Smeringopus hypocrita Simon 1910
Creators: name: HUBER, BERNHARD A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Pholcidae
Smeringopus
Smeringopus hypocrita

description: Smeringopus hypocrita Simon, 1910
Figs. 424–425, 438, 443–444, 459–460, 476–482
Smeringopus hypocrita Simon 1910: 190 (except female from Kubub; see S. similis). Kraus 1957: 232–233, figs. 53–58. Kraus 1984: 380, fig. 6 (copied from Kraus 1957).
Types. Male lectotype (see Notes below) and 2♀ paralectotypes from South Africa, Northern Cape Province, Kamaggas [= Komaggas, 29°47.9’S, 17°29.2’E], 1904 (L. Schultze), in ZMB (2 vials: 10462, 10464). 1♀ 1 juv. (2 vials) paralectotypes from South Africa, Northern Cape Province, Steinkopf [29°15.8’S, 17°44.1’E], 1904 (L. Schultze), in ZMB (10463, second vial without number). 2♂ 1♀ paralectotypes from Namibia, “Gubub” [locality not identified, see Notes below], date not given [1903–1905] (L. Schultze), in MNHN (10483). All types examined.
Notes. Kraus (1957) explicitly designated the male from Komaggas as lectotype, but on labels he identified one of the two females as lectotype and the male and the second female as paralectotypes. I follow the publication rather than the labels and consider the male as the lectotype.
The paralectotype-locality “Gubub” (=Kubub?) could not be identified; at least six Kubub exist in southern Namibia.
Diagnosis. Distinguished from similar congeners by shapes of procursus (distal structures, Figs. 476, 477), bulb (processes of embolus, Figs. 480, 481), very lateral cheliceral apophyses (Fig. 478; similar S. sederberg and S. atomarius), and shape of epigynum (Fig. 459; simple plate with small round pockets in very lateral position; like S. sederberg).
Male (Kap Kap). Total body length 4.8, carapace width 1.7. Leg 1: 39.1 (10.4 + 0.6 + 10.1 + 15.8 + 2.2), tibia 2: 7.1, tibia 3: 5.8, tibia 4: 8.1; tibia 1 L/d: 57. Habitus as in Fig. 424. 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 whitish tips and dark subdistal rings, abdomen ochre-gray with distinct dorsal and ventral pattern. Distance PME-PME 140 µm, diameter PME 140 µm, distance PME-ALE 55 µm, distance AME-AME 60 µm, diameter AME 120 µm. Ocular area slightly elevated, secondary eyes with small ‘pseudo-lenses’; deep thoracic pit. Chelicerae with distal apophyses in very lateral position (Figs. 478, 479). Palps as in Figs. 443 and 444, coxa with distinct retrolateral apophysis, trochanter barely modified, femur with retrolateral furrow with distinct proximal rim, procursus with distinctive distal processes (Figs. 476, 477), bulb with distinctive complex embolus (Figs. 480, 481; very similar S. sederberg). Legs without spines, few vertical hairs, with curved hairs on 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 Cape Town the lateral marks on the carapace are absent and the dorsal membranous element on the procursus (arrow in Fig. 477) is slightly more sclerotized and curved. The lectotype is bleached and both palps are detached; the dorsal membranous element on the procursus is slightly narrower; tibia 1: 8.6. Tibia 1 in 3 other males: 8.4, 8.8, 11.7.
Female. In general similar to male; tibia 1 in 5 females: 8.1–13.5 (mean 9.6). Epigynum a simple plate with round pockets in very lateral position (Fig. 459; very similar S. sederberg); internal genitalia as in Figs. 460 and 482 (the strong folding of the frontal ‘valve’ is probably an artifact).
Distribution. Known from several localities in western South Africa and from an unidentified locality (“Gubub”) in southern Namibia (Fig. 475). Specimens from near Loeriesfontein and Garies are assigned tentatively because no males are known from these localities and the very similar S. sederberg occurs only slightly further south. The female from Neudamm (Namibia) assigned by Kraus (1957) to S. hypocrita is very probably S. atomarius (see below).
Material examined. SOUTH AFRICA: Northern Cape Prov.: Komaggas: 1♂ 2♀ types above. Steinkopf: 1♀ type above. Namaqualand, Garies [30°34.1’S, 17°59.4’E], 14.xi.1949 (B. Malkin), 1♀ in CAS. 10 km NW Loeriesfontein [~ 30°52.3’S, 19°22.3’E], Calvinia, under stones, 21.x.1990 (L.N. Lotz), 1♀ in NMBA (5481); same locality, 22.x.1990 (S. Louw), 1♀ 1 juv. in NMBA (5500). Namaqualand, Kap Kap [~ 30°15’S, 18°27’E], under stones, 20.x.1990 (L.N. Lotz), 1♂ 1♀ in NMBA (5450). Western Cape Prov.: Cape Town, Lions Head [33°56’S, 18°23’E], no date (N. Larson), “slide no 128”, 1♂ in NCP (92/6).
NAMIBIA: “Gubub”, 2♂ 1♀ types above.
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 74-77, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3461.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6415657