Pholcus rawiriae Huber, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Bernhard A. Huber
name: Philippe Le Gall
name: Jacques Francois Mavoungou
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Pholcidae
Pholcus
Pholcus rawiriae

description: Pholcus rawiriae Huber, sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:54111E6C-353C-45DC-B72C-AC7D01382709
Figs 14-15, 28, 75-83
Diagnosis
Easily distinguished from known congeners by morphology of male palp (large trochanter apophysis; ventral femur apophyses; procursus with distal hinged sclerite strongly bent towards prolateral; bent embolus with spine-like processes; shape of appendix; Figs 80-81); from putative close relatives (bamboutos and circularis species groups) also by distinctive pattern on carapace (Fig. 75; transversal band on carapace; compare with figs. 892-918 in Huber 2011b), and by female external and internal genitalia (narrow sclerotized rim and distinctive shape of ‘valve’; long pore plates; Figs 76, 83).
Etymology
Named for Gabonese novelist Angèle Ntyugwetondo Rawiri (1954–2010).
Type material
Holotype ♂, in ZFMK (Ar 11951).
Type locality
GABON, Ogooué-Ivindo, near Mohoba Mozeye (0°16.8’N, 13°20.9’E), 510 m a.s.l., forest along road, 17 Aug. 2011 (B.A. & S.R. Huber).
Other material examined
GABON: Ogooué-Ivindo: 2 ♀♀ in ZFMK (Ar 11951), same data as and together with holotype. 2 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀ in ZFMK (Ar 11952), Monts de Belinga, forest near Mayebout (1°06.7’N, 13°06.6’E), 500 m a.s.l., 13-14 Aug. 2011 (B.A. & S.R. Huber); 2 ♀♀ in pure ethanol, in ZFMK (Gab 199), same data. Estuaire: 1 ♀, 3 juvs in pure ethanol, in ZFMK (Gab 191), Monts de Cristal, between Tchimbélé and Kinguélé (0°33.8’N, 10°18.8’E), 520 m a.s.l., forest near river, 10 Aug. 2011 (B.A. & S.R. Huber).
Description
Male (holotype)
MEASUREMENTS. Total body length 5.0, carapace width 1.4. Leg 1: 39.1 (9.6 + 0.5 + 9.3 + 17.5 + 2.2), tibia 2: 6.4, tibia 3: 4.2, tibia 4: 6.0; tibia 1 L/d: 62. Distance PME-PME 365 µm, diameter PME 140 µm, distance PME-ALE 45 µm, diameter AME 90 µm, distance AME-AME 70 µm.
COLOR. Carapace ochre-yellow with distinctive dark pattern, clypeus not darkened, sternum with darker brown margins; legs with distinct dark rings on femora subdistally, patellae plus tibiae proximally, tibiae subdistally, and metatarsi proximally, tips of femora and tibiae lighter; abdomen dorsally and laterally with internal black marks.
BODY. Habitus as in Fig. 75; ocular area slightly elevated, each triad on short hump directed laterally; carapace without median furrow; clypeus unmodified; sternum wider than long (0.92/0.70), unmodified. Chelicerae as in Fig. 82, with pair of small lateral processes proximally, directed slightly towards posterior, pair of low frontal humps, and pair of distal frontal apophyses provided with two modified hairs each; without stridulatory ridges.
PALPS. As in Figs 77-81, coxa unmodified, trochanter with very large ventral apophysis, weakly sclerotized and distally curved towards prolateral, femur with one small and one larger distinctive ventral projection, procursus with distinctive hinged process distally strongly curved towards prolateral; bulb with long proximal sclerite, strongly bent embolus provided with several spine-like processes and distal fringes, without uncus, appendix with weakly sclerotized basal process.
LEGS. Without spines and curved hairs, few vertical hairs; retrolateral trichobothrium on tibia 1 at 4%; prolateral trichobothrium absent on tibia 1, present on other tibiae; tarsus 1 with>20 pseudosegments, only distally fairly distinct.
VARIATION. Not seen. Tibiae 1 missing in other males.
Female
In general similar to male; tibia 1 in 5 females: 6.6-8.1 (mean 7.2). Epigynum with narrow sclerotized rim posteriorly, median ‘knob’, anterior area weakly sclerotized, ‘valve’ visible through cuticle (Fig. 76); internal genitalia as in Fig. 83.
Natural history
Most specimens were found at tree trunks, with their bodies and legs tightly pressed against the bark and thus barely visible (Figs 14-15).
Distribution
Known from three localities in northern Gabon (Fig. 28).
description: Published as part of Bernhard A. Huber, Philippe Le Gall & Jacques Francois Mavoungou, 2014, Pholcid spiders from the Lower Guinean region of Central Africa: an overview, with descriptions of seven new species (Araneae, Pholcidae), pp. 1-46 in European Journal of Taxonomy 81 (81) on pages 32-35, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2014.81, http://zenodo.org/record/830852