Asiolasma juergengruberi Martens 2019, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Martens, Jochen
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Opiliones
Nemastomatidae
Asiolasma
Asiolasma juergengruberi

description: Asiolasma juergengruberi sp. nov.
Figs 1, 60-87
Holotype: SMF; male; CHINA, northern Yunnan Province, southwest of Lugu Hu (lake), patch of primeval broadleaf forest mixed with scattered pine trees along a road, 3300 m, 27°37’ N, 100°49’E; J. Martens leg.; 28.5.2011.
Paratypes: CJM 8143; 1 male, 2 females; collected together with the holotype. – CJM 8144; 2 males; CHINA, northern part of Yunnan Province, Lijiang Naxi, Autonomous County, E of Yulongxue Shan, 30 km N of Lijiang, 2800 -2900 m, creek valley, secondary mixed broad leave and coniferous forest, 27°09.0’N, 100°14.9’E; D.W. Wrase leg.; 13.8.2003.
Diagnosis: A medium-sized, rather globular species with flat Tu oc and hood and with relatively short hood projection; 2nd cheliceral article with pointed hook on broad elevated apophysis. Penis shaft extremely slender, with short enlarged base, glans/truncus armature containing two proximally dislocated lateral spicules.
Name: This species is dedicated to Dr Jürgen Gruber, an esteemed arachnologist who, together with W.A. Shear, has meticulously studied American and Asian ortholasmatine harvestmen. Name in genitive case.
Description
MALE
Body, dorsal side (Figs 60, 62-63, 65-66): Body dark, nearly black, with dark bluish tinge, slightly elongated (do view), distinctly globular (la view); eye mound on anterior margin of prosoma rather flat and only slightly elevated, projecting into distad-directed hood forming an obtuse angle with do body surface (la view); hood flat, relatively short, bearing one central unpaired and four lateral paired tubercles, the basal one minute and shortest (difficult to see), the distad ones consecutively longer, these tubercles interconnected by robust anvil-shaped bridges in lower half of tubercles. On each side of hood two long apophyses projecting from anterior margin of prosoma and closely flanking hood, the outer ones longer and more massive than the inner ones; all apophyses and tubercles covered by a coat of fine micro tubercles all round.
Posterior margin of opisthosoma (Figs 60, 63, 65) with a row of 12 long and pointed tubercles of various lengths tapering to narrowly ending tip, longest ones in mid-part of row; at bases tubercles interconnected by low anvilshaped tubercles forming small basal “windows” (Figs 60, 63); dense coat of microtubercles and few short setae all round.
Network of prosomal and opisthosomal keel cells formed by light yellowish anvil-shaped tubercles contrasting with dark smooth cuticle (Figs 60-64); low, well developed, slightly elevated anvil-shaped tubercles (these stronger than in other Asian species) forming many individual small, often open cells all over prosoma, a large one behind Tu oc, on metapeltidium only two minute cells laterally and a row of tubercles on anterior margin; on opisthosoma larger cells in irregular arrangement and of different sizes, largest ones in a para-median row from anterior to posterior and near posterior margin of opisthosoma, in central part and on lateral margin most cells small, only a central large one, always surrounded by low anvil-shaped tubercles.
Body, ventral side: Only on Cx I an indistinct row of large tubercles; other Cx and Op gen with low tubercles, very few of them on free sternites, these bent to ve side, entire ve side with fine incrustation of minute mineral particles. Long, distally rounded tubercles on Cx: I -, II 1 retro-la, III -, IV 1 pro-la. Tubercles on Tr: I 1 very small pro-la and 1 retro-la, II 2 small retro-la, III 1 pro-la, 2 small retro-la, IV 1 pro-la.
Chelicera (Figs 72-75, 77): Basal article on do side with a large, hornlike apophysis slightly bent forward, article set with few setae laterally and prolaterally, ventrally a row of minute setae, no obvious glandular tissue. Second article on upper side with a large bipartite apophysis with a broad and massive basis extended into a sickle-like pointed apophysis bent forward and slightly to prolateral side. A small field of minute tubercles at basis of sicklelike part of apophysis, best seen from prolateral side.
