Smeringopus mayombe Huber 2012, new species
Creators: name: HUBER, BERNHARD A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Pholcidae
Smeringopus
Smeringopus mayombe

description: Smeringopus mayombe new species
Figs. 701, 715–717, 729–731
Type. Male holotype from Congo D.R., Congo Centrale Prov. (“Bas-Congo”), Mayombe, Luki Forest Reserve (5°37.3’S, 13°05.9’E), hand catch, edge of road near guest house, 4.xi.2006 (D. de Bakker, J.P. Michiels), in MRAC (221613 part).
Etymology. The name is a noun in apposition, derived from the type locality.
Diagnosis. Distinguished from similar congeners (other species of the thomensis species group) by shape of embolus (one large and one tiny apophysis arising from embolus; Figs. 729, 730; similar S. principe); from S. thomensis also by pair of sclerotized areas on posterior rim of epigynum (Fig. 715) and wider pore plates (Fig. 731); from S. principe also by absence of dorsal projection from procursus tip (procursus as in S. thomensis, cf. Figs. 719, 720). Easily distinguished from all other congeners by distinctive color pattern dorsally on abdomen (figure composed of three black elements on posterior half; Fig. 701).
Male (holotype). Total body length 6.1, carapace width 1.8. Leg 1: 53.3 (13.7 + 0.8 + 12.8 + 23.7 + 2.3), tibia 2: 8.7, tibia 3: 6.1, tibia 4: 8.5; tibia 1 L/d: 60. Habitus as in Fig. 701. Carapace ochre-yellow with light brown median mark and narrow lateral marks, clypeus distal half darker, sternum dark brown with small light spots, legs ochre-yellow, femora and tibiae with dark subdistal rings and light tips, abdomen grey with distinctive dorsal pattern, ventrally with dark anterior and posterior plates and three indistinct bands in median section. Distance PME-PME 125 µm, diameter PME 160 µm, distance PME-ALE 60 µm, distance AME-AME 25 µm, diameter AME 135 µm. Ocular area slightly elevated, secondary eyes with small dark ‘pseudo-lenses’; deep thoracic pit. Chelicerae with pair of small distal apophyses as in S. thomensis (cf. Fig. 721). Palps in general as in S. thomensis (cf. Figs. 705, 706), procursus not distinguishable (cf. Figs. 719, 720), only bulb different, with one large and one tiny dorsal processes (Figs. 729, 730). Legs without spines, few vertical hairs, without curved hairs, retrolateral trichobothrium on tibia 1 at 3%; prolateral trichobothrium present on tibia 1.
Variation. Tibia 1 in 3 other males: 10.9, 11.3, 11.3. Posterior part of median mark on carapace sometimes barely visible.
Female. In general similar to male; tibia 1 in 11 females: 6.7–11.3 (mean 9.7). Epigynum a simple, roughly triangular plate with pair of pockets and pair of sclerotized areas on posterior rim, transversal internal structure variably well visible, posterior plate semicircular (Figs. 715, 716); internal genitalia as in Figs. 717 and 731.
Distribution. Only known from type locality in western Congo D.R. (Fig. 718).
Material examined. CONGO D.R.: Congo Centrale Prov.: Mayombe, Luki Forest Reserve: type above, together with 2♀; same locality, fogging in primary rainforest, 4.–13.xi.2006 and 26.ix.–4.x.2007 (8 vials) 5♂ 13♀ in MRAC (parts of 219850, 219852–53, 219855, 224312, 224315, 224318–19); fogging in old secondary rainforest, 18.–25.ix.2007 (5 vials), 9♀ in MRAC (parts of 224304–07, 224311); beating in old secondary rainforest, 17.ix.2007 and 22.ix.2007 (2 vials), 3♂ 2♀ 1 juv. in MRAC (parts of 223120, 224308); beating in primary rainforest, 29.ix.2007, 1♀ in MRAC (223842 part); beating along trails near guest house, 9.xi.2006 and 19.ix.2007 (2 vials), 3♀ in MRAC (parts of 221618, 223761); central zone of Luki F. R., 26.–27.ix.2007 (W. Hubau), 1♀ in MRAC (222155 part).
description: Published as part of HUBER, BERNHARD A., 2012, Revision and cladistic analysis of the Afrotropical endemic genus Smeringopus Simon, 1890 (Araneae: Pholcidae), pp. 1-138 in Zootaxa 3461 (1) on pages 119-121, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3461.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6415657