Alpaida losamigos Deza & Andía, 2014, new species
Creators: name: Deza, Mariajosé
name: Andía, Juan Manuel
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Araneidae
Alpaida
Alpaida losamigos

description: Alpaida losamigos new species
(Figures 1–9, 34–36)
Type material. Female holotype from PERU: Madre de Dios, Cuenca Río Los Amigos, CICRA (Los Amigos ACCA Biological Station), 12º34′07″ S 70º05′ 57″W, Sep. 24, 2005, M. Deza coll., deposited in MEKRB (UAAr- 694/2005); same label data, three female paratypes (UAAr-104/2005).
Additional material examined. None.
Etymology. The specific name is a noun in apposition taken from type locality.
Diagnosis. The female is distinguished from all Alpaida except A. delicata and A. sulphurea (see Levi 1988, figs. 472−473, 640−643), by the shape of epigynum, which has a slightly curved posterior margin and median lobe (Fig. 6); it differs from A. delicata by the posterior median plate narrower (Fig. 7) and by the larger median lobe (Fig. 6); it differs from A. sulphurea also by the narrow posterior median plate in posterior view and by lacking abdominal spines (Figs. 1−3).
Description. Female (holotype): Carapace orange white with a dark V – shaped mark. Margins of thoracic area dark (Fig 4). Eye measurements: AME 0.15, ALE 0.11, PME 0.14, PLE 0.12, AME-ALE 0.40, PME-PLE 0.47, AME-AME 0.11, PME-PME 0.12. Chelicerae pale orange with three retromarginal and four promarginal teeth; sternum pale orange with a dark central spot; labium, endites light orange (Fig. 5). Legs yellowish white with dark marks covering 2/3 distal parts of each article, except femora. Abdomen elongate, narrower at the end, with three pairs of indistinct black-spotted humps. Dorsum of abdomen light brown with a longitudinal white guanine central band with irregular borders, and several guanine spots on the sides (Figs. 1, 3). Venter with a rectangular light brown mark, spinnerets brown (Fig. 2). Epigynum square or slightly longer than wide, with thick transverse lip and wide median lobe (Fig. 6); in posterior view, the sides of median plate are very convex (Fig. 7); spermathecae spherical; fertilization ducts slightly curved and divergent, antero-dorsally directed (Fig. 8); copulatory ducts in dorsal posterior position relative to spermathecae (Fig. 9). Total length 7.74; carapace length 2.53, width 1.97; clypeus height 0.08; sternum length 1.17, width 0.97; abdomen length 5.45, width 2.43, height 2.60. Leg formula I/ IV/II/III. Leg lengths (I/II/III/IV): femur 2.73/2.33/1.67/2.83; patella 1.07/0.90/0.67/0.87; tibia 2.23/1.80/1.10/ 2.03; metatarsus 2.40/1.97/1.13/2.20; tarsus 1.10/0.93/0.78/0.98; total leg 9.53/7.93/5.35/8.91.
Male. Unknown.
Variation. Females vary in carapace length from 2.48 to 2.53 (n=4).
Natural history. These spiders were collected in the understory, during night and day, in the dry season. Habitat is a warm, humid and seasonal forest; with pronounced rainfall between three to four months in rainy season (December–March). This area functions as biological corridor connecting the Manu National Park with the Tambopata National Reserve (Rosenthal et al., 2012).
Distribution. Only known from the type locality (Cuenca Río Los Amigos, Madre de Dios, Peru).
description: Published as part of Deza, Mariajosé & Andía, Juan Manuel, 2014, Two new species of the orb-weaving spider genus Alpaida (Araneae, Araneidae) from Peru, pp. 67-77 in Zootaxa 3827 (1) on page 68, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3827.1.6, http://zenodo.org/record/286492