Capobula neethlingi Haddad & Jin & Platnick & Booysen 2021, spec. nov.
Creators: name: Haddad, Charles R.
name: Jin, Chi
name: Platnick, Norman I.
name: Booysen, Ruan
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Trachelidae
Capobula
Capobula neethlingi

description: Capobula neethlingi spec. nov.
Figs 9, 71, 72
Type material. Holotype ♀: SOUTH AFRICA: Western Cape: George, Saasveld Pass, 33°58.198’S, 22°31.778’E, 149 m a.s.l., 7.XII.2012, leg. J. Neethling (leaf litter, indigenous forest) (NCA 2019 /1002a). Paratypes: together with holotype, 1♀ (NCA 2019 /1002b). SOUTH AFRICA: Western Cape: Laingsburg, Anysberg Nature Reserve, 33°27.300’S, 20°34.862’E, 735 m a.s.l., 8.IX–8.X.2015, leg. Z. Mbo (pitfall traps, karoo veld) (NCA 2016 /2464); Swartberg Nature Reserve, Gamkaskloof, 33°21’S, 21°41’E, 15.I.2001, leg. Z. van der Walt (on ground), 2♀ (NCA 2002 /198).
Diagnosis. Females of C. neethlingi spec. nov. have a similar epigyne to that of C. montana spec. nov., but can be distinguished by the V- rather than J-shaped ridges containing the copulatory openings, the slightly separated copulatory ducts (touching medially in C. neethlingi spec. nov.), and the bursae that are separated by approximately half their diameter, while almost touching in C. neethlingi spec. nov. (compare Figs 71 and 72 with Figs 65 and 66). Male unknown.
Etymology. Named for arachnologist Jan Andries Neethling, who collected the holotype; name in genitive case.
Female (holotype, NCA 2019/1002). Measurements: CL 0.84, CW 0.64, AL 1.02, AW 0.87, TL 1.95 (1.80– 1.98), PERW 0.30, MOQAW 0.12, MOQPW 0.15, MOQL 0.16. Length of leg segments: I 0.60 + 0.24 + 0.52 + 0.45 + 0.25 = 2.06; II 0.54 + 0.23 + 0.41 + 0.38 + 0.24 = 1.80; III 0.46 + 0.21 + 0.33 + 0.38 + 0.23 = 1.61; IV 0.59 + 0.24 + 0.49 + 0.56 + 0.27 = 2.15.
Colour: carapace deep orange-brown, with black mottling at centre, pits and lateral margins with black edges; chelicerae deep yellow-brown, with faint black mottling; endites and labium yellow-brown, cream at distal ends; sternum bright orange, pits slightly darker, lateral margins orange-brown; palps pale yellow-brown; legs with femora and tibiae I and II pale orange-brown, yellow-brown distally; patellae, metatarsi and tarsi I and II, and legs III and IV yellow-brown; abdomen dark grey dorsally and laterally, dorsally with eight fine cream chevrons in posterior half to spinnerets; venter slightly paler mottled grey; spinnerets cream.
Leg spination: femora and patellae: spineless; tibiae: I plv 6 rlv 6, II plv 6 rlv 5; metatarsi: I plv 4 rlv 4, II plv 4 rlv 4; tarsi: I plv 3 rlv 3, II plv 3 rlv 2.
Epigyne with small copulatory openings in J-shaped epigynal ridges (Fig. 71); copulatory ducts initially curving medially, then posteriorly, looping dorsally and anterolaterally before entering teardrop-shaped primary spermathecae along their interior margin; bursae subtriangular, apices converging mesally, similar in size to primary spermathecae (Fig. 72).
Habitat and biology. This species was recorded in two very contrasting biotopes, viz. moist Afromontane Forest and xeric Nama Karoo.
Distribution. Only known from three localities in the Western Cape Province, South Africa (Fig. 75).
description: Published as part of Haddad, Charles R., Jin, Chi, Platnick, Norman I. & Booysen, Ruan, 2021, Capobula gen. nov., a new Afrotropical dark sac spider genus related to Orthobula Simon, 1897 (Araneae: Trachelidae), pp. 41-71 in Zootaxa 4942 (1) on pages 58-59, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4942.1.2, http://zenodo.org/record/4596097