Nerudia flecha Huber & Meng & Král & Ávila Herrera & Izquierdo & Carvalho 2023, SP. NOV.
Creators: name: Huber, Bernhard A.
name: Meng, Guanliang
name: Král, Jiří
name: Ávila Herrera, Ivalú M.
name: Izquierdo, Matias A.
name: Carvalho, Leonardo S.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Pholcidae
Nerudia
Nerudia flecha

description: NERUDIA FLECHA HUBER SP. NOV.
(FIGS 35, 36)
Z o o b a n k r e g i s t r a t i o n: u r n: l s i d: z o o b a n k. org:act: 2A718011-CA44-43E3-8053-166B6AF843DF.
Diagnosis: Easily distinguished from known congeners by shape of procursus (Fig. 35A–C; short distal element with hooked tip, without membranous part) and by bulbal processes (Fig. 35D–F; embolus much shorter than ventral apophysis); also by armature of male chelicerae (Fig. 35G, H; frontal apophyses pointing downwards, with slightly widened flat tip, set with regular hairs), and by epigynum and female internal genitalia (Figs 35I, 36; epigynal plate with large posterior indentation; internal genitalia apparently without or with small median ‘receptacle’).
Type material: CHILE – Coquimbo: • ♂ holotype, 1 ♀ paratype; road to Pascua Lama Mine; approximately 29.445° S, 70.502° W, +/– 6 km; 3000–3280 m a.s.l.; 3 Feb. 2014; A. A. Ojanguren-Affilastro, J. Pizarro-Araya, P. Agusto, R. Botero Trujillo and H. Iuri leg.; MACN Ar 37782.
Etymology: The species epithet flecha (Spanish for ‘arrow’) is taken from Pablo Neruda’s poem ‘Poema 1’; noun in apposition.
Description
Male (holotype). Measurements: Total body length 1.50, carapace width 0.62. Distance PME – PME 80 µm; diameter PME 50 µm; distance PME – ALE 20 µm; distance AME – AME 20 µm; diameter AME 35 µm. Leg 1: 4.57 (1.30 + 0.20 + 1.30 + 1.30 + 0.47), tibia 2: 1.07, tibia 3: 0.90, tibia 4: 1.27; tibia 1 L/d: 19.
Colour (in ethanol): Prosoma and legs mostly pale ochre-yellow; carapace with light brown Y-mark behind ocular area; legs without dark rings; abdomen monochromous pale-grey.
Body: Habitus similar to N. poma (cf. Fig. 1B). Ocular area barely raised. Carapace with indistinct thoracic groove. Clypeus unmodified (only rim slightly more sclerotized than in female). Sternum wider than long (0.44/0.40), with pair of small anterior processes near coxae 1. Abdomen globular.
Chelicerae: As in Figure 35G, H; short frontal apophyses set with regular hairs, tips slightly flattened; stridulatory files on low lateral protrusions.
Palps: In general, similar to N. colina (cf. Fig. 4) but femur absolutely and relatively shorter (length/width 1.76) and tibia slightly less strongly enlarged (length/ width 1.13); procursus simple, in lateral view slightly bent towards dorsal, distal part short, with distinctive hooked tip, without membranous element (Fig. 35A–C); genital bulb with weakly curved ventral apophysis distally semi-transparent, embolus much shorter than ventral apophysis (Fig. 35D–F).
Legs: Without spines and curved hairs; with vertical hairs in higher than usual density on tibia 1 only, in two dorsal rows (prolateral and retrolateral); retrolateral trichobothrium of tibia 1 at 64%; prolateral trichobothrium absent on tibia 1; tarsus 1 with ~seven pseudosegments, only distally distinct.
Female: In general, similar to male but sternum without humps and tibia 1 with usual low number of short vertical hairs. Tibia 1: 1.22; carapace width: 0.68. Epigynum (Fig. 36A) anterior plate semi-circular to trapezoidal, with large posterior indentation; posterior plate short but wide. Internal genitalia (Figs 35I, 36B– D) simple, apparently without or with small median ‘receptacle’.
Distribution: Known only from type locality in Coquimbo, Chile (Fig. 3).
PUTATIVE FURTHER SPECIES
description: Published as part of Huber, Bernhard A., Meng, Guanliang, Král, Jiří, Ávila Herrera, Ivalú M., Izquierdo, Matias A. & Carvalho, Leonardo S., 2023, High and dry: integrative taxonomy of the Andean spider genus Nerudia (Araneae: Pholcidae), pp. 534-591 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 198 on pages 573-575, DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac100, http://zenodo.org/record/7981762