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

description: Smeringopus sederberg new species
Figs. 426–427, 439, 445–446, 461–462, 483–486
Type. Male holotype from South Africa, Western Cape Province, Clanwilliam Distr., Sederberg [~ 32°24’S, 19°06’E], “dans humus sous buissons ou de grosses pierres”, vii.1958 (J. Smith), in MRAC (124946).
Etymology. The name is a noun in apposition, derived from the type locality.
Diagnosis. Distinguished from similar congeners by shapes of procursus (distal structures, Figs. 483, 484), bulb (processes of embolus, Figs. 485, 486), very lateral cheliceral apophyses (Fig. 439; similar S. hypocrita and S. atomarius), and shape of epigynum (Fig. 461; simple plate with small round pockets in very lateral position, like S. hypocrita).
Male (holotype). Total body length 4.7, carapace width 1.7. Leg 1: 37.9 (10.3 + 0.7 + 9.9 + 14.8 + 2.2), tibia 2: 7.3, tibia 3: 5.6, tibia 4: 8.0; tibia 1 L/d: 51. Habitus as in Figs. 426 and 427. Carapace ochre-yellow with brown median and lateral marks, clypeus with pair of dark stripes, sternum ochre-yellow with brown pattern, leg femora and tibiae with indistinct darker subdistal rings, abdomen ochre-gray with distinct dorsal and ventral pattern. Distance PME-PME 140 µm, diameter PME 135 µm, distance PME-ALE 70 µm, distance AME-AME 55 µm, diameter AME 115 µ m. Ocular area slightly elevated, secondary eyes with small ‘pseudo-lenses’; deep thoracic pit. Chelicerae as in S. hypocrita (cf. Figs. 478, 479). Palps as in Figs. 445 and 446, coxa with distinct retrolateral apophysis, trochanter barely modified, femur with retrolateral furrow with distinct proximal rim, procursus with distinctive distal processes (Figs. 483, 484), bulb with distinctive complex embolus (Figs. 485, 486; very similar S. hypocrita). Legs without spines, few vertical hairs, with curved hairs on tibiae and metatarsi 1 and 2; retrolateral trichobothrium on tibia 1 at 2.5%; prolateral trichobothrium present on tibia 1. Gonopore with two epiandrous spigots.
Variation. In the male from Mamre, the distinctive projection on the embolus (arrow in Fig. 485) is even more pronounced; in the male from Constantia Neck, the prolateral process on the procursus (arrow in Fig. 484) is slightly wider. In some males, the dark color pattern is in general much more distinct. Tibia 1 in 4 other males: 9.7, 10.0, 10.1, 12.3.
Female. In general similar to male; tibia 1 in 9 females: 8.6–11.5 (mean 9.7). Epigynum a simple plate with round pockets in very lateral position (Fig. 461; similar S. hypocrita); internal genitalia also similar S. hypocrita (Fig. 462).
Distribution. Widely distributed in southwestern South Africa (Fig. 475).
Material examined. SOUTH AFRICA: Western Cape Prov.: Clanwilliam Distr., Sederberg: 1♂ type above, together with 1♀. Mamre [33°31’S, 18°28’E], fynbos, ix.1999 (T.v.d. Berdt), 1♂ in NCP (99/328). Ladismith, “Gans Kap 136” (33°39’, 21°01’E), 28.x.1987 (L.N. Lotz), 2♂ 3♀ + juvs. in NMBA (2605). Constantia Neck [34°00.7’S, 18°24.3’E], 11.iii.2001 (G. Binford), 1♂ in ZFMK (Ar 8563). [Near] Prince Albert (33°10’S, 22°15’E), 1.ii.1996 (W. Pulawski), 3♀ 4 juvs. in CAS. Northern Cape Prov.: Deelfontein [30°59.4’S, 23°48.1’E], no date, collector unreadable, 1♂ 3♀ in BMNH.
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 77-79, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3461.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6415657