Ibotyporanga walekeru Huber sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 295920A0-330E-42FD-B2D0-9982066BDB0B

Figs 25B–C, 26, 31, 32A–B, 33–35, 36A–C; SEM Figs 2D, 4B, 7A, E, 10B, 15D, 17C, 20E, 21A

Diagnosis

Males are easily distinguished from most known congeners by shape of procursus (Fig. 33A–C; short and wide, curved towards dorsal, without dorsal branch, distally with wide transparent membrane); from the very similar I. bariro Huber, 2020 by presence of only a few hair-like processes distally on procursus (many large fringes in I. bariro; compare Fig. 32A–B with Fig. 32 C–D); from the superficially similar I. itatim sp. nov. by much shorter legs (male tibia 1 <1.1; in I. itatim >1.5), and by absence of dorsal process on palpal tarsus. Females externally possibly indistinguishable from I. bariro but internal genitalia with pair of distinct tubes (Fig. 36A–C; very short and indistinct in I. bariro: Fig. 36D); I. piojo sp. nov. also with distinct internal tubes but with more strongly curved epigynal pocket and shorter legs (tibia 1 <0.75); I. itatim with deeper triangular epigynal pocket, internal genitalia with distinct pair of lateral sacs, and longer legs (tibia 1>1.2).

Etymology

The species is named for Walekeru, a mythical spider that taught the Wayuu people of Northern Colombia the art of crocheting and weaving, eventually making Wayuu bags one of the most famous handicrafts of Colombia; noun in apposition.

Type material

Holotype

COLOMBIA – Cesar • ♂; 18 km ESE of Pueblo Bello; 10.3449° N, 73.4349° W; 240 m a.s.l.; 21 Sep. 2022; B.A. Huber leg.; MUSENUV-Ar 2736.

Paratypes

COLOMBIA – Cesar • 5 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀; same collection data as for holotype; MUSENUV-Ar 2737 [1 ♂ used for SEM] • 2 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀; same collection data as for holotype; ZFMK Ar 24350 .

Other material examined

COLOMBIA – Cesar • 2 ♀♀, 6 juvs, in pure ethanol; same collection data as for holotype; ZFMK Col308 [1 ♀ used for SEM] . – La Guajira • 2 ♂♂; 5 km S of Riohacha; 11.4848° N, 72.9051° W; 30 m a.s.l.; 19 Sep. 2022; B.A. Huber leg.; MUSENUV-Ar 2738 • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; same collection data as for preceding; ZFMK Ar 24351 • 3 ♀♀, in pure ethanol; same collection data as for preceding; ZFMK Col287 .

Assigned tentatively (no males available)

COLOMBIA – La Guajira • 1 ♀; near Papayal; 11.0029° N, 72.7708° W; 150 m a.s.l.; 19 Sep. 2022; B.A. Huber leg.; ZFMK Ar 24352 • 1 ♀, 3 juvs, in pure ethanol; same collection data as for preceding; ZFMK Col292 .

Description

Male (holotype)

MEASUREMENTS. Total body length 1.5, carapace width 0.70. Distance PME–PME 55 µm; diameter PME 55 µm; distance PME–ALE 20 µm; distance AME–AME 15 µm; diameter AME 30 µm. Leg 1: 3.65 (1.00+0.25 +0.90 +1.07 + 0.43), tibia 2: 0.77, tibia 3: 0.73, tibia 4: 1.08; tibia 1 L/d: 10; diameters of leg femora 0.17, of leg tibiae 0.09.

COLOUR (in ethanol). Prosoma and legs ochre-yellow, carapace medially with narrow brown mark widening posteriorly; legs without dark rings; abdomen gray with many dark internal marks dorsally and laterally; ventrally with indistinct light ochre plates in front of gonopore and in front of spinnerets.

BODY. Habitus as in Fig. 25B. Ocular area slightly raised. Carapace with distinct but shallow thoracic groove (Fig. 2D). Clypeus with sclerotized rim with median notch. Sternum slightly wider than long (0.49/0.40), with very low and indistinct anterior processes near coxae 1. Abdomen globular; gonopore with four epiandrous spigots in two groups (Fig. 4B); spinnerets as in congeners (Fig. 7E).

CHELICERAE. As in Fig. 34A–B; width 0.27; with strong median frontal apophysis; stridulatory files (Fig. 10B) very fine and poorly visible in dissecting microscope.

PALPS. As in Fig. 31; coxa unmodified; trochanter with short rounded ventral protrusion; femur proximally with short retrolateral process not directed toward distal, with prolateral stridulatory pick, distally widened but unmodified; femur-patella joints not shifted toward one side; patella dorsally only slightly longer than medially wide; tibia-tarsus joints shifted toward retrolateral side; tarsus without dorsal process; procursus (Fig. 33A–C) evenly curved, with light prolateral band, distally widened and semitransparent, with few (~6) pseudotrichia (Fig. 32A–B; barely visible in dissecting microscope); genital bulb (Fig. 33D–F) with distinct prolateral sclerite on bulbous part, with simple embolus with indistinct prolateral process.

LEGS. Without spines but with longer hairs ventrally on femora; without curved hairs; with many short vertical hairs on tibia 1; retrolateral trichobothrium of tibia 1 at 54%; prolateral trichobothrium absent on tibia 1; tarsus 1 with ~4 pseudosegments, distally fairly distinct.

Variation (male)

Tibia 1 in 11 males (incl. holotype): 0.83–1.07 (mean 0.93). Males from S of Riohacha with slightly more pseudotrichia distally on procursus (~10). The species delimitation analysis (Fig. S7) suggested that specimens from the three localities may in fact represent three distinct species. The K2P distances among them ranged from 11.0% to 13.9% (Table S1).

Female

In general, similar to male (Fig. 25C) but with darker brown legs, dark median band on carapace extending to ocular area and clypeus, sometimes carapace also laterally with light brown bands; clypeus unmodified; tibiae with few short vertical hairs. Tibia 1 in 13 females: 0.78–1.00 (mean 0.90). Epigynum (Fig. 35) anterior plate trapezoidal, posterior margin almost straight, with wide and shallow, weakly curved anterior pocket; posterior plate wide and short. Internal genitalia (Figs 34C, 35, 36A–C) with pair of elongate pore plates, with dome-shaped membranous structure from which pair of membranous tubes originate, apparently leading into very thin-walled globular ‘receptacles’. Cleared female genitalia of female from near Papayal very similar to cleared females from other localities.

Distribution

Known from three localities in the Colombian departments of Cesar and La Guajira (Fig. 26). Females from Papayal (La Guajira) are assigned tentatively.

Natural history

At the type locality, the spiders were found in a low, dry forest on a roadside hill. They were beaten from old dry branches lying on the ground and hollowed by termites. They shared this microhabitat with another species of Ninetinae, Galapa spiniphila Huber, 2020 . The specimens from near Riohacha were beaten out of dead cactus branches lying on the ground on a degraded roadside with bushes and a few small trees. They shared this microhabitat with Galapa spiniphila and with Modisimus culicinus (Simon, 1893) . Two egg sacs had diameters of 1.4–1.5, were slightly flattened, and contained about 12– 15 eggs each, with an egg diameter of 0.46–0.52.