Pholcus uludong Huber, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Bernard A. Huber
name: Joseph K. H. Koh
name: Amir-Ridhwan M. Ghazali
name: Kamil A. Braima
name: Olga M. Nuñeza
name: Charles Leh Moi Ung
name: Booppa Petcharad
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Pholcidae
Pholcus
Pholcus uludong

description: Pholcus uludong Huber sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:B379B03A-5BA0-4FEF-816D-DE9C3E6068A9
Figs 8–9, 15–31, 78, 84–86
Diagnosis
Easily distinguished from most similar known relatives (other species of the P. ethagala group on the Malay Peninsula) by morphology of male palps (Figs 15–16; procursus with large flat dorsal process; large appendix distally with two rounded sclerotized elements set with small scales; relatively straight trochanter apophysis similar only to P. phui), by large anterior square-shaped structure in female internal genitalia, and by elongate anteriorly converging pore plates (Figs 18–19).
Etymology
The species name is derived from the type locality; noun in apposition.
Material examined
Holotype
MALAYSIA: ♂, ZFMK (Ar 15694), Pahang, Ulu Dong, ‘site 2’ (3.937°N, 102.032°E), 190 m a.s.l., forest near river, leaf litter, 21 Feb. 2015 (B.A. Huber, A.R.M. Ghazali, K.A. Braima).
Other material
MALAYSIA: 7 ♂♂, 6 ♀♀, ZFMK (Ar 15695–96), and 1 ♂, 1 ♀, MZUM, same data as holotype; 1 juv. in absolute ethanol, ZFMK (Mal 261), same data; 2 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀, ZFMK (Ar 15697), Ulu Dong, ‘site 1’ (3.942°N, 102.027°E), 190 m a.s.l., forest near river, leaf litter, 20 Feb. 2015 (B.A. Huber, A.R.M. Ghazali, K.A. Braima); 2 ♀♀, 1 juv., in absolute ethanol, ZFMK (Mal 250).
Description
Male (holotype)
MEASUREMENTS. Total body length 3.7, carapace width 1.05. Leg 1: 32.4 (7.6 + 0.4 + 7.7 + 14.8 + 1.9), tibia 2: 4.3, tibia 3: 2.9, tibia 4: 4.3; tibia 1 L/d: 88. Distance PME-PME 520 µm, diameter PME 115 µm, distance PME-ALE ~35 µm; AME absent.
COLOR. Carapace ochre-yellow with light brown median V-mark, clypeus light brown, ocular area not darkened; sternum ochre-yellow with slightly darker margins; legs ochre-yellow with darker brown patellae and tibia-metatarsus joints; abdomen ochre-gray with small black marks dorsally and laterally.
BODY. Habitus as in Fig. 8; ocular area raised and each triad on long stalk (Figs 20, 78); carapace without median furrow; clypeus unmodified; sternum wider than long (0.70/0.54), unmodified. ALS with one widened, one pointed, and six smaller cylindrically-shaped spigots (Fig. 29).
CHELICERAE. As in Fig. 17, with single pair of frontal proximal apophyses; without distal modification; without stridulatory ridges.
PALPS. As in Figs 15–16, 22; coxa unmodified; trochanter with very long straight retrolatero-ventral apophysis and small retrolateral apophysis; femur with dorsal and ventral rounded processes; procursus very complex, proximal part with large dorsal flat process with serrated rim (Figs 23, 27); with hinged distal elements; bulb with large appendix (Figs 24–25), long slender embolus, and two rounded processes at base of appendix, one partly sclerotized as continuation of proximal bulbal sclerite.
LEGS. Without spines and curved hairs; few vertical hairs; retrolateral trichobothrium on tibia 1 at 3%; prolateral trichobothrium absent on tibia 1, present on other tibiae; tarsus 1 with ~30 pseudosegments, indistinct and apparently irregular. Tarsus 4 comb-hairs as in Fig. 28.
Male (variation)
Tibia 1 in 9 other males: 6.3–7.8 (mean 7.1).
Female
In general similar to male (Fig. 9) but eye triads not on stalks and much closer together than in male (Fig. 21; PME-PME distance: 195 µm); clypeus darker brown. Tibia 1 in 9 females: 5.3–5.7 (mean 5.5). Epigynum weakly sclerotized and strongly bulging plate (Fig. 84), only posterior rim slightly more sclerotized, with small elongate ‘knob’ (Figs 18, 31); internal genitalia with large anterior square-shaped sclerite visible through cuticle and pair of weakly sclerotized folds more laterally (Figs 19, 85–86). ALS as in male (Fig. 30).
Natural history
All specimens were found under large dead leaves on the ground. They barely reacted to disturbance.
Distribution
Known from type locality in Malaysia only (Fig. 1).
description: Published as part of Bernard A. Huber, Joseph K. H. Koh, Amir-Ridhwan M. Ghazali, Kamil A. Braima, Olga M. Nuñeza, Charles Leh Moi Ung & Booppa Petcharad, 2016, New leaf- and litter-dwelling species of the genus Pholcus from Southeast Asia (Araneae, Pholcidae), pp. 1-45 in European Journal of Taxonomy 200 (200) on pages 9-13, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2016.200, http://zenodo.org/record/897219