Pholcophora papanoa Huber & Meng & Valdez-Mondragón & Král & Ávila Herrera & Carvalho 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Huber, Bernhard A.
name: Meng, Guanliang
name: Valdez-Mondragón, Alejandro
name: Král, Jiří
name: Ávila Herrera, Ivalú M.
name: Carvalho, Leonardo S.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Pholcidae
Pholcophora
Pholcophora papanoa

description: Pholcophora papanoa Huber sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: C2E5858B-2822-4630-BCEC-D34864087C0A
Figs 3F–G, 14– 18, 33E–F
Diagnosis
Distinguished from similar congeners (P. mazatlan sp. nov., P. mexcala, P. americana) by shape of male bulbal process (Fig. 15F–H; distinctive dorsal process, without ventral flap) and by shape of male cheliceral apophyses (Fig. 15A–B; long, directed upwards, without or with barely visible proximal humps); from very similar P. mazatlan also by main element of procursus more truncated (Fig. 15E), by male cheliceral apophyses less strongly directed upwards, and by thicker male leg femora (0.28–0.30 vs 0.18–0.20). From P. americana also by tip of procursus (semi-transparent process not widening distally) and by shape of epigynum (Fig. 16; main epigynal plate posteriorly straight).
Etymology
The species name is derived from the type locality; noun in apposition.
Type material
Holotype MEXICO – Guerrero • ♂; ~ 5 km S of Papanoa; 17.2711° N, 101.0328° W; 75 m a.s.l.; 4 Oct. 2019; B.A. Huber and A. Valdez-Mondragón leg.; low forest, leaf litter; LATLAX.
Paratypes MEXICO – Guerrero • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; same collection data as for holotype; ZFMK Ar 23945.
Other material examined
MEXICO – Guerrero • 3 ♀♀, 1 juv., in pure ethanol (one female used for SEM); same collection data as for holotype; ZFMK Mex216 • 3 ♀♀ abdomens, together with paratypes (prosomata used for molecular work); same collection data as for holotype; ZFMK Ar 23945 • 2 ♂♂ (partly used for µ-CT study); same collection data as for holotype; ZFMK Ar 23947 • 1 ♂ (partly used for karyotype analysis); same collection data as for holotype; ZFMK Ar 23948.
Description
Male (holotype)
MEASUREMENTS. Total body length 2.4, carapace width 1.05. Distance PME-PME 60 µm; diameter PME 70 µm; distance PME-ALE 30 µm; distance AME-AME 20 µm; diameter AME 40 µm. Leg 1: 5.30 (1.50 + 0.40 + 1.30 + 1.55 + 0.55), tibia 2: 1.15, tibia 3: 1.05, tibia 4: 1.50; tibia 1 L/d: 9; diameters of leg femora 0.28–0.30, of leg tibiae 0.14–0.15.
COLOUR (in ethanol). Prosoma and legs ochre-orange, no dark marks on carapace, leg femora distally darkened; abdomen grey with dark bluish internal marks; ventrally with light brown plate in front of gonopore.
BODY (Fig. 3F). Ocular area barely raised. Carapace with distinct but shallow thoracic groove. Clypeus unmodified, very short (clypeus rim to ALE: 0.24). Sternum slightly wider than long (0.68/0.58), heart-shaped (i.e., narrow posteriorly), with pair of distinct anterior processes near coxae 1. Abdomen globular.
CHELICERAE (Fig. 15A–B). With pair of long frontal apophyses; stridulatory files fine but clearly visible in dissecting microscope; distances between cheliceral stridulatory ridges proximally 3.0 µm, distally 3.8 µm.
PALPS (Fig. 14). Coxa unmodified; trochanter without process; femur proximally with retrolateral-ventral process and prolateral stridulatory pick, distally widened but simple, slightly curved towards dorsal; femur-patella joints slightly shifted toward prolateral side; tibia globular, with two trichobothria; procursus very simple (Fig. 15C–E), narrow distal part directed towards prolateral, with semi-transparent tip; genital bulb with distinctive dorsal process and sclerotized and membranous distal elements (Fig. 15F–H).
LEGS. Without spines and curved hairs; with vertical hairs in two narrow dorsal bands on all tibiae (length ~20 µm); length of dorsal trichobothrium on tibia 1: ~100 µm; retrolateral trichobothrium of tibia 1 at 57%; prolateral trichobothrium absent on tibia 1; tarsus 1 with ~7 pseudosegments, only distally 2–3 distinct.
Variation (male)
Tibia 1 in other male: 1.35.
Female
In general, similar to male (Fig. 3G) but sternum without pair of anterior humps, tibiae without higher than usual density of short vertical hairs, and chelicerae without stridulatory files. Tibia 1 in four females: 0.90, 0.90, 1.00, 1.05. Epigynum (Figs 16, 18C) with simple anterior plate protruding posteriorly; posterior plate wide, median part separated anteriorly from lateral parts by pair of whitish areas. Internal genitalia (Fig. 17) very simple, apparently without or with small and indistinct median receptacle, without or with very small pore plates.
Distribution
Known from type locality only, in Mexico, Guerrero (Fig. 2).
Natural history
The spiders were found in dry leaf litter in a low hillside forest (Fig. 34C). They shared the microhabitat with at least three further species of Pholcidae (Modisiminae): one representative of Modisimus Simon, 1893, one Anopsicus Chamberlin & Ivie, 1938, and one species of uncertain generic position.
description: Published as part of Huber, Bernhard A., Meng, Guanliang, Valdez-Mondragón, Alejandro, Král, Jiří, Ávila Herrera, Ivalú M. & Carvalho, Leonardo S., 2023, Short-legged daddy-long-leg spiders in North America: the genera Pholcophora and Tolteca (Araneae, Pholcidae), pp. 1-89 in European Journal of Taxonomy 880 (1) on pages 24-29, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2023.880.2173, http://zenodo.org/record/8155472