Modisimus macaya Huber & Fischer & Astrin 2010, SP. NOV.
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 macaya

description: MODISIMUS MACAYA HUBER & FISCHER SP. NOV.   
(Figs 6, 14, 54, 75, 163–165, 199)  
 Type: Male holotype from Macaya B. R., at 18°20.4 ′ N, 74°00.9 ′ W, Dept Sud, Haiti; broadleaf forest patch in ravine, 1290 m a.s.l., domed webs in escarpment of ravine, 29 November 2007 (B.A. Huber), in ZFMK (Haiti 42a).   
 Etymology: The species name refers to the type locality; it is used as a noun in apposition.   
 Diagnosis: Large species with distinctive epigynum shape (Fig. 54), few or no spines on male femora.   
 Male (holotype): Total length, 4.3; carapace width, 1.7. Leg 1: 42.4 (10.4 + 0.8 + 10.5 + 16.5 + 4.2); tibia 2, 7.3; tibia 3, 5.9; tibia 4, 7.4. Tibia 1 L/d: 54. Habitus as in Figure 6, carapace pale ochre with brown lateral marks posteriorly, thoracic furrow also dark brown, posteriorly indistinct brown spot; ocular area and clypeus brown; sternum medially brown with small light spots, pale ochre-yellow laterally; legs light brown, darker rings subdistally on femora and tibiae, and in patella area; abdomen bluish grey, densely covered with black spots dorsally (except heart area) and laterally, with a few small bluish white spots; genital area with narrow transverse brown plate, area in front of spinnerets light brown. Ocular area strongly elevated; thoracic furrow distinct. PME– PME, 175 Mm; PME diameter, 170 Mm; PME–ALE, 210 Mm; AME–AME, 25 Mm; AME diameter, 25 Mm. Sternum wider than long (1.1/0.8), unmodified. Chelicerae with ~20 modified hairs on each side, some of them on small elevation (Fig. 164). Palps as in Figure 163, coxa with retrolateral apophysis, femur with rounded proximal and pointed distal ventral apophyses, procursus without dorsal spine-like process. Legs without spines; all femora with many short vertical hairs; curved hairs on all tibiae and metatarsi; retrolateral trichobothrium of tibia 1 at 10%; prolateral trichobothrium missing on tibia 1, present on all other tibiae. Tarsus 1 with ~35 pseudosegments.   
 Variation: Other male from type locality with two small spines distally on femur 2. Tibia 1 in two other males: 10.4 and 10.6. A further male from near the type locality has the cheliceral elevation much more proximally; it is assigned tentatively (both tibiae 1 missing in this specimen, tibia 2: 6.7).   
 Female: In general, similar to male, dark rings on femora preceded by additional light rings, with light margins on sternum missing in some females. Tibia 1 in five females: 6.7–8.1 (mean 7.4). Epigynum, simple transversal sclerite, whitish posteriorly and medially (Fig. 54); dorsal view as in Figures 75 and 165.   
 Distribution and habitat: Known from Macaya Biosphere Reserve only (Fig. 199). This species was found in sheltered places close to the ground, also at rocks and soil in the embankment of a ravine (Fig. 14).   
 Material examined: Haiti: Dept Sud, Macaya B. R.: 1♂, holotype above; same data, 1♂ and 4♀ (ZFMK, Haiti 42/43); same data, 6♀, in pure ethanol (ZFMK, Haiti 77); same data, one juvenile, in pure ethanol (ZFMK, Haiti 84); ravine with some broadleaf trees in pine forest (18°20.5 ′ N, 74°01.0 ′ W), 1350 m a.s.l., 30 November 2007 (B.A. Huber), 3♀ and two juveniles in pure ethanol (ZFMK, Haiti 62); broadleaf forest patch, at 18°20.6 ′ N, 74°01.0 ′ W, 1400 m a.s.l., near ground, 30 November 2007 (B.A. Huber), 1♂ and one juvenile (ZFMK, Haiti 21); broadleaf forest at river, at 18°21.2 ′ N, 74°02.3 ′ W, 1220 m a.s.l., near ground, 1 December 2007 (B.A. Huber), 1♀ and two juveniles (ZFMK, Haiti 44).   
 Assigned tentatively: Macaya B. R., ravine at 18°20.2 ′ N, 74°01.3 ′ W, 1220 m a.s.l., 1 December 2007 (B.A. Huber), 1♂ (ZFMK, Haiti 39).
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 page 280, DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00559.x, http://zenodo.org/record/5438272