Calapnita lehi Huber, 2017, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Bernhard A. Huber
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Pholcidae
Calapnita
Calapnita lehi

description: Calapnita lehi sp. nov. Figs 3–6, 20–32
Diagnosis. Males are easily distinguished from congeners by modified male palpal femur (distinctive ventral process; Fig. 21), by shape of appendix (bifid, i.e. with long subdistal branch; Figs 20, 29) and by shape of procursus tip (with seemingly hinged prolatero-ventral process; Figs 20–22); females are difficult to distinguish externally from other representatives of the phyllicola group; internally they can be distinguished by almost round pore plates and absence of membranous ‘sac’ (Fig. 25).
Etymology. The species is named for Dr. Charles Leh Moi Ung from Sarawak Museum Kuching, in recognition of his help before and during the Borneo expedition 2014.
Material examined. Holotype. MALAYSIA-BORNEO: ♂, ZFMK (Ar 15964), Sarawak, Lambir Hills National Park (4.198– 4.207°N, 114.034– 114.045°E), 60–150 m a.s.l., underside of leaves, 22.vii.2014 (B.A. Huber, S.B. Huber).
Other material. MALAYSIA-BORNEO: 4♂ 9♀, ZFMK (Ar 15965–66), and 1♂ 1♀, SMK, same data as holotype; 2♀ 1 juv. in absolute ethanol, ZFMK (Bor 199), same data. 8♂ 5♀ 1 juv., ZFMK (Ar 15967–68), Sarawak, Gunung Mulu National Park, forest near Lagang Cave (4.051°N, 114.822°E), 60 m a.s.l., undersides of leaves, 24.vii.2014 (B.A. Huber, S.B. Huber); 1♂ 1♀ 7 juvs in absolute ethanol, ZFMK (Bor 236), same data.
Description. Male (holotype)
MEASUREMENTS. Total body length 5.0, carapace width 0.9. Leg 1: 41.7 (9.6 + 0.4 + 9.8 + 19.9 + 2.0), tibia 2: 6.9, tibia 3: 3.9, tibia 4: 5.9; tibia 1 L/d: 122. Distance PME-PME 240 µm, diameter PME 120 µm, distance PME- ALE ~30 µm; no trace of AME.
COLOR. Entire animal mostly whitish to pale ochre-yellow, patellae and tibia-metatarsus joints slightly darker brown, abdomen monochromous whitish.
BODY. Habitus as in Fig. 3; ocular area barely elevated, each triad on very low hump; carapace without median furrow; clypeus unmodified; sternum as wide as long (0.56), unmodified.
CHELICERAE. As in Fig. 23, with pair of simple scaly apophyses near lamellae (Figs 26, 27) and pair of distinct but whitish proximal humps; without modified hairs; without stridulatory ridges.
PALPS. As in Figs 20–21; coxa unmodified; trochanter with simple retrolatero-ventral apophysis; femur with distinctive ventral process proximally; tarsus with short conical whitish process, procursus with small transparent rounded process from ‘knee’, with apparently hinged distal element; bulb with long weakly sclerotized embolus, large appendix with distinctive bifid tip (Fig. 29), small membranous basal process.
LEGS. Without spines and curved hairs; few vertical hairs; retrolateral trichobothrium on tibia 1 at 3%; prolateral trichobothrium absent on tibia 1, present on other tibiae; tarsus 1 pseudosegments not visible in dissecting microscope.
Male (variation). Tibia 1 in 12 other males: 8.4–10.0 (mean 9.2). Males from Gunung Mulu tend to be smaller than males from Lambir Hills (tibia 1 lengths: 8.4–9.2 vs. 9.4–10.0).
Female. In general similar to male; eye triads slightly closer together (distance PME-PME 200 µm). Tibia 1 in 14 females: 7.0–8.0 (mean 7.5). Females from Gunung Mulu tend to be smaller than females from Lambir Hills (tibia 1 lengths: 7.0–7.4 vs. 7.3–8.0). Epigynum weakly sclerotized, internal anterior arch visible through cuticle (Fig. 24); with simple short posterior ‘knob’ on extensible wide scape (Fig. 32); internal genitalia as in Fig. 25.
Natural history. At Lambir, most specimens were collected from palm leaves; at Gunung Mulu, they were found on large leaves of various monocot and dicot species. Two egg-sacs contained 8 and 16 eggs respectively. Distribution. Known from two localities in eastern Sarawak (Fig. 281).
description: Published as part of Bernhard A. Huber, 2017, Revision and cladistic analysis of the Southeast Asian leaf-dwelling spider genus Calapnita Simon (Araneae, Pholcidae), pp. 1-63 in Zootaxa 4219 (1) on pages 12-14, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.273086