Pholcophora texana Gertsch 1935
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 texana

description: Pholcophora texana Gertsch, 1935
Figs 3H–I, 19–24, 33I–J
Remark
For synonymy, type material, and redescription, see Huber (2000).
Diagnosis
Easily distinguished from known congeners by unique brush of modified hairs on male palpal femur (Fig. 19A, C) and by pair of round sacs in female internal genitalia (Fig. 22B–D); also by shape of procursus (Fig. 20C–E; tip in lateral view with wide transparent flap), by shape of distal bulbal process (Fig. 20F–H), and by indistinct plate in front of main epigynal plate (Fig. 21A, C).
Material examined (new record)
MEXICO – Hidalgo • 1 ♂, 1 ♀, 3 female abdomens; ~ 2.5 km SW of Jacala; 20.9948° N, 99.2138° W; 1430 m a.s.l.; 21 Oct. 2019; B.A. Huber and A. Valdez-Mondragón leg.; ZFMK Ar 23952 • 7 ♀♀, 2 juvs, in pure ethanol (three female prosomata used for molecular work, abdomens transferred to ZFMK Ar 23952); same collection data as for preceding; ZFMK Mex341 • 6 ♀♀, 2 juvs (subadult ♂♂); same collection data as for preceding; LATLAX.
Description (amendments; see Huber 2000)
Male
Measurements of male from SW of Jacala, Hidalgo (ZFMK Ar 23952): body length 1.75, carapace width 0.70; tibia 1 length 1.25, metatarsus 1 length 1.30, tibia 2 length 0.95, tibia 4 length 1.25. Distance PME-PME 70 µm; diameter PME 50 µm; distance PME-ALE 25 µm; distance AME-AME 15 µm; diameter AME 30 µm. Diameters of leg femora 0.14–0.16, of leg tibiae 0.08–0.09. Clypeus unmodified, but slightly more protruding than in female; clypeus rim to ALE 0.21. Distances between cheliceral stridulatory ridges proximally 2.0 µm, distally 3.2 µm. Sternum humps very distinct, ~0.08 long. Procursus as in Fig. 20C–E, with distinctive transparent element distally (barely visible in dissecting microscope); genital bulb as in Fig. 20F–H. Leg tibiae with slightly higher number of vertical hairs than in female (proximally on tibiae 1 and 2); prolateral trichobothrium absent on tibia 1. Tibia 1 in previously measured specimens: 0.72 (Gertsch 1982); 0.96, 0.97, 1.39 (Huber 2000).
Female
In general, similar to male but sternum without pair of anterior humps, and chelicerae without stridulatory files. Tibia 1 in 11 females from SW of Jacala: 0.90–1.18 (mean 1.03). Epigynum and internal female genitalia as in Figs 21, 22, 23C, with pair of receptacles (shape varies slightly with angle of view), without (or with very small?) pore plates.
Distribution
Apparently widely distributed in north-eastern Mexico, ranging into southern Texas (Fig. 2). However, the map in Fig. 2 includes four records that are based exclusively on females, i.e., the identifications should be verified (e.g., by collecting males or by sequencing specimens from these localities).
Natural history
The newly collected specimens were found under rocks on an arid hillside set with low thorn scrub (Fig. 34B).
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 29-31, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2023.880.2173, http://zenodo.org/record/8155472