Smeringopina bwiti new species

Figs. 12, 504–508, 523–524, 532, 603–608, 615–620

Type. ♂ holotype from Gabon, Ngounié, near Moulandoufouala (1°38.1’S, 10°42.5’E), 110 m a.s.l., forest along road, 27.viii.2011 (B.A. & S.R. Huber), in ZFMK (Ar 10279).

Other material examined. GABON: Ngounié: near Moulandoufouala: same data as holotype, 6♂ 6♀ 1 juv. in ZFMK (Ar 10280); same data, 1 juv. in pure ethanol, in ZFMK (Gab 187). Moyen-Ogooué: S Lambaréné near Tchad (0°58.1’S, 10°22.7’E), 165 m a.s.l., forest, 27.viii.2011 (B.A. & S.R. Huber), 5♂ 1♀ in ZFMK (Ar 10281).

Etymology. Named derived from bwiti, a belief system that incorporates animism, ancestor worship, and Christianity, practiced by the Babongo and Mitsogo peoples of Gabon; noun in apposition.

Diagnosis. Easily distinguished from similar congeners (large species with long abdomen, cone-shaped modified hairs on male chelicerae, simple unbranched procursus) by distinctive dorsal process on procursus (Figs. 604, 615–617), membranous ‘wings’ along second half of embolus (Fig. 607), and by transversal light element ventrally on abdomen (Fig. 523); also by modified male clypeus (similar to S. djidji but modified hairs on distinct humps); by shapes of male cheliceral apophyses (Fig. 605; similar S. simplex but distal apophyses directed more forward), and anterior epigynal plate straight in lateral view (Fig. 524; similar S. etome).

Male (holotype). Total body length 6.5, carapace width 1.8. Leg 1: 76.5 (18.0 + 0.8 + 17.5 + 36.7 + 3.5), tibia 2: 11.7, tibia 3: 7.7, tibia 4: 10.0; tibia 1 L/d: 104. Distance PME-PME 210 µm, diameter PME 160 µm, distance PME-ALE 70 µm, distance AME-AME 35 µm, diameter AME 160 µm. Carapace ochre with brown mark posteriorly and brown lateral margins; ocular area posteriorly brown, clypeus lower half brown, sternum frontally dark brown, posteriorly ochre-orange; legs ochre-yellow, slightly darker rings subdistally on femora and tibiae and in patella area, tips of femora and tibiae whitish; abdomen ochre-gray with distinct black pattern dorsally, laterally, and ventrally. Habitus as in Figs. 504–505, ocular area slightly elevated, secondary eyes with distinct ‘pseudolenses’; clypeus with pair of distinct humps, each with two small modified (cone-shaped) hairs; deep thoracic pit and pair of shallow furrows diverging behind pit. Chelicerae as in Figs. 605 and 620, with lateral proximal apophyses and distal apophyses; distal apophyses and frontal cheliceral face provided with several modified (coneshaped) hairs (Fig. 619). Palps as in Figs. 506–508; coxa unmodified; trochanter with retrolatero-ventral apophysis; femur proximally with ventral sclerotized ridge but without pocket, with small retrolateral apophysis, without prolateral modification; prolateral femur-patella joint shifted toward ventrally (though not extremely); tarsus with some stronger hairs dorsally; procursus without (or with extremely indistinct) hinge between proximal and distal part, with distinctive dorsal process (Figs. 603–604, 617); bulb with widened but weakly sclerotized proximal part of embolus and membranous ‘wings’ along second half of embolus (Fig. 607). Legs without spines and curved hairs, with few vertical hairs (many hairs missing), retrolateral trichobothrium on tibia 1 at 1.5%; prolateral trichobothrium present on all tibiae; pseudosegments barely visible. Gonopore apparently with two epiandrous spigots (not confirmed by SEM).

Variation. Clypeus humps variably distinct, with 1–3 modified hairs each; dorsal process on procursus slightly variable in shape (Figs. 615–617), also among specimens of same locality; sternum variably dark (entirely ochreorange to entirely brown or as in type). Tibia 1 in 11 other males: 15.7–20.9 (mean 18.0).

Female. In general similar to male; clypeus unmodified, variably dark. Tibia 1 in 7 females: 13.5–15.6 (mean 14.2). Epigynum consisting of trapezoidal anterior plate straight in lateral view and large posterior plate (Figs. 523–524, 606); internal genitalia as in Figs. 532, 608, 618.

Distribution. Known from two localities in western Gabon (Fig. 468).