Micaria rivonosy Booysen & Haddad 2021, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Booysen, Ruan
name: Haddad, Charles R.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Gnaphosidae
Micaria
Micaria rivonosy

description: Micariarivonosy sp. nov.
Figs 33, 161 – 162
Type material. Holotype: ♀, MADAGASCAR: Toamasina: SF Tampolo, 10 km NNE Fenoarivonosy Atn., litter sifting, littoral forest, leaf litter, 10 ma.s.l., 17°17’S, 49°26’E, leg. B.L. Fischer, 4.IV.1997 (CAS, CASENT 9078551).
Etymology. The species name is derived from the type locality and is a word from one of the native languages: rivo refers to Fenoarivo and “nosy” is from the Malagasy word nosy, which means island.
Diagnosis. Micaria rivonosy sp. nov. females can be distinguished from other Afrotropical Micaria, such as M. chrysis, in having a broad, weakly recurved anterior hood, thus giving the appearance of a smaller atrium. The copulatory ducts are closer to each other as well. Lastly, the abdomen’s dorsal pattern (formed by the longitudinal scutum and the transverse light brown band) forms an upside–down “T” and as a result three dark brown quadrants. This differs from M. durbana, sp. nov., in which the posterior half of the abdomen is much lighter in colour than the anterior half. Male unknown.
Description. Female (holotype from Fenoarivonosy, Madagascar, CAS, CASENT 9078551): Measurements: TL 2.50, CL 1.13, CW 0.68, CL:CW 1.66, CLH 0.05, CLH:AME 1.2, MOQAW 0.09, MOQPW 0.13, MOQL 0.16. Eyes: ALE 0.04, AME 0.04, PLE 0.06, PME 0.05, AME–AME 0.01, PME–PME 0.03. SL 0.64, SW 0.40, AL 1.38, AW 0.68. Leg measurements: Palpal segment lengths: 0.75, 0.23, 0.25, 0.29. Leg I: 0.76, 0.32, 0.56, 0.51, 0.48. II: 0.68, 0.30, 0.55, 0.55, 0.51. III: 0.51, 0.25, 0.41, 0.52, 0.35. IV: 0.87, 0.35, 0.75, 0.78, 0.44. TLoflegs (I–IV): 2.63, 2.59, 2.04, 3.19; leg formula: 4123.
Colouration carapace dark brown; abdomen dark brown to black; legs with femur Idarkened up to two–thirds, rest of leg light in colour; legs II–IV uniform in colour; endites, labium and chelicerae similar in colour to carapace (Fig. 33). Carapace: smooth in texture; decorated with squamose setae; broad, somewhat rectangular dark pat tern medially with radiating dark lines; fovea absent; posterior margin straight; anterior margin narrowing slightly from coxa I; PER recurved in dorsal view, AER recurved in anterior view. Chelicerae: decorated with plumose setae. Labium: triangular in shape; row of transverse setae present near tip. Endites: slanting inwards, constricted just above halfway; cluster of setae present on inner–apical margin. Sternum: light brown to yellow in colour; shield-like; broadest between coxa Iand II; posterior margin tapering towards point behind coxa IV. Legs: femora of all legs laterally flattened, highest at base, leg Imore pronounced in this fashion; rest of legs normal, thin. Leg macrosetae: Palps: 1pl, 2pl, 1pl, 1plv, 2rlv, 3vt. Leg I: 1pl, 2plv, 2rlv, 1plv, 1rlv. II: 1d. III: 1do, 1pl, 1plv, 1vt, 3vt. IV: 1do, 1plv, 1pl, 1plv, 2vt. Legs I–IV with two rows of scopulate setae on metatarsi and four rows on tarsi. Abdomen: cylindrical in shape, wrinkly in texture on anterior half; constricted medially and decorated with squamose setae; dorsal transverse white band present medially; longitudinal line is formed by scutum perpendicular to fband; venter similar in colour to dorsum; sigilla not visible. Epigyne: in ventral view, anterior hood continuous, weakly recurved; posterior pockets present medially, curved. In dorsal view, copulatory ducts elongate, thin, curled at apex, close to each other; copulatory openings at curled apex; fertilisation duct projecting from median interior margin of spermathecae, elongate, curved; spermathecae globular, anterior apical margin flattened, merging with anterior ridge of fertilisation duct (Figs 161, 162).
Distribution. Micaria rivonosy sp. nov. is only known from the type locality, and is the only species recorded from Madagascar so far (Map 5).
description: Published as part of Booysen, Ruan & Haddad, Charles R., 2021, Revision and molecular phylogeny of the spider genus Micaria Westring, 1851 (Araneae: Gnaphosidae) in the Afrotropical Region, pp. 1-82 in Zootaxa 4940 (1) on pages 63-64, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4940.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4580917