Pisaboa lionzae Huber 2020, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Huber, Bernhard A.
name: Villarreal, Osvaldo
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Pholcidae
Pisaboa
Pisaboa lionzae

description: Pisaboa lionzae Huber sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 448EB909-BF2F-4E09-BC04-6746B571529E
Figs 745–746, 758–762, 767–769, 1063
Diagnosis
Distinguished from known congeners by shape of procursus (Figs 758–760; wide in lateral view, narrow and strongly bent in dorsal view; with distinctive distal elements; more S-shaped in lateral view than in very similar P. fombonai Huber sp. nov.), by shape of genital bulb (very similar to P. fombonai Huber sp. nov.; cf. Figs 754–756), and by shape of epigynal plate (Fig. 767; anterior plate oval with pair of deep pockets in anterior half; with pair of whitish processes in front of epigynum), and by internal female genitalia (Figs 762, 768–769; long narrow pore plates; distinctive shape of anterior putative receptacle). From very similar P. fombonai Huber sp. nov. also by more proximal position of male cheliceral apophyses (Fig. 761).
Etymology
This species is named for María Lionza, a central figure in one of the most widespread indigenous religions in Venezuela that blends African, indigenous, and Catholic beliefs.
Type material
VENEZUELA – Mérida • ♂ holotype, ZFMK (Ar 22074), forest above Mesa Bolívar (8.467° N, 71.614° W), 1300 m a.s.l., 12 Feb. 2020 (B.A. Huber, O. Villarreal M., Q. Arias C.).
Other material examined
VENEZUELA – Mérida • 6 ♀♀, ZFMK (Ar 22075), and 3 ♀♀ in pure ethanol, ZFMK (Ven20-133), same collection data as for holotype.
Description
Male (holotype)
MEASUREMENTS. Total body length 2.3, carapace width 1.0. Distance PME–PME 80 µm; diameter PME 100 µm; distance PME–ALE 80 µm; distance AME–AME 20 µm; diameter AME 25 µm. Leg 1: 25.9 (6.0 +0.4 +6.2+11.5 + 1.8), tibia 2: 3.6, tibia 3: 2.7, tibia 4: 3.4; tibia 1 L/d: 69; femora 1–4 approximately same maximum diameter (0.20–0.22).
COLOR (in ethanol). Carapace pale ochre-yellow, with dark ochre median mark behind ocular area and two pairs of dark ochre lateral marks; ocular area medially light, posterior lateral margins dark ochre; clypeus with large dark mark below ocular area; sternum medially ochre-yellow, laterally with pair of darker ochre marks, anteriorly whitish; legs ochre-yellow, with indistinct dark rings on femora (subdistally) and tibiae (proximally, subdistally); abdomen greenish-gray, with dark and whitish internal marks, ventrally with light brown plate in front of gonopore.
BODY. Habitus as in Fig. 745. Ocular area moderately raised. Carapace with shallow but distinct thoracic groove. Clypeus unmodified. Sternum wider than long (0.72/0.44), with pair of very low whitish and elongate humps anteriorly. Abdomen slightly elongated, pointed at spinnerets.
CHELICERAE. As in Fig. 761, with pair of articulated apophyses frontally.
PALPS. In general very similar to P. silvae and P. mapiri (cf. Huber 2000: figs 1137, 1143, 1146); largely indistinguishable from P. fombonai Huber sp. nov. but larger (femur length: 400 vs 310 µm; tibia length: 380 vs 300 µm; bulb length: 640 vs 440 µm); coxa with large retrolateral-ventral apophysis, trochanter barely modified, femur proximally with retrolateral process, distally widening, with short finger-shaped ventral process; tarsus with two short rounded processes dorsally; procursus (Figs 758–760) wide and slightly S-shaped in lateral view, narrow and strongly bent in dorsal view, with distinctive distal elements; genital bulb largely identical to P. fombonai Huber sp. nov. (cf. Figs 754–756).
LEGS. Without spines and curved hairs; with vertical hairs in high density on all tibiae; retrolateral trichobothrium of tibia 1 at 6%; prolateral trichobothrium absent on tibia 1; tarsus 1 with ~25 pseudosegments, distally fairly distinct.
Female
In general similar to male (Fig. 746) but sternum dark brown, dark rings on legs more distinct; sternum without humps but with longer hairs than in male, especially posteriorly; vertical hairs on tibiae in usual low density. Tibia 1 in nine females: 3.9–4.8 (mean 4.3). Epigynum (Fig. 767) oval light brown plate, posteriorly weakly protruding, with pair of deep pockets in anterior half; internal structures partly visible in uncleared specimens; with short but wide posterior plate and pair of low whitish processes in front of epigynum. Internal genitalia (Figs 762, 768–769) with long narrow pore plates, distinctive shape of anterior putative receptacle (W-shaped).
Distribution
Known from type locality only, in Venezuela, Mérida (Fig. 1063).
Natural history
The spiders were collected in a well-preserved forest along a small stream. All specimens were found ~ 1–2 m above the ground, in masses of dead leaves suspended among the twigs or lianas, one specimen in a dead Heliconia leaf, one specimen on a tree trunk. Adults and juveniles looked similar and occupied the same microhabitat.
description: Published as part of Huber, Bernhard A. & Villarreal, Osvaldo, 2020, On Venezuelan pholcid spiders (Araneae, Pholcidae), pp. 1-317 in European Journal of Taxonomy 718 on pages 216-219, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2020.718.1101, http://zenodo.org/record/4069574