Tolteca manzanillo Huber sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 97805AAF-C4EE-4A3E-A1F7-4B980E70005E

Figs 36E–F, 44A–C, 45– 46, 55E

Pholcophora hesperia Gertsch, 1982: 102 (only specimens from 12 mi E of Manzanillo; see Remarks under T. hesperia).

Diagnosis

Distinguished from known congeners by the combination of: male genital bulb without dorsal ridge (unlike T. jalisco); procursus tip gradually narrowing (Fig. 44C; unlike T. hesperia and T. sinnombre sp. nov.); male cheliceral apophyses wide apart (Fig. 44A; distance between tips ~65 µm, i.e., much wider apart than in T. huahua sp. nov. and T. oaxaca sp. nov.), in lateral view with small angle against distal-frontal face of chelicera (Fig. 44B; unlike T. hesperia; not checked in T. jalisco); main epigynal plate crescent-shaped (Fig. 45A, C; rather than band-like as in T. hesperia and T. jalisco); sacs in female internal genitalia ~40–50 µm long (Fig. 55E; i.e., longer than in T. jalisco and T. oaxaca, shorter than in T. sinnombre).

Etymology

The species name is derived from the type locality; noun in apposition.

Type material

Holotype MEXICO – Colima • ♂; ~ 17 km E of Manzanillo; 19.0115° N, 104.1382° W; 35 m a.s.l.; 6 Oct. 2019; B.A. Huber and A. Valdez-Mondragón leg.; LATLAX.

Paratypes MEXICO – Colima • 7 ♂♂; same collection data as for holotype; one male used for SEM; ZFMK Ar 23958 • 4 ♂♂, 8 ♀♀, 4 juvs; same collection data as for holotype; LATLAX .

Other material examined

MEXICO – Colima • 4 ♀♀, 9 juvs, in pure ethanol; same collection data as for holotype; two prosomata used for molecular work, two abdomens transferred to ZFMK Ar 23958; ZFMK Mex232 • 1 ♂; same collection data as for holotype; partly used for karyotype analyses; ZFMK 23959 .

Description

Male (holotype)

MEASUREMENTS. Total body length 1.10, carapace width 0.45. Distance PME-PME 40 µm; diameter PME 30 µm; distance PME-ALE 20 µm; distance AME-AME 10 µm; diameter AME 25 µm. Leg 1: 2.01 (0.55 + 0.15 + 0.50 + 0.48 + 0.33), tibia 2: 0.40, tibia 3: 0.37, tibia 4: 0.60; tibia 1 L/d: 7; diameters of leg femora 0.10, of leg tibiae 0.07.

COLOUR (in ethanol). Prosoma and legs monochromous ochre-yellow; abdomen slightly darker ochre-grey, also monochromous.

BODY (Fig. 36E). Ocular area barely raised. Carapace without thoracic groove. Clypeus unmodified, short (clypeus rim to ALE: 120 µm). Sternum wider than long (0.36/0.30), almost round (i.e., not heart-shaped), with pair of small but distinct anterior processes (~40 µm diameter at basis, ~40 µm long) near coxae 1. Abdomen globular; gonopore apparently without epiandrous spigots (Fig. 46G); ALS with seven spigots each (Fig. 46H).

CHELICERAE (Fig. 44A–B). With pair of frontal apophyses pointing downwards; distance between tips of apophyses 65 µm; without stridulatory files (Fig. 46F).

PALPS. In general possibly indistinguishable from congeners (cf. Figs 37, 50); coxa unmodified; trochanter without process; femur proximally without process, distally widened but simple, slightly curved towards dorsal; femur-patella joints not shifted to one side; tibia very short, with two trichobothria; tibia-tarsus joints not shifted to one side; procursus very simple (Figs 44C, 46A–B), with distal ventral process; genital bulb large, complex (Fig. 46A–B), in light microscope possibly indistinguishable from congeners (cf. Figs 38D–F, 51D–F).

LEGS. Without spines and curved hairs; with slightly increased density of short vertical hairs on tibia 1 (barely visible in dissecting microscope); retrolateral trichobothrium of tibia 1 at 61%; prolateral trichobothrium absent on tibia 1; tarsus 1 with four pseudosegments, all fairly distinct.

Variation (male)

Tibia 1 in six males (incl. holotype): 0.45–0.52 (mean 0.48).

Female

In general, similar to male (Fig. 36F) but sternum without pair of anterior humps. Total body length: ~1.20–1.30; tibia 1 in eight females: 0.43–0.47 (mean 0.45). Epigynum (Fig. 45A–D) short crescent-shaped anterior plate slightly protruding in lateral view; posterior plate wide, median part slightly protruding anteriorly. With distinct knob between epigynum and pedicel. Internal genitalia (Fig. 45E–G) with pair of strong transversal sclerites, pair of distinct sacs (receptacles?), without (or with very small?) pore plates.

Distribution

Known from type locality and one poorly specified neighbouring locality in Mexico, Colima (Fig. 35). We do not have exact coordinates for Gertsch’s (1982) specimens from “ 12 mi. E Manzanillo”, but that locality is probably within a few km from the type locality.

Natural history

The spiders were very abundant in the dry leaf litter of a low thorn forest covering a hill near the Laguna of Cuyutlán (Fig. 56B).