Modisimus fuscus Bryant 1948
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 fuscus

description: MODISIMUS FUSCUS BRYANT, 1948   
(Figs 45, 68, 142–144, 198)  
 Modisimus fuscus Bryant, 1948: 368–369, figures 34, 36, 37, 45.   
 Types: Male holotype from Kenscoff [~ 18°27 ′ N, 72°17 ′ W; ~ 1500 m a.s.l.], Dept Ouest, Haiti; with labels ‘ Haiti; Kenskoff – 4500 ft., 12 Nov. 1934 – P.J. Darlington’ and ‘ Modisimus fuscus Bryant, ♂ – holotype B.0022’, in MCZ, examined. Female ‘allotype’ and male paratype from La Visite [~ 18°20 ′ N, 72°16 ′ W], Dept Sud-Est, Haiti; with labels ‘ Haiti; La Visite, 6-7000’, 16–23 Sept. 1934 – Darlington’ and ‘ Modisimus fuscus Bryant, ♀ allotype – ♂ paratype’, in MCZ, examined.   
 Diagnosis: Medium-sized species with low ocular area (similar to M. epepye sp. nov.), enlarged femora (similar to M. epepye sp. nov.), contiguous pore plates (Fig. 144; similar to M. epepye sp. nov.); distinguished from M. epepye sp. nov. by rings on legs, shape of epigynum (scape, Fig. 45), and pair of small apophyses on chelicerae (Fig. 143).   
 Male (Case Dent): Total length, 2.6; carapace width, 1.27. Leg 1: 3.7 + 0.5 + 3.6 + 4.5, tarsus missing; tibia 2, 2.4; tibia 3, 2.0; tibia 4, 2.4. Tibia 1 L/d: 23. Habitus in general similar to M. epepye sp. nov. (cf. Figs 23, 24), carapace ochre-yellow, with dark structure visible through cuticle posteriorly, ocular area and clypeus dark ochre; sternum ochre-yellow, darker behind labium frontally, and posteriorly; leg femora with three dark ochre and three light, wide rings, tibiae with dark rings proximally and subdistally; abdomen bluish grey, densely covered with dark spots dorsally and laterally, with a few white spots; dark-ochre transverse mark in genital area ventrally, dark plate in front of spinnerets. Ocular area only slightly elevated; thoracic furrow distinct and deep. PME– PME, 125 Mm; PME diameter, 95 Mm; PME–ALE, 105 Mm; AME–AME, 10 Mm; AME diameter, 20 Mm. Sternum wider than long (0.8/0.6), unmodified. Chelicerae with proximal round humps frontally, and a pair of small pointed apophyses, close to lamellae, distally (Fig. 143). Palps as in Figure 142, coxa with light retrolateral apophysis, femur with rounded proximal and long distal ventral apophyses, procursus simple, with membranous structures distally, but without dorsal spine-like process, bulb with large, weakly curved apophysis. Legs with relatively thick femora, no spines; retrolateral trichobothrium on tibia 1 at 23%; all femora with many short vertical hairs; curved hairs, especially on tibiae, but with fewer on femora and metatarsi; prolateral trichobothrium missing on tibia 1, present on all other tibiae.   
 Variation: Tibia 1 in other males: holotype, 3.5; paratype, 3.7. The types are in fair condition, but are more or less uniformly brown. In the holotype, the distal margin of the proximal male cheliceral hump is slightly more abrupt and distinct.   
 Female: In general similar to male, but with very long hairs posteriorly on sternum. Tibia 1 in all three females: 3.2. Epigynum, roughly triangular plate converging posteriorly (Fig. 45), with long hairs frontally that appear functionally related to the long sternum hairs; dorsal view as in Figures 68 and 144.   
 Distribution and habitat: Known from two localities in the Massive de la Selle, Haiti (Fig. 198). Near La Visite, this species was found in a thick layer of pine leaves overhanging the embankment of a ravine in the pine forest.   
 Material examined: Haiti: Dept Ouest, Kenscoff, 1♂, holotype above. Dept Sud-Est, La Visite, 1♂ and 1♀, paratypes above. ‘ Case Dent’ (18°20.2 ′ N, 72°16.4 ′ W) near La Visite, ravine in pine forest, 1880 m a.s.l., in small webs near the ground, 27 November 2007 (B.A. Huber), 1♂ and 2♀ (ZFMK, Haiti 3); same data, 2♀ and one juvenile, in pure ethanol (ZFMK, Haiti 66).
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 272-273, DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00559.x, http://zenodo.org/record/5438272