Panjange niah Huber, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Bernhard A. Huber
name: Charles Leh Moi Ung
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Pholcidae
Panjange
Panjange niah

description: Panjange niah Huber, sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:BBDABF75-A656-4B28-AA6A-88D20F1CC113
Figs 3, 15, 29–32, 38–41, 55–57
Panjange Bor 11: Huber & Nuñeza 2015: 5, 43–44.
Diagnosis
Distinguished from similar species (with pair of straight pointed processes arising from near PME and ventral apophysis on male palpal femur: Pa. bako; Pa. kapit sp. nov.; Pa. pueh sp. nov.; Pa. sedgwicki; Pa. tahai comb. nov.) by shapes of procursus and appendix (Figs 29–30; procursus tip distinctively bifid, similar only in Pa. bako; appendix short and curved, similar only to Pa. pueh sp. nov.). Females are difficult to distinguish from Pa. bako and Pa. pueh sp. nov. (internal transversal folds much more complex in Pa. bako, very similar in Pa. pueh sp. nov.; unknown in Pa. sedgwicki).
Etymology
Named for the type locality; noun in apposition.
Type material
MALAYSIA-BORNEO: holotype, Ƌ, Sarawak, Niah Cave National Park, forest near headquarters (3.820° N, 113.763° E), 40 m a.s.l., night collecting, 28 Jul. 2014 (B.A. Huber, S.B. Huber), ZFMK (Ar 14578).
Other material examined
MALAYSIA-BORNEO, Sarawak: 1 Ƌ, 8 ♀♀, 1 juv., same data as holotype, ZFMK (Ar 14579-80); 2 ♀♀, same locality, forest along main trail (3.814– 3.821° N, 113.763– 113.771° E), 20–40 m a.s.l., 27 Jul. 2014 (B.A. Huber, S.B. Huber), ZFMK (Ar 14581); 3 ♀♀, 1 juv., same data, in absolute ethanol, ZFMK (Bor 179).
Description
Male (holotype)
MEASUREMENTS. Total body length 4.5, carapace width 1.1. Leg 1: 41.2 (9.4 + 0.5 + 9.5 + 19.3 + 2.5), tibia 2: 5.7, tibia 3: 3.3, tibia 4: 5.3; tibia 1 L/d: 108. Distance PME–PME 445 µm, diameter PME 105 µm, distance PME–ALE ~45 µm; AME absent.
COLOR. Carapace pale ochre yellow to whitish, without posterior mark, ocular area and clypeus dark brown, with single black mark in AME area; sternum whitish; legs ochre-orange with dark brown patellae and tibia-metatarsus joints; abdomen ochre-gray, with black marks dorsally, monochromous ventrally.
BODY. Habitus as in Pa. pueh sp. nov. (cf. Fig. 8); ocular area raised, each triad on long stalk, with pointed straight process arising from near PME (Fig. 3); carapace without median furrow; clypeus unmodified; sternum wider than long (0.70/0.55), unmodified.
CHELICERAE. Similar to Pa. pueh sp. nov. and other close relatives (cf. Fig. 18), with distinctively bipartite distal apophyses; proximal pair of processes slightly directed towards distal; without modified hairs; without stridulatory ridges.
PALPS. As in Figs 29–30; coxa unmodified; trochanter with straight pointed retrolatero-ventral apophysis; femur with curved finger-shaped ventral apophysis; procursus with row of about 12 ventral ridges, with distinctive bifid tip; bulb with strong proximal sclerite, strongly curved short appendix, and long partly sclerotized embolus with distinct distal fringes.
LEGS. Without spines and curved hairs; few vertical hairs; retrolateral trichobothrium on tibia 1 at 2.5%; prolateral trichobothrium absent on tibia 1, present on other tibiae; tarsus 1 with> 20 indistinct pseudosegments.
Variation
Tibia 1 in other male: 9.0.
Female
In general similar to male but eye triads on low humps, much closer together (distance PME–PME 220 µm), without pointed processes. Tibia 1 in 9 females: 6.9–7.5 (mean 7.2). Tarsus 4 comb-hairs as in Figs 39–40. Epigynum weakly sclerotized plate with large posterior ‘knob’ (Figs 31, 41, 55), internal anterior arch and transversal folds visible through cuticle; internal genitalia as in Figs 32, 56–57.
Natural history
The webs were found among the vegetation at 0.5–1 m above the ground, with the apex of the domed sheet connected to the underside of a leaf.
Distribution
Known from type locality in Sarawak only (Fig. 1).
description: Published as part of Bernhard A. Huber & Charles Leh Moi Ung, 2016, The Panjange nigrifrons group in Borneo (Araneae: Pholcidae): high diversity in Sarawak, apparent absence in Sabah, pp. 1-32 in European Journal of Taxonomy 184 (184) on pages 11-16, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2016.184, http://zenodo.org/record/830950