Pholcus ping Dong & Zheng & Yao & Li 2017, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Dong, Tingting
name: Zheng, Guo
name: Yao, Zhiyuan
name: Li, Shuqiang
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Pholcidae
Pholcus
Pholcus ping

description: Pholcus ping Yao & Li sp. nov.
Figs 5–6
Type material. Holotype: male (Ar29646), En Cave (17°26.017′N, 106°18.150′E, elevation 186 m), Phong Nhake Bang National Park, Quang Binh, Vietnam, 23–24 May 2016, Q. Zhao and Z. Chen leg. Paratypes: 1 male and 1 female (Ar 29647–29648), same data as holotype.
Etymology. The specific name is a Chinese pinyin word for flat (píng), in reference to the flat uncus; adjective.
Diagnosis. This species resembles P. bangfai Huber, 2011 (see Huber 2011b: 435, figs 1941–1943, 2072– 2076) with similar male chelicerae (Fig. 6 D) and appendix (Fig. 6 C) but can be distinguished by the shorter procursus with bears a large sclerotized ventral process distally (arrow in Fig. 5 A), by the distally blunt uncus (arrow in Fig. 6 C), by the large epigynum relative to abdomen (Fig. 6 H) and by the nearly triangular pore plates (Fig. 6 B).
Description. Male (holotype): Total length 6.14 (6.60 with clypeus), carapace 1.72 long, 1.81 wide, opisthosoma 4.42 long, 1.25 wide. Leg I: 40.41 (14.87 + 0.90 + 21.79 + 27.56 + 3.08), leg II: 43.58 (11.28 + 0.89 + 11.03 + 18.46 + 1.92), leg III: 68.20 (8.08 + 0.84 + 6.73 + 10.83 + 1.36), leg IV: 39.32 (11.22 + 0.86 + 9.49 + 15.83 + 1.92); tibia I L/d: 118. Distance PME-PME 0.48; diameter PME 0.13; distance PME-ALE 0.05; distance AME- AME 0.13; diameter AME 0.05. Sternum wider than long (1.23/1.00). Habitus as in Figs 6 E–F. Carapace yellowish, with large brown marks medially; ocular area brownish; clypeus yellowish; sternum brown. Legs yellowish, patellae brown, distal parts of femora and tibia whitish; darker rings absent. Opisthosoma yellowish, without spots. Ocular area elevated, each eye triad on top of a laterally directed eye-stalk. Thoracic furrow absent. Chelicerae as in Fig. 6 D, with a pair of frontal apophyses, each with several black tubercles, a pair of proximolateral apophyses, each with a small apophysis proximally. Pedipalps as in Figs 5 A–B; trochanter with a small retrolatero-ventral apophysis; femur with a small dorsal apophysis proximally and a distinct ventral projection; procursus thin and simple; bulbal apophyses as in Fig. 6 C; uncus large and flat, with a scaly edge; appendix bifurcated distally; embolus weakly sclerotized, with some transparent projections distally. Retrolateral trichobothrium of tibia I at 5%; legs with short vertical setae on tibiae, metatarsi and tarsi, without spines and curved setae; tarsus I with 23 distinct pseudosegments.
Female: Similar to male, habitus as in Figs 6 G–H. Total length 6.40 (6.73 with clypeus), carapace 1.72 long, 1.81 wide, opisthosoma 4.68 long, 1.76 wide; tibia I: 12.82; tibia I L/d: 68. Distance PME-PME 0.28; diameter PME 0.11; distance PME-ALE 0.06; distance AME-AME 0.08; diameter AME 0.03. Sternum wider than long (1.23/1.03). Carapace with brown V-pattern medially. Ocular area without eye-stalks. Epigynum (Fig. 6 A) without knob. Vulva (Fig. 6 B) with a sclerotized anterior arch and two nearly triangular pore plates.
Variation: Tibia I in male paratype: 12.46.
Distribution. Vietnam (Quang Binh, type locality; Fig. 21).
Natural History. The species was found in the aphotic zone inside the cave.
description: Published as part of Dong, Tingting, Zheng, Guo, Yao, Zhiyuan & Li, Shuqiang, 2017, Ten new species of the spider genus Pholcus Walckenaer, 1805 (Araneae, Pholcidae) from Southeast Asia, pp. 339-369 in Zootaxa 4306 (3) on page 346, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4306.3.3, http://zenodo.org/record/844967