Pinkfloydia rixi Hormiga 2017, new species
Creators: name: Hormiga, Gustavo
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Tetragnathidae
Pinkfloydia
Pinkfloydia rixi

description: Pinkfloydia rixi new species
(Figs. 1, 2A–E, 3A–E)
Types. Australia: NSW: Macquarie Pass National Park, off Clover Hill Road, 828 m (ArPTC#30), 34° 34’05”S: 150° 39’25”E (WGS84), 8 April 2010, M.G. Rix & D. Harms. Sifting /beating in subtropical rainforest and handcollecting at night. Male (holotype, DNA voucher) and two females (paratypes)(GH1602)(Australian Museum).
Etymology. The species epithet is a patronym in honor of Australian arachnologist Michael G. Rix, collector of this and many other new species of arachnids from Australia, in recognition of his contributions to spider systematics.
Diagnosis. Adult males of Pinkfloydia rixi n. sp. differ from those of P. harveii Dimitrov & Hormiga, 2011 in the embolus diameter, particularly as seen in apical view, clearly thinner and more slender in P. rixi (Figs. 2A, 3A, B); in addition, the embolus denticles are placed more basally in P. harveii (Fig. 2 F, 3G) than in P. rixi (Figs. 2A, 3B). These two species also differ in the shape of the apical process of the paracymbium, wider and more acute in the apex in P. harveii (Figs. 2 F, 3H) than in P. rixi (Figs. 2A, 3C) and of the medial process (more rounded in P. harveii and with a basal bulge in P. rixi). There are no conspicuous differences in the epigyna of these two species.
Description. Male (holotype; Figs. 1A, B, E, 2A–D, 3A–C): Total body length 2.88. Cephalothorax 1.51 long, 1.07 wide, 1.29 high. Sternum 0.71 long, 0.67 wide. Abdomen 1.55 long, 1.25 wide, 1.04 high. Cephalothorax, chelicerae and sternum brown; carapace and sternum margins darker, cephalic region medially lighter. Fovea well marked, with darker coloration. Eyes placed on a conically elevated and slightly projected forward cephalic region, with dark pigmentation around the lens; PME on short elevations, larger than the rest (Figs. 1A, E). Lateral eyes juxtaposed. Distance between AME 1.3 times one AME diameter; between AME and ALE 0.83 an AME diameter. Distance between PME 3.42 PME diameters. Lateral eyes placed close to the PME. Clypeus height 2.91 times one AME diameter. Chelicerae slender, elongated and cylindrical (Figs. 1E), with three anterior and two posterior teeth. Paturon cuticle rugose. Abdomen oval, longer than wide, with grey-brownish coloration and some guanine spots, more laterally. Dorsally with a darker band medially delimited by two clearer dorso-lateral bands. Caudal tubercle more darkly pigmented (Figs. 1A, B). Ventrally abdomen lighter, with few small darker spots. Legs yellowish, II– IV annulated, leg I faintly annulated. Femur I 1.94 long; 1.28 times the length of the cephalothorax. Palp (Figs. 2A–D) with a long tibia, slightly shorter than cymbium (Figs. 2B–D). Patella without macrosetae (Figs. 2B–D). Paracymbium large and ventrally displaced with two distinctive black, long and thick macrosetae (Figs. 2A, 3A, C). Cymbial ecto-basal process very long with pointed tip, strongly sclerotized (Figs. 2A, B, 3A, C). Cymbial ectomedian process with transparent rim and numerous cuspules dorsally (Figs. 2C, D). Embolus with large metaine embolic apophysis, rectangular, with a pointed and folded laminar apical edge (Figs. 2A, 3A, B). Conductor with blunt tip narrower than its base (Figs. 2A, 3A, B).
Female (paratype; specimen with epigynum not dissected; Figs. 1C, D, F): Total body length 3.80. Cephalothorax 1.90 long, 1.26 wide, 1.26 high. Sternum 0.77 long, 0.70 wide. Abdomen 2.36 long, 1.86 wide, 1.68 high. Coloration pattern and eyes distribution as in males. Sternum 0.75 long, 0.73 wide. Chelicerae with three anterior and two posterior teeth. Paturon of similar proportions to male’s, with smooth cuticle (Fig. 1F). Clypeus height 2.15 times an AME diameter. Legs brown-yellowish; femur I 1.93, 1.01 times the length of cephalothorax. Epigynum well sclerotized plate, light brown (Figs. 2E). Epigynal plate flattened, with numerous cuticular pores (Figs. 2E, 3D, E). Copulatory ducts well sclerotized, opening on the ventral side of the epigynum and entering the spermathecae at their base (Fig. 3E). Fertilization ducts membranous, originating very close to the copulatory duct entrance in spermathecae (Fig. 3E). Spermathecae oval, weakly sclerotized, sack-like and partially collapsed in the illustration (Fig. 3E).
Variation. Female cephalothorax length varies from 1.90–2.13 (n = 2). Female total body length ranges from 3.80 to 4.04 (n = 2).
Natural history. Collected sifting leaf litter in a subtropical forest in eastern Australia, where it is predicted to build orb-webs, like its sister species from Western Australia (P. harveii) although no direct observations exist (see Rix & Harvey 2011: fig. 44C for a photograph of the habitat of P. rixi n. sp. at Macquarie Pass National Park).
Distribution. Known only from the type locality in the eastern part of New South Wales.
Additional specimens studied. Only the type series.
description: Published as part of Hormiga, Gustavo, 2017, The discovery of the orb-weaving spider genus Pinkfloydia (Araneae, Tetragnathidae) in eastern Australia with description of a new species from New South Wales and comments on the phylogeny of Nanometinae, pp. 480-490 in Zootaxa 4311 (4) on page 482, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4311.4.2, http://zenodo.org/record/848353