Myrmarachne solitaria Peckham & Peckham 1903
Creators: name: Haddad, Charles Richard
name: Wiśniewski, Konrad
name: Wesołowska, Wanda
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Salticidae
Myrmarachne
Myrmarachne solitaria

description: Myrmarachne solitaria Peckham & Peckham, 1903
Figs 32, 33
Myrmarachne solitaria Peckham & Peckham, 1903: 250, pl. 29, fig. 5 (♂ ♀); Wanless 1978b: 75, fig. 46A–L (♂ ♀); Wesołowska & Haddad 2009: 65, figs 124–126 (♀); Wesołowska & Haddad 2014: 253, figs 82–86 (♂ ♀).
Diagnosis. This species is similar to Myrmarachne kiboschensis. The male can be recognized by the chelicerae lacking a fang apophysis. The female can be distinguished by the large epigynal pocket and the looped spermathecae (Fig. 33D, E).
Material examined. MOZAMBIQUE: Gaza: Xai-Xai, Montego’s Camp, 25°03.659’S, 33°40.633’E, leaf litter, dune forest, 2.XII.2007, leg. C. Haddad, 3♀ (NCA 2020 /175). Inhambane: Bartholomew Diaz Point, 21°15.585’S, 35°06.851’E, leaf litter, mangroves, 10.XII.2007, leg. C. Haddad, R. Lyle & R. Fourie, 2♂ 2♀ 2 imm. (NCA 2020 /116); Morrungulo, Morrungulo Resort, 23°13.983’S, 32°29.587’E, leaf litter, coastal forest, 6.XII.2007, leg. C. Haddad, R. Lyle & R. Fourie, 1♂ 2♀ (NCA 2020 /157), 1♂ (NCA 2020 /168). Maputo: near Marracuene, Blue Anchor Inn, 25°35.124’S, 32°39.568’E, sifting leaf litter, savanna, 28.XII.2007, leg. C. Haddad & R. Fourie, 1♀ (NCA 2020 /185).
Description. Male: Measurements. Cephalothorax length 1.9, height 0.6. Abdomen length 1.8, width 1.1. Eye field length 0.8, anterior width 0.9, posterior width 1.0. General appearance as in Fig. 32A–C. Carapace high, thoracic part with clear hump. Colouration of carapace brownish-orange, eyes surrounded by black rings, sometimes anterior part of eye field transparent, with silver spots of internal guanine crystals. Fine colourless hairs on carapace, wedge-shaped patches in constriction formed by white hairs, two trichobothria in constriction. Mouthparts brownish-orange. Cheliceral fang usually without apophysis (Fig. 33A). Abdomen ovoid, black with transverse white band in anterior half, venter blackish. Spinnerets dark. First coxae light yellow, other brown. Legs I with brown femora and black metatarsi, other segments yellow, with dark line along lateral surfaces of patellae and tibiae. Legs II–IV yellowish-brown. Tibia I with three pairs of ventral spines, metatarsus with two pairs. Palpal organ as in Fig. 33B, C.
Female: Measurements. Cephalothorax length 1.9–2.1, height 0.7. Abdomen length 2.1–2.3, width 1.1–1.3. Eye field length 0.8–0.9, anterior width 0.8–0.9, posterior width 0.9–1.0. General appearance as in Fig. 32D, E. Shape and colouration similar as in male. Front of abdomen whitish, white area often covers anterior half of its length. Epigyne with large median pouch (Fig. 33D), internal structure relatively simple (Fig. 33E).
Remarks. The two males from Bartholomew Diaz Point have chelicerae with a stout apophysis, as in Myrmarachne kiboschensis. However, all of their other features are identical to those of “typical” specimens of M. solitaria, and the females accompanying them also represent this species.
Distribution. Species known from South Africa and Lesotho, recorded for the first time from Mozambique.
description: Published as part of Haddad, Charles Richard, Wiśniewski, Konrad & Wesołowska, Wanda, 2024, The jumping spiders of Mozambique (Araneae: Salticidae), pp. 1-92 in Zootaxa 5560 (1) on pages 46-49, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5560.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/14595436