Modisimus epepye Huber & Fischer & Astrin 2010, SP. NOV.
Creators: name: Huber, Bernhard A.
name: Fischer, Nadine
name: Astrin, Jonas J.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Pholcidae
Modisimus
Modisimus epepye

description: MODISIMUS EPEPYE HUBER SP. NOV.   
(Figs 23, 24, 46, 69, 145–147, 198)  
 Type: Male holotype from near Seguin (18°18.2 ′ N, 72°17.5 ′ W, ~ 990 m a.s.l.), Dept Sud-Est, Haiti; degraded forest with plantations; in the deeper, wet areas of piles of banana sheaths on the ground, 28 November 2007 (B.A. Huber), in ZFMK (Haiti 6a).   
 Etymology: The species name is derived from the Creole words epè (thick) and pye (leg), and refers to the thick femora of this species; it is used as a noun in apposition.   
 Diagnosis: Medium-sized species with low ocular area (Fig. 24; similar to M. fuscus), enlarged femora (similar to M. fuscus), contiguous pore plates (Fig. 147; similar to M. fuscus); distinguished from M. fuscus by monochromous legs, shape of epigynum (Fig. 46; no scape), and unmodified male chelicerae (Fig. 146).   
 Male (holotype): Total length, 2.8; carapace width, 1.27; Leg 1: 12.3 (3.4 + 0.5 + 3.5 + 3.8 + 1.1); tibia 2, 2.4; tibia 3, 1.9; tibia 4, 2.9. Tibia 1 L/d: 22. Habitus as in Figures 23 and 24; carapace, ocular area, and clypeus mostly brown, only lateral side of ocular area light ochre, sternum monochromous brown; legs monochromous, same colour as carapace, slightly lighter distally; abdomen bluish grey with many black spots, except heart area and ventrally; genital area and plate in front of spinnerets brown. Ocular area only slightly elevated; thoracic furrow distinct. PME– PME, 115 Mm; PME 95 Mm diameter; PME–ALE, 60 Mm; AME–AME, 20 Mm; AME diameter, 25 Mm. Sternum wider than long (0.85/0.55), unmodified. Chelicerae unmodified (Fig. 146). Palps as in Figure 145, coxa with light retrolateral apophysis, femur with basal and distal ventral apophyses, procursus rather simple, with membranous structures dorsodistally, bulb with flattened distal apophysis, with small subdistal hump on prolateral side. Legs without spines; retrolateral trichobothrium on tibia 1 at 25%; all femora with many short vertical hairs; curved hairs on all tibiae and metatarsi; prolateral trichobothrium missing on tibia 1, present on all other tibiae; tarsus 1 with ~15 pseudosegments, fairly distinct, except proximally.   
 Variation: The second male is generally lighter, and the light marks lateral to the ocular area extend further back; tibia 1, 3.4.   
 Female: In general, similar to male, with curved hairs also on femora, and light areas on carapace, as in lighter male. Tibia 1: 3.2. Epigynum, simple flat plate (Fig. 46); dorsal view as in Figures 69 and 147.   
 Distribution: Known from type locality only (Fig. 198).   
 Material examined: Haiti: Dept Sud-Est, near Seguin, 1♂, holotype above; same data, 1♂ and 1♀ (ZFMK, Haiti 6); same data, 2♂, in pure ethanol (ZFMK, Haiti 80).
description: Published as part of Huber, Bernhard A., Fischer, Nadine & Astrin, Jonas J., 2010, High level of endemism in Haiti's last remaining forests: a revision of Modisimus (Araneae: Pholcidae) on Hispaniola, using morphology and molecules, pp. 244-299 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 158 (2) on pages 273-274, DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00559.x, http://zenodo.org/record/5438272