Tissahamia ethagala
Creators: name: Huber, Bernhard A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Pholcidae
Tissahamia
Tissahamia ethagala

description: Tissahamia ethagala (Huber, 2011)
Figs 93–96, 103–106
Pholcus ethagala Huber 2011: 174, figs 741–744, 775–776, 793–804 (♂ ♀, Sri Lanka).
Tissahamia ethagala — Eberle et al. 2018 (molecular data). Huber et al. 2018: fig. 10.
Diagnosis (amendments; see Huber 2011). Males are easily distinguished from Sri Lankan congeners by details of procursus: wider and shorter, without retrolateral membrane, with two separate dorsal processes instead of single bifid process (cf. Huber 2011: fig. 794). Females are easily distinguished from Sri Lankan congeners by V-shaped brown mark anteriorly on epigynum and by round pore plates (cf. Huber 2011: figs 775, 797).
Description (amendments; see Huber 2011). Males consistently with large dark mark on carapace (Fig. 93), either undivided or posteriorly divided. Females polymorphic in color (Figs 103–106): carapace either with distinctive pattern of radial lines (Fig. 103; 31 newly examined females) or with large dark mark similar to males (Fig. 104; 6 females); sternum color varies independently of carapace color: either light with posterior dark margin and some slightly darker smudges posteriorly (Fig. 105; 23 females) or entirely dark (Fig. 106; 14 females). Female carapace pattern variable within localities (both patterns seen in Ethagala, Dimbulagala, Gowindahela); female sternum coloration apparently consistent within localities (all 10 females from Ethagala and all 3 females from Dematagala with dark sternum; all 6 females from Kandalama and all 12 females from Dimbulagala with light sternum).
New records. SRI LANKA: 1♂ 9♀, ZFMK (Ar 20056) and 3♀ 1 juv. in pure ethanol, ZFMK (SL114), North Western Province, Kurunegala, at base of Ethagala (Athugala) Mtn (7.490°N, 80.369°E), 170 m a.s.l., 9.iii.2017 (B.A. Huber). 3♂ 6♀ 1 juv., ZFMK (Ar 20057) and 2♀ 1 juv. in pure ethanol, ZFMK (SL118), Central Province, Kandalama Forest (7.859°N, 80.711°E), 220 m a.s.l., 10.iii.2017 (B.A. Huber). 1♂ 1♀, NMSL, 8♂ 11♀, ZFMK (Ar 20058–59) and 5♀ in pure ethanol, ZFMK (SL125), North Central Province, Dimbulagala (7.860°N, 81.118°E), 140 m a.s.l., 11.iii.2017 (B.A. Huber). 2♀, ZFMK (Ar 20060) and 1♀ in pure ethanol, ZFMK (SL133), Uva Province, near Gowindahela (7.041°N, 81.538°E), 130–180 m a.s.l., 12.iii.2017 (B.A. Huber). 1♂ 2♀, ZFMK (Ar 20061) and 2♀ in pure ethanol, ZFMK (SL138), Uva Province, near Okkampitiya (6.728°N, 81.336°E), 190 m a.s.l., 13.iii.2017 (B.A. Huber). 1♂, ZFMK (Ar 20062), Central Province, Kandy, Dunumadallawa Forest (7.282°N, 80.643°E), 600–680 m a.s.l., 8.iii.2017 (B.A. Huber). 3♀, ZFMK (Ar 20063) and 2♀ in pure ethanol, ZFMK (SL151), Sabaragamuwa Province, above Dematagala (6.451°N, 80.751°E), 160 m a.s.l., 16.iii.2017 (B.A. Huber). 1♀, ZFMK (Ar 20064), Western Province, above Pelawatta-Tinniyawala road (6.404°N, 80.283°E), 150 m a.s.l., 18.iii.2017 (B.A. Huber). 1♂ 1♀ in pure ethanol, ZFMK (Benj 40), Uva Province, Badulla District, between Diyaluma Falls and Wellawaya (6.725°N, 81.029°E), 480 m a.s.l., hand collecting, 4.viii.2011 (S.P. Benjamin, S. Batuwita).
Natural history. This species consistently had a domed web with the apex connected to the underside of a leaf. Webs were often shared by males and females; in that case, they were larger than usual (i.e. ~ 30 cm diameter) and contacted several leaves (e.g. at Dimbulagala, where most available leaves were rather small, about 6x 3 cm). Some webs were strongly curved, almost globular. Egg-sacs were consistently carried under the prosoma (Fig. 94; similar to the Southeast Asian genus Cantikus Huber, 2018, previously the Pholcus halabala species group; Huber et al. 2016b) rather than in front of the prosoma as usual in Pholcidae and in close relatives (cf. Figs 98, 100, 102).
Distribution. Widely distributed in Sri Lanka (Fig. 224).
description: Published as part of Huber, Bernhard A., 2019, The pholcid spiders of Sri Lanka (Araneae: Pholcidae), pp. 1-57 in Zootaxa 4550 (1) on pages 25-26, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4550.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/2625030