia. Abdomen with oval booklung openings. Posterior median spinnerets short with spigots on apex, australotheline crescent present. Posterior lateral spinnerets three-segmented, long, apical segment with digitiform apex, spigots on ventral face (major ampulate spigots, aciniform spigots and pumpkiniform spigots). Female palp with one or two ventral spines on basal tarsus, tarsal claw with one central row of teeth (13̄22). Male palp: cymbium with apical spines (2̄5) and short prolateral lobe (Fig. 5). Palpal tibia with retrolateral group of spines or setae, located in median region (Fig. 25D) or basally (M. petrunkevitchi Fig. 8C). Male bulb piriform (Fig. 14B), elongate (Fig. 9B) or globose (Fig. 23B–C), with paraembolic apophysis in M. simla, M. spinosa, M. sabrinae n. sp., M. galipote n. sp., M. toddae (Raven, 1979, figs 24̄25, 27), M. franzi (Raven, 1991, figs 62̄63), embolus short (smaller than tegulum) (Fig. 15B) or elongate (longer than tegulum) (Fig. 10C). Female genitalia: two spermathecae, with one (Fig. 8E), two (Fig. 6A, B), three (Fig. 10F) or four lobes (Fig. 12D–E); M. tayrona n. sp. has five lobes on one side and four on the other (Fig. 22F).
Species included. M. lucifuga (Simon, 1889), M. spinosa (Petrunkevitch, 1925), M. petrunkevitchi (Chickering, 1964), M. lewisi (Chickering, 1964), M. barona (Chickering, 1966), M. downeyi (Chickering, 1966), M. simla (Chickering, 1966), M. colombiensis Raven, 1981, M. pecki Gertsch, 1982, M. aimeae (Alayón, 1995), M. golovatchi (Alayón, 1995), M. manauara Bertani, Cruz & Oliveira, 2013; M. amarumayu n. sp., M. mutum n. sp., M. yacambu n. sp., M. sabrinae n. sp., M. tayrona n. sp., M. aguaruna n. sp., M. soucouyant n. sp., M. galipote n. sp., M. hirsuta L. Koch, 1893, M. caeca (Simon, 1892), M. cavicola (Simon, 1892), M. franzi Raven, 1991, M. kaltenbachi Raven, 1991, M. macgregori (Rainbow, 1898), M. pallida (Kulczynski, 1908), M. modesta (Simon, 1892), M. toddae Raven, 1979.
Misplaced species. Masteria emboaba Pedroso et al. (2015) was described from caves from the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. After the morphological study of material from the type locality, we noted the presence of six vestigial eyes (and not two, as in the original description), australotheline crescent absent, no corrugated trichobothria and different serrula conformation. Thus, the species does not belong to Masteriinae, but to Micromygalinae Platnick & Forster 1982, as it has serrula teeth clumped into series and scales on cuticle (see Platnick & Forster, 1982, figs 2̄5, 8). A paper with the description of several Brazilian specimens of Micromygalinae is being prepared.
Unrecognizable species. The type material of Masteria modesta Simon (1892) is probably lost as it was not found in the MNHN. We have not been able to obtain additional material from Saint Vincent Island. Therefore, this species is herein considered as species inquirendae.
Distribution. Melanesia, Micronesia, Australia, and Neotropical region, from the Antilles and Continental Central America to the Amazonian region of South America.
description: Published as part of Passanha, Victor & Brescovit, Antonio D., 2018, On the Neotropical spider Subfamily Masteriinae (Araneae, Dipluridae), pp. 1-73 in Zootaxa 4463 (1) on pages 8-9, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1441911