Paratropis calarca, Tauber & Perafán & Pérez-Miles, 2025

Tauber, Emilia, Perafán, Carlos & Pérez-Miles, Fernando, 2025, Hidden cryptic spiders: Eight new species of Paratropis from Colombia and Ecuador (Araneae, Paratropididae), European Journal of Taxonomy 997, pp. 51-76 : 58-60

Paratropis calarca sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:60AF779C-8637-4681-B854-2A31AB3D87FB

Figs 3 , 13 ; Table 3

Differential diagnosis

Differs from all other species of Paratropis by the spermathecae receptacles morphology, with a wide basis which narrows in the basal third, followed by a long narrow neck terminating in a fundus with two lobes ( Fig. 3E ). An additional difference is the position and orientation of the receptacles, with long necks convergent, resembling parentheses. Differs from P. chami sp. nov., described based on a male, by the absence of abdominal tubercles ( Fig. 3C ).

Etymology

The specific epithet is a noun in apposition which refers to the mythical cacique Calarcá, tribal chief who resisted the Spanish conquest and was popular in the area where the species was found.

Type material

Holotype COLOMBIA • ♀; Quindío, Calarcá, Corregimiento La Virginia, Paraje Peñas Blancas ; [4°30′08″ N, 75°38′11″ W]; 1629 m a.s.l.; Apr. 2017; L. Montes de Oca, C. Perafán and F. Pérez-Miles leg.; ICNAr111265 .

Paratype COLOMBIA • 1 ♀; same data as for holotype; ICN-Ar111266 .

Description

Female (holotype ICN-Ar111265)

Total length 20.1, carapace length 9.42, width 9.62; abdomen length 10.79, width 8.64; chelicerae length 4.82. Color (in alcohol): body with soil particles encrusted; carapace, and legs reddish dark brown, chelicerae and abdomen dark brown. Carapace: slightly setose, lateral margins with single line of spiniform setae with a single line of curved setae mixed with disperse clubbed setae; striae conspicuous; caput arched, separated from thoracic region by transverse fovea, straight, width 1.58. Eyes and ocular tubercle: tubercle length 1.33, width 1.49, very elevated (height 1.15) and forwardly directed, with few setae. Clypeus absent. Anterior eye row slightly procurved, posterior recurved. Ocular sizes and interdistances: AME 0.36, ALE 0.24, PME 0.12, PLE 0.33, AME–AME 0.14, AME–ALE 0.18, PME–PME 0.71, PME–PLE 0.07, ALE–PLE 0.18, AME–PME 0.13, ALE–ALE 1.12, PLE–PLE 1.07. Chelicerae: short sparse bristles on dorsal and lateral areas, long fine bristles on ventral and anterior area; basal segment with clubbed plumose setae. Cheliceral furrow with two rows of teeth well-developed, 9/11 and 12/13 teeth on promargin and retromargin, respectively. Labium: length 2.39, width 2.37, with 49 cuspules on anterior edge. Labio-sternal groove with two lateral mounds. Maxillae longer than wide, with the anterior prolateral lobe very elongated, conical; with 88/100 cuspules spaced, largely spread over prolatero-ventral border from the inner edge to anterior lobe. Sternum: length 4.07, width 5.45; three pairs of sigillae, anterior subcircular, median and posterior sigillae oval; anterior and median sigillae marginal, posterior submarginal. Anterior edge of sternum with a semicircular area slightly elevated (joined to labio-sternal groove). Legs: cuticle normal. Leg and palpal segments measurements provided in Table 3 . Leg I clearly thicker than the others. Bristles, thorn-like setae and spines present. Trichobