Phalangodus briareos Villarreal & García 2016, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Villarreal, Osvaldo
name: García, Andrés F.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Opiliones
Cranaidae
Phalangodus
Phalangodus briareos

description: Phalangodus briareos sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 2405BA41-E400-4525-B5C6-4E51A0BD75C9
Figs 4–6, 7 a–d, 18–19; Tables 1–2
Diagnosis
Phalangodus briareos sp. nov. can be distinguished from all other species of the genus (except P. cottus sp. nov.) by the distal pair of opposed spines on femur IV of males (Fig. 5c). Phalangodus briareos sp. nov. differs from P. cottus sp. nov. by the single median large and curved tubercle on the ventral femur II (Fig. 5 e–f); tibia IV without a retrolateral row of spines (Fig. 5d); MS A/B composed by seven pairs of macrosetae (Fig. 6a, c).
Etymology Briareos (from Greek Βριάρεως), the vigorous, also called as Aegaeon, one of the three Hecatonchires.
Type material
Holotype
COLOMBIA: ♂ (MNRJ 2382), Santander, Zapatoca, Cueva Alsacia, 1737 m, 27 Jan. 1997, Solimary García leg.
Paratypes
COLOMBIA: 5 ♂♂, 5 ♀♀ (MNRJ 2163), same data as holotype; 1 ♂ (ICN-AO- 1069), Santander, Zapatoca, Vereda San Javier, farm El Cedral, Reserva Natural Páramo La Floresta, 2250 m, 31 May 2012, J. Díaz leg.; 3 ♂♂, 1 ♀ (ICN-AO- 1054), Santander, Zapatoca, Vereda Las Flores, cavern La Alsacia, farm Vista Hermosa, 1780 m, 6°47ʹ53.7″ N, 73°15ʹ26.1″ W, 31 May 2012, J. Díaz leg.
Description
Male (MNRJ 2382)
Measurements of body and appendage in Table 1.
DORSUM. Dorsal scutum type alpha (Figs 4a, 5a). Abdominal scutum widest at scutal groove II; lateral borders of dorsal scutum mostly smooth with few minute granules only on the middle region. Carapace mostly smooth, with a group of granules on the anterolateral region. Ocularium high, without median depression, with a paramedian pair of acuminate tubercles (Figs 4 a–c, 5a). Integumentary dome of ozopore raised and conspicuous.Abdominal scutum well delimited, divided into four well-marked scutal areas; scutal area I divided into left and right halves by invasion of the scutal area II, with few granules (Fig. 5a); scutal area III with a pair of paramedian acuminate, short, subparallel acuminate tubercles (Figs 4a, c, 5a). Posterior border of scutum straight and with few granules on a row. Free tergites I–III with a row of granules.
VENTER (Fig. 4b). Stigmatic area smooth. Stigmata large, oval and oblique. Coxa I with a row of large tubercles of different size; coxa II longer than coxae I and III, with a median row of low tubercles; coxa III with the posterior border sigmoid, a median row of small tubercles; coxa IV strongly backward, with group of low tubercles close to the stigmatic suture. Free sternites each with a row of small granules.
CHELICERA (Figs 4 a–b, 5a). Chelicera swollen, bulla with tubercles in the proximal region, one ectal row and one group of dorsomesal tubercles. Fixed finger with a large subproximal tooth and 3 subdistal small teeth. Movable finger with a small subproximal tooth, one large median and one tridentate subdistal lamella. Mesal side of the base of fixed finger and near the base of the movable finger with setiferous tubercles.
PEDIPALPUS. Trochanter with two large tubercles on a dorsal protuberance; ventrally with two tubercles, the prolateral largest. Femur slightly compressed, dorsally curved and ventrally straight in lateral view, with dorsodistal granules, a dorsal row of large tubercles, ventral surface mostly smooth, with a pair of geminated large tubercles. Mesal and ectal faces without large tubercles (Fig. 5b). Patella short (ratio FePp/PaPp = 2.6), cylindrical and curved, with few small dorsodistal granules. Tibia ventrally flattened and dorsally curved; tibial setation: mesal IiII (3> 1> 4> 2), ectal IiIi (1> 3> 4> 2) (the two distal ones fused at base). Tarsus with similar shape of tibia; tarsal setation: mesal iIi (2> 1> 3), ectal IIii (2> 1> 3 = 4). Claw basally swollen.
