Peckhamia Simon 1900
Creators: name: Cala-Riquelme, Franklyn
name: Bustamante, Abel A.
name: Crews, Sarah C.
name: Cutler, Bruce
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Salticidae
Peckhamia

description: Genus Peckhamia Simon, 1900
Type species. Synemosyna scorpionia Hentz, 1846, by subsequent designation by Richman (2015).
Diagnosis. Peckhamia species resemble the genera Admestina, Attidops, Cheliferoides and Synageles by the embolus that has a distinctive spiral, and in some cases is coiled multiple times (Edwards 1999; Maddison 2015). Peckhamia can be differentiated from Attidops and Admestina by lacking a tegular lobe and by the retrolateral spermophor loop (Figs 4, 11, 23, 30). Peckhamia differs from Cheliferoides by the enlarged but not swollen tibiae I (Fig. 15) (swollen tibiae I Cheliferoides, see Pickard-Cambridge 1901: plate XXII, fig. 12; Platnick 1984: fig. 1), the higher carapace, and the presence of PP (Fig. 36) (PP absent in Cheliferoides, see Platnick 1984: figs 3–4). Peckhamia species also resemble Synageles species in their behavior, by utilizing the second pair of legs to imitate ant antennae, but can be differentiated by the following characters: the embolus is wider, with a modified tip (Figs 5, 11, 22, 28, 32) (tube-like in Synageles, see Cutler 1988: figs 5–9, 11, 15, 19); the RTA is simple (Figs 6, 13, 18, 25, 32, 50, 55) (usually with rVTA and RTA in Synageles, see Cutler 1988: figs 10, 14, 18, 20, 25, 29); and the OQ is approximately 55–58% of the carapace length (Figs 39–48) (65–80% in Synageles, see Cutler 1988: fig. 1).
Note. The gender of the genus was not provided in the original description (Simon 1900), nor in the paper where the type species was designated (Richman 2015). Given the etymology (honoring the Peckhams) and the derivation of the type species when it was designated, we treated this genus as feminine under Article 24.2 of the ICZN (ICZN 1999).
Description (only for Greater Antilles species): Small, ant-like spiders ranging from 3.0–4.0 mm in length (Figs 37–48). Sexes similar in color and general body shape; sexual dimorphism evident in abdomen scutum in males, and in the development of leg I tibia (Figs 33–44). Carapace usually with interocular area dark brown to black, with remainder of carapace dark brown to black, dark yellow or dark reddish; approximately 0.5 times wider than high, and 0.6 times longer than wide. PER slightly wider than AER in both sexes; PME near ALE; OQ length approximately 55% of carapace length. Clypeus low. Cheliceral promargin with two teeth, retromargin with one bicuspid tooth, and usually with mesal margin concave (Figs 3, 10, 22, 29). Abdomen pale gray to reddish, yellow or black. Leg formula 4132 in males and 4321 in females. Macrosetae: leg I: femur 1dd, 1pd; tibia 0-2-2-2v; metatarsus 2-2v; leg II: femur 1dd, 1pd; tibia 2-2-2v; metatarsus 2-2v; leg III: femur 1dd, 1pd; tibia 0-0-2v, 1pd; leg IV: femur 1dd, 1pd; tibia 0-0-2v. Male palpal femur straight, longer than patella+tibia length, and with 1dd macroseta (Figs 17–18); patella as long as or slightly longer than tibia; tibia without VTA; RTA simple, usually wide at base (Figs 6, 13, 18, 25, 32, 50, 55); cymbium unmodified; spermophor follows circular path without loops; embolus with retromargin sclerotized; promargin membranous, coils less than one semicircle, usually with three rami: prolateral basal ramus (pbR), prolateral distal ramus (pdR) and retrolateral ramus (rR); embolic process sclerotized. Female genitalia (Figs 7, 14, 26, 33, 51, 53): WE present (Fig. 7); SS developed, longer than wide; CD elongate, usually with one or two loops; FD distant from CD; primary spermatheca usually as wide as CD or thinner than CD; FD projected anteriorly and laterally; BG (see Ramírez 2014) depressed or superficial. Colulus absent. Spinnerets (Fig. 19), ALS with one MA +n and field of PI; PLS with distal sclerite three time shorter than basal sclerite, and with AC in male; PMS relatively thin, and with several AC.
Natural history. Caribbean species of Peckhamia (Fig. 56) are most often collected sweeping in dry forest, scrub and secondary forest.
Note. The species described here are characterized mainly by a subtriangular RTA (as in P. variegata (F.O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1900)), not slender (“finger-like”) as in most Peckhamia distributed in North America (as in P. americana (Peckham & Peckham, 1892) and P. seminola (Gertsch, 1936)). Peckhamia americana has the particular problem that the male palp is not well documented, and the location of the type material is unknown. Based on previous observations, it is most likely that P. americana is at least two species. In both cases, it can be distinguished from the Caribbean species based on two characters: 1) the shape of the RTA, 2) and the retrolateral position of the embolic process. The resolution of the identity of P. americana needs further study and is not among the aims of this paper.
description: Published as part of Cala-Riquelme, Franklyn, Bustamante, Abel A., Crews, Sarah C. & Cutler, Bruce, 2020, New species of Peckhamia Simon, 1900 (Salticidae: Dendryphantini: Synagelina) from the Greater Antilles, pp. 141-160 in Zootaxa 4899 (1) on pages 143-144, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4899.1.7, http://zenodo.org/record/4400833