Modisimus bachata Huber & Fischer & Astrin 2010, SP. NOV.
Creators: name: Huber, Bernhard A.
name: Fischer, Nadine
name: Astrin, Jonas J.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Pholcidae
Modisimus
Modisimus bachata

description: MODISIMUS BACHATA HUBER & FISCHER SP. NOV.   
(Figs 55, 77, 169–172, 200)  
 Type: Male holotype from near La Ciénaga, (~ 19°03 ′ N, 70°53 ′ W), La Vega Prov., Dominican Republic; ~ 1100 m a.s.l., path along river, under dry rolled-up leaves on ground, 9 November 2005 (B.A. Huber), in ZFMK (DR 19 a).   
 Etymology: The species name refers to bachata, a form of music and dance that originated in the Dominican Republic and in which tales of heartbreak and sadness are prevalent. The name is used as a noun in apposition.   
 Diagnosis: Medium-sized species, easily distinguished from congeners by procursus shape (Fig. 169; narrow with dorsodistal projection), and club-shaped hairs on male chelicerae (Figs 170, 171; some hairs on distinct lateral apophyses).   
 Male (holotype): Total length, 1.9; carapace width, 0.8. Leg 1: 13.9 (3.3 + 0.3 + 3.5 + 5.3 + 1.5); tibia 2, 2.0; tibia 3, 1.6; tibia 4, 2.1. Tibia 1 L/d: 47. Habitus similar to M. jima sp. nov. (cf. Fig. 19), carapace pale ochre-yellow, with dark median line and wider dark median band visible through cuticle; ocular area also darker, clypeus with pair of brown stripes; sternum mostly light brown, lighter medially; legs ochre to light brown, tips of femora and tibiae lighter, very indistinct darker rings subdistally on femora and tibiae; abdomen bluish grey, black spots dorsally and laterally; light brown genital area and plate in front of spinnerets. Ocular area elevated; thoracic furrow distinct. PME–PME, 70 Mm; PME diameter, 105 Mm; PME–ALE, 115 Mm; AME tiny, but with lenses. Sternum wider than long (0.6/0.5), unmodified. Chelicerae with short modified hairs in distinctive pattern, each proximal group on prominent apophysis, distal group barely elevated (Figs 170, 171). Palps as in Figure 169, coxa with indistinct retrolateral apophysis, femur with proximal flap retrolaterally, and distal apophysis ventrally; procursus very slender, with distinctive distal structures (mostly membranous). Legs with many short vertical hairs on all femora; few spines distally on femur 1, about ten spines in two rows distally on each femur 2; no curved hairs; retrolateral trichobothrium on tibia 1 at 13%; prolateral trichobothrium missing on tibia 1, but present on other tibiae; tarsus 1 with ~25 pseudosegments.   
 Variation: Some males with longer rows of about ten spines each on femur 2, other males without any spines. Tibia 1 in seven other males: 3.2–3.5 (mean 3.4). All males in AMNH appear artificially darkened.   
 Female: In general, similar to male. Tibia 1 in three females: 2.2, 2.2, and 2.3. Epigynum, a very simple plate (Fig. 55); dorsal view as in Figures 77 and 172.   
 Distribution: Known only from the Ciénaga area, in the central Dominican Republic (Fig. 200).   
 Material examined: Dominican Republic: La Vega Prov., near La Ciénaga, 1♂, holotype above; same data, 1♂, 3♀ and one juvenile (ZFMK, DR 19); Parque Nacional A. Bermudez, Ciénaga, 1010 m a.s.l., tropical evergreen forest, 19 July–2 August 1995 (S. & J. Peck), 4♂ and two juveniles #95-33 (AMNH); same data but 1100 m a.s.l., 1♂ #95-36 (AMNH); same data but 1020 m a.s.l., 1♂ #95-34 (AMNH).
description: Published as part of Huber, Bernhard A., Fischer, Nadine & Astrin, Jonas J., 2010, High level of endemism in Haiti's last remaining forests: a revision of Modisimus (Araneae: Pholcidae) on Hispaniola, using morphology and molecules, pp. 244-299 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 158 (2) on page 282, DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00559.x, http://zenodo.org/record/5438272