Modisimus paraiso 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 paraiso

description: MODISIMUS PARAISO HUBER SP. NOV.   
(Figs 10, 37, 62, 192–194, 201)  
 Type: Male holotype from ~ 7 km north-west of Paraíso (18°02.4 ′ N, 71°11.6 ′ W; ~ 180 m a.s.l.), Barahona Prov., Dominican Republic; forest near river, in vegetation about 0.5–2 m above the ground, from sheet webs connected to undersides of leaves, 7 December 2007 (B.A. Huber), in ZFMK (Haiti 53a).   
 Etymology: The species name refers to the type locality; it is used as a noun in apposition.   
 Diagnosis: Medium-sized, pale-greenish, long-legged species, with six eyes, easily distinguished from close relatives (M. palvet sp. nov., M. miri sp. nov., and M. berac sp. nov.) and other congeners by long male cheliceral apophyses (Fig. 193), simple rod-shaped procursus (Fig. 192), and distinctive dorsal projection on bulb (Fig. 192).   
 Male (holotype): Total length, 2.1; carapace width, 0.80. Leg 1: 24.4 (5.7 + 0.3 + 5.9 + 10.2 + 2.3); tibia 2, 3.8; tibia 3, 2.7; tibia 4, 3.1. Tibia 1 L/d: 74. Habitus as in Figures 10, 37, carapace pale ochre-yellow, clypeus light brown with darker lateral bands, sternum whitish with pair of darker lateral areas frontally; legs pale ochre-yellow with darker patella area and tibia–metatarsus joints; abdomen ochre-grey with several large white spots dorsally. Ocular area elevated; thoracic furrow distinct, but shallow. PME– PME, 105 Mm; PME diameter, 80 Mm; PME–ALE, 95 Mm; no AME. Sternum wider than long (0.55/0.45), unmodified. Chelicerae with pair of long apophyses (Fig. 193). Palps as in Figure 192, coxa with retrolateral apophysis, trochanter with small ventral projection, femur strongly widened distally, with proximal flap retrolaterally and distal apophysis ventrally; procursus very simple, without dorsal membranous structures, bulb with distinctive dorsal projection, prominent curved apophysis, and membranous embolus area. Legs with three or four long, and more than 30 short, spines on femur 1, many short vertical hairs on all femora; without curved hairs; retrolateral trichobothrium on tibia 1 at 9%; prolateral trichobothrium missing on tibia 1, present on all other tibiae; tarsus 1 with more than 30 pseudosegments, distally fairly distinct.   
 Variation: Some males with distinct purple mark on abdomen medially; some males without white spots on abdomen. Tibia 1 in five other males: 5.8–6.9 (mean 6.3).   
 Female: In general similar to male, but paler, and clypeus with dark V-shaped mark. Tibia 1 in eight females: 3.6–4.8 (mean 4.1). Epigynum, very simple externally (Fig. 62); dorsal view as in Figure 194.   
 Distribution: Known from type locality only (Fig. 201).   
 Material examined: Dominican Republic: Barahona Prov., ~ 7 km north-west of Paraiso, 1♂, holotype above; same data, 8♂ and 11♀ (ZFMK, Haiti 53); same data, 4♂ and 1♀, in pure ethanol (ZFMK, Haiti 98); same locality (7 km north-west of Paraiso), 200 m a.s.l., rainforest remnant, sweeping, 27 November 1991 (Masner & Peck), 1♂ and 2♀ (AMNH).
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 pages 291-293, DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00559.x, http://zenodo.org/record/5438272