Dicranopalpus pyrenaeus Dresco 1948
Creators: name: Wijnhoven, Hay
name: Martens, Jochen
name: Prieto, Carlos E.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Opiliones
Phalangiidae
Dicranopalpus
Dicranopalpus pyrenaeus

description: Dicranopalpus pyrenaeus Dresco, 1948
Figs 2, 4E, 5D, 6D, 9E, 17B, 18–21
Dicranopalpus pyrenaeus Dresco, 1948: 339–341, figs 17–18. Type locality: Lac d’Oredon, commune d'Aragnouet (Hautes-Pyrénées, France).
Dicranopalpus martini – Mello-Leitão 1936: 14–15. — Rambla & Perera 1989: 30. — Rambla 1998: 6. Dicranopalpus sp. – D’Amico 1988: 149–150.
Diagnosis
Small-sized species, males with dark brown saddle. Penis glans rounded, with triangular horns.
Material examined
SPAIN – Cataluña • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; Lleida, Val d'Arán, ascent to Lac de Rius; 42.64° N, 0.82° E; 2000–2250 m a.s.l.; 31 Aug. 1984; J. and B. Martens leg.; CJM 2649 • 1 ♀, 1 juv.; Lleida, Val d'Arán, ascent to Lac de Rius; 42.64° N, 0.85° E; 1700–1800 m a.s.l.; 30 Aug. 1984; J. and B. Martens leg.; CJM 2651. – Aragón • 5 juv.; Huesca, Bujaruelo, Valle del Ara, Mesón San Nicolás; 42.693° N, 0.107° E; 1332 m a.s.l.; 30 Sep. 2014; H. Wijnhoven leg.; under stones and cardboard; CHW 490 • 3 ♂♂; Huesca, Bujaruelo; 42.673° N, 0.126° W; 1210 m a.s.l.; 26 Sep. 1987; C. Prieto, Benjamín Gómez and Ramón Martín leg.; beech forest; ZUPV 1112 • 1 juv.; Huesca, Selva de Oza; 42.857° N, 0.693° W; 1200 m a.s.l.; 15 Aug. 1984; C. Prieto, Kepa Altonaga and Ramón Martín leg.; ZUPV 1339 • 1 juv.; Huesca, Valle de Pineta, Parador; 42.680° N, 0.084° E; 1300 m a.s.l.; 1 Nov. 1995; C. Prieto leg.; ZUPV 1768.
FRANCE – Hautes-Pyrénées • 2 ♂♂; Bagnères-de-Bigorre, Baréilles; 42.887° N, 0.434° E; 1200 m a.s.l.; 23 Oct. 1987; C. Prieto, P, Benjamín Gómez and Ramón Martín leg.; mixed forest near river; ZUPV 861 • 1 juv.; Lac d’Oredon, Neouvielle; 42.827° N, 0.168° E; 1800 m a.s.l.; 30 Oct. 1988; Ramón Gorrotxategi leg.; ZUPV 1338 • 1 juv.; Tourmalet; 42.907° N, 0.140° E; 2175 m a.s.l.; 25 Oct. 1987; C. Prieto and Ramón Martín leg.; ZUPV 1575. – Midi-Pyrénées • 1 ♂; La Mongie; 42.908° N, 0.176° E; 1700 m a.s.l.; 24 Oct. 1987; C. Prieto, Ramón Martín leg.; mountain pasture; ZUPV 941. – Pyrénées- Atlantiques • 1 juv.; Urdos; 42.851° N, 0.517° W; 1755 m a.s.l.; 27 Sep. 2014; H. Wijnhoven leg.; under stones at edge of pasture and forest; CHW 471 • 1 juv.; Pic de Guilhers; 43.008° N, 0.733° W; 1250 m a.s.l.; 30 Oct. 1987; C. Prieto and R. Martín leg.; ZUPV 965.
Description
Male
LENGTH. 2.7, width of prosoma 1.8, BLI 1.4 (CJM 2649).
DORSUM (Figs 4E, 18A). Ground colour pale yellowish brown. Prosoma with dark brown patches and spots, anterior margin pale, lateral margin near ozopores dark brown. Ozopores oval-shaped, small. Saddle dark brown, narrowing on opisthosomal tergites I–IV, widening on following tergites. Opisthosomal tergites with paramedian pairs of white spots. Lateral areas of tergites VI–IX mottled with light and dark spots.
EYE TUBERCLE. Dark brown with silvery ring around eyes, canaliculated, slightly wider than long, at about its length from anterior margin of carapace, dorsally with few minute black setae.