Pedipalp (Figs 67-70): Tr slender, slightly swollen on do side, ventrally with two low tubercles carrying a seta each; Fe slender, slightly club-shaped, bent ventrally and enlarged distally, set with few scattered normal hairs, no clavate hairs; Pt strongly bulge-like and enlarged ventrally, covered ventrally and prolaterally with a field of short setae with glandular tissue below, otherwise few scattered setae on all sides; Ti cylindrical and moderately thick, with basal stalk, inconspicuously curved, clavate hairs on all sides; Ta oval, stalked, slightly inflated on do side, covered with clavate setae all round.
Legs (Figs 60, 62-63): Short, robust, dark brown to blackish; Fe I and III slightly inflated, covered with minute fine texture of microtubercles and interspersed with minute setae; no pseudo-articulations.
Genital morphology (Figs 78-87): Penis very long and slender, more than two-thirds of body length, basis broadened, deeply split into two parts, two muscles concentrated there; penis above basis slender, parallelsided (ve/do and la views); glans parallel-sided in do/ ve view, slightly tapering toward stylus (do/ve view), spindle-shaped and broadened in la view; stylus short, with a slight helical torsion. Armature with long uniform spindle-shaped spicules, symmetrical on do and ve side and arranged in three groups, these from distal to proximal position: i) six spicules: two each on ve and do side, one on each la side (the latter longest), ii) four, two of them on ve and two on do side, and iii) two spicules on each la sides, the latter on distal part of truncus and distinctly separated from groups i and ii.
FEMALE: Chelicera (Fig. 76) as in male, but do apophysis on basal article smaller, no apophysis on 2nd article; pedipalp (Fig. 71) as in male, but Pt less inflated, no brush of setae on medio-ventral side, only with a few scattered longer setae; keel network on do side of body slightly different (Figs 61, 64), also among specimens; on metapeltidium only one keel cell laterally; nine tubercles on posterior margin of opisthosoma, these shorter than in male and thus more massive.
Measurements: Body length of males 3.0-3.3 (n=3), of females 3.2-3.4 (n=2). Leg II of male, of female in
parentheses: Fe 2.3 (2.2), Pt 0.8 (0.8), Ti 1.9 (1.8), Mt 1.7 (1.6), Ta 1.5 (1.3). Penis length 1.7.
Variation: In specimens from the Lijiang area of Yunnan the basal article of the chelicera has on its do side a slightly smaller hornlike apophysis than in the specimens from Lugu Hu, and the do hook on the 2nd article is lower, less prominent. The differences between the cheliceral hooks visible in Figs 73 and 75 are due to different angles of view. Little variation was observed in penis morphology; the penis of the Lijiang specimen appears slenderer than the penes of the Lugu Lake specimens (la view), it is narrowest above base, then continuously but slightly widens towards glans. The armature of glans in the Lijiang male examined is as in the Lugu Lake specimens, but the spicules of group i are slightly irregular (Figs 81-83). The pedipalp of the Lijiang specimen is with a small rounded apicoprolateral apophysis and with a smaller truncate apophysis on the do side of the Pt (Figs 68-70), which lack in other males examined.
Relationships: With respect to male genital morphology, A. juergengruberi sp. nov. is closest to A. billsheari sp. nov. In both species the penial spicules of groups ii and iii are widely separated, and the latter ones are situated in the distal part of the truncus. Both species have in common that the hook of the 2nd cheliceral article is placed on a solid elevated apophysis. The latter character is present also in the tropical species A. ailaoshan, though being less prominent there. The prosomal hood is short in A. juergengruberi sp. nov. and A. billsheari sp. nov.; in A. ailaoshan it is considerably longer.
Distribution (Fig. 1): According to present information, the species is confined to mountainous areas in northern Yunnan, China. The two localities known to date, Lugu Lake and close to Lijiang, are about 70 km apart in NE-SW direction. Primeval mixed broadleaf and coniferous forests prevail there. The localities are at 3300 m (Lugu Hu) and 2800-2900 m (Lijiang area) altitude.
description: Published as part of Martens, Jochen, 2019, An ancient radiation: Ortholasmatine harvestmen in Asia - a new genus, three new species and a revision of the known species (Arachnida, Opiliones, Nemastomatidae), pp. 79-110 in Revue suisse de Zoologie 126 (1) on pages 96-101, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.2619524