Smeringopus thomensis Simon 1907
Creators: name: HUBER, BERNHARD A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Pholcidae
Smeringopus
Smeringopus thomensis

description: Smeringopus thomensis Simon, 1907
Figs. 699–700, 705–706, 709–711, 719–724, 732–740
Smeringopus thomensis Simon 1907: 251–252.
Type. Male holotype from São Tomé and Principe, São Tomé Island, Ribeira Palma [0°21’N, 6°35’E], leg. L. Fea, possibly in Museo Civico di Storia Naturale "Giacomo Doria", Genova, not examined.
Diagnosis. Distinguished from similar congeners (other species of the thomensis species group) by shape of embolus (two large rounded apophyses arising from embolus dorsally; Figs. 722, 723) and absence of pair of sclerotized areas on posterior rim of epigynum (Fig. 709); from S. principe also by absence of dorsal projection from procursus tip (compare Figs. 720 and 725) and much narrower pore plate (compare Figs. 724 and 728). Easily distinguished from all other congeners by distinctive color pattern dorsally on abdomen (figure composed of three black elements on posterior half; Fig. 699).
Male (Palha Plantation). Total body length 5.0, carapace width 1.5. Leg 1: 45.3 (11.9 + 0.5 + 10.8 + 20.1 + 2.0), tibia 2: 7.2, tibia 3: 5.1, tibia 4: 7.2; tibia 1 L/d: 64. Habitus as in Fig. 699. Carapace ochre-yellow with median and lateral dark pattern, clypeus distal half darker, without pair of lines, sternum dark brown with some small light spots, legs ochre-yellow, femora and tibiae with dark subdistal rings and light tips, abdomen grey with distinctive dorsal pattern, ventrally with dark anterior and posterior plates and three indistinct bands in median section. Distance PME-PME 125 µm, diameter PME 150 µm, distance PME-ALE 55 µm, distance AME-AME 30 µm, diameter AME 120 µm. Ocular area slightly elevated, secondary eyes with small dark ‘pseudo-lenses’; deep thoracic pit. Chelicerae with pair of small distal apophyses (Fig. 721), each provided with one modified hair at tip (Fig. 734). Palps as in Figs. 705 and 706, coxa with distinct retrolateral apophysis, trochanter barely modified, femur with deep retrolateral furrow, proximal rim distinct (Fig. 732), procursus with distinctive distal processes (Figs. 719, 720), bulb with complex embolus with distinctive rounded dorsal processes (Figs. 722, 723). Legs without spines, few vertical hairs, without curved hairs, retrolateral trichobothrium on tibia 1 at 2%; prolateral trichobothrium present on tibia 1. Gonopore with two epiandrous spigots (Fig. 736); ALS with one widened and one pointed spigot each, other spigots apparently reduced to two tiny remnants (cf. female, Fig. 737).
Variation. Tibia 1 in 3 other males: 8.9, 10.1, 10.7.
Female. In general similar to male; tibia 1 in 5 females: 8.4–9.7 (mean 9.1). Epigynum a simple, roughly triangular plate with pockets (Figs. 709, 710), posterior plate semicircular; internal genitalia as in Figs. 711, 724, and 739.
Distribution. Known from São Tomé Island only (Fig. 718).
Material examined. SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE: São Tomé: Palha Plantation near São Tomé town (0°18.8’N, 6°42.4’E), 12.iv.2001 (C.E. Griswold), 4♂ 5♀ in CAS. Ponta Barro Bóró (0°23.8’N, 6°36.3’E), in culvert along roadside, 27.iv.2001 (J.M. Ledford), 1♀ 3 juvs in CAS. Augustino Neto, Rio de Oro Plantation (0°21.9’N, 6°38.7’E), 220 m a.s.l., 13.iv.2001 (C.E. Griswold), 1♀ in CAS. São Tomé, no further locality data, 1.xi.1999 (W. Tavernier), 1♂ 1 juv. in MRAC (209235); same data but garden, 17.xi.1999, 1♂ 1 juv. in MRAC (209256).
description: Published as part of HUBER, BERNHARD A., 2012, Revision and cladistic analysis of the Afrotropical endemic genus Smeringopus Simon, 1890 (Araneae: Pholcidae), pp. 1-138 in Zootaxa 3461 (1) on pages 114-116, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3461.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6415657