VENTER AND COXAE. Uniformly pale yellowish brown, with black sensory setae.
CHELICERAE (Fig. 5D). Small, smooth, pale yellowish, segment I with ventral spur, segment I dorsally, and segment II dorsally and medially near cheliceral claw with black setae.
PEDIPALPS (Fig. 19). Slender, pale yellowish, femur in proximal half, patella and tibia darker; femoral apophysis pale, robust, more than half as long as femur width at its base, femur ventrally and mediodistally with sensilla chaetica; patellar apophysis slender, tapering distally, as long as or longer than patella, in lateral view slightly curved upwards (Fig. 6I). Tibia mediodistally with a small protrusion (Fig. 6D). Tarsus slightly bent ventrally in distal third section; claw pectinate (Fig. 19B).
LEGS. Leg lengths I–IV (in parentheses femur lengths): 16 (28); 27 (5.2); 18 (3.2); 23 (3.9). All leg segments cylindrical. Femora brown with lighter median band and distal tips, rows of denticles and sensory setae, no trichomes; patellae brown, densely covered with small trichomes; tibiae brown with light brown tips, smooth, covered with trichomes and small sensilla chaetica; metatarsi and tarsi dark brown. Tibia II with 3 pseudo-articulations; metatarsi I–IV with 3, 4, 2 and 4 pseudo-articulations, respectively. Numerous bipterate setae on prolateral sides of metatarsus III and IV and in decreasing numbers on proximal tarsomeres 1–5 of leg III and 1–9 of leg IV.
PENIS (Fig. 20). Short and compact; length 1.56 (ZUPV 1112); truncus widest in proximal third (Fig. 20B–D), slightly widening to the glans; intrinsic penial muscle in basal half. Glans rounded, with two curved sclerotized ridges forming a pair of small humps on ventral side (Fig. 20E–G, K); glans dorsally sclerotized and provided with canaliculi; dorsal glans cavity large and ovoid, curving from halfway along glans to base of stylus. Dorsal truncus–glans transition approximately right-angled. Sensory setae not visible. Stylus about as long as glans, S-curved; horns triangular (Fig. 20D–H).
Female
LENGTH. 3.1, width of prosoma 2.2, BLI 1.0.
DORSUM (Fig. 18B). Colours faded in available samples. Prosoma as in male, saddle dark brown, narrowing on opisthosomal tergites I–IV, continuing on following tergites as a broad median band. Opisthosomal tergites with paramedian pairs of white spots, lateral areas mottled with light and dark spots.
PEDIPALPS (Fig. 19D–E). Femoral apophysis robust, almost as long as femur width. Long and robust plumose setae on apophysis, and ventral and mediodistal side of femur; patellar apophysis large, with tapering tip, not reaching tibial apophysis, about 4 /5 as thick as tibia. Mediodistal apophysis as long as wide. Tibia ventrally with twelve robust plumose setae.
LEGS. Leg lengths I–IV (in parentheses femur lengths): 13 (2.3); 25 (4.6); 14 (2.3); 19 (3.7) (CJM2649). All leg segments cylindrical. Femora lack trichomes. Metatarsi I–IV with 0, 3, 2 and 3 pseudoarticulations, respectively.
SEMINAL RECEPTACLES (Fig. 9E). Ovipositor with 24 segments (CJM2649), seminal receptacles in segments 5 and 6; two long tubes, each proximally with a long lateral pocket.
Distribution and ecology
An endemic species, predominantly inhabiting the high mountain ranges of the central Pyrenees (Fig. 21). Easternmost occurrence in the Vall d’Aran (Lleida, Cataluña, Spain), and north along the French Ariège/ Haute-Garonne border; western distribution poorly known, the westernmost records are from Urdos (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), La Pierre-Saint Martin (Marcuzzi & Biondi 1980), Mendive and Pic d’Orhy (Delfosse & Dubois 2018; photos A. Schönhofer, Fig. 18). Recorded altitudes between 1200 and 2250 m a.s.l. For the Vallée d’Ossau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) an altitudinal distribution of D. pyrenaeus is given by d’Amico & Besson (1995: fig. 2) ranging from about 1500 to 1800 m a.s.l. (Fig. 17B).
Phenology: adults probably from late summer to late autumn.
description: Published as part of Wijnhoven, Hay, Martens, Jochen & Prieto, Carlos E., 2022, Revision of the genus Dicranopalpus from northern Spain and Corsica, with descriptions of two new species (Arachnida, Opiliones, Phalangioidea), pp. 39-73 in European Journal of Taxonomy 839 on pages 61-64, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2022.839.1931, http://zenodo.org/record/7116226