LEGS. Coxa I with two dorsal tubercles, the retrolateral one reaching the dorsal tubercle of the coxa II which has one prolateral and two retrolateral tubercles; III unarmed; IV with the prolateral face slightly granulate and with one dorsodistal domed large tubercle. Trochanter I–III unarmed; trochanter I–II with a large ventral, two ventrodistal tubercles and some prolateral granules; trochanter III with a prolateral row of granules and a slight retrolateral expansion; trochanter IV proximally swollen (Fig. 4 a–b) with a ventrodistal retrolateral tubercle and many granules irregularly distributed. Femora I–III straight and with longitudinal rows of granules; femur II with a large proximal tubercle on the ventrolateral side (Fig. 5 e–f); femur IV sub-straight, granulate, with a distal pair of large spiniform tubercles, one pointing retrolaterally and the other, prolaterally (Fig. 5c). Tibia I–IV straight and densely granulate, unarmed (Fig. 5d). Claws III–IV smooth. Ratio Fe IV/scutum = 1.44. Tarsal counts in Table 2.
GENITALIA. Ventral plate (VP) subrectangular, with mid-constriction, the basal lobes curved and laterodistal border slightly projected, anterior border concave, ventrally with a well-marked longitudinal median elevation (Fig. 6a). Proximal ventral surface of VP with two inverted lung-shaped fields of small, needle-like microsetae (Fig. 6 a–b). MS A/B forming a proximal group of seven pairs of large, acuminate and cylindrical setae, pointing towards to the base of the penis trunk; MS C composed by 11–12 pairs of setae with similar shape to MS A/B, MS D if present, indistinguishable from MS C, grouped in a distal group (here called MS C/D) (Fig. 6 b–c). Two pairs of very small MS E, placed on latero-distal flange (Fig. 6b). Glans sac columnar elongate, with proximal folds and circular small protuberances on the base (Fig. 6 b–c, e). Stylus straight, without processes. Stylar caps ring-shaped, without lateral or ventral projections (Fig. 6 d–e).
COLORATION (in alcohol) (Fig. 4). Carapace tomato red 40, reticulated in the posterior region and ocularium. Abdominal scutum sunflower 66, with the scutal area III and lateral of scutal area I russet orange 51. Lateral and posterior borders of dorsal scutum, free tergites and spines of scutal area III red mahogany 41. Pedipalps, coxae I–IV, stigmatic area and trochanters dark lacquer red reticulated. Chelicerae tomato red 36 reticulated. Tip of cheliceral teeth red plum 260.
Female (MNRJ 2163)
Similar to male, differing by: ocularium slightly narrower; carapace larger; coda wider; tubercles of area III higher. Chelicerae with movable finger thinner. Pedipalpal femur lower and thinner in lateral view, with ventroproximal smaller tubercles, pedipalpal claw not swollen. Stigmatic area shorter, without the groups of granules anteriorly to stigmata. Genital operculum wider. Trochanters III–IV narrower; femur III without ventroproximal large tubercle; femur IV slightly curved proximally, thinner, without retrolateral distal spine and with a reduced prolateral tubercle; tibia IV with retrolateral granules smaller.
Ovipositor (Fig. 7 a–d): Dorsal lobes (dl) and ventral lobes (vl) rounded, with four and three pairs of large, acuminated, single-tipped setae respectively. Dl with three pairs of dorsal setae (ds) distally located and one pair basally located (Fig. 7c). Lateral region of the ovipositor with one dorso-lateral group of seven short setae (dls), two of them rounded (Fig. 7b, d).
Distribution
Known only from the type locality (Figs 18–19).
description: Published as part of Villarreal, Osvaldo & García, Andrés F., 2016, Unveiling the diversity of Phalangodus Gervais, 1842 (Opiliones: Cranaidae): descriptions of four new species from Colombia, pp. 1-41 in European Journal of Taxonomy 242 on pages 9-15, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2016.242, http://zenodo.org/record/3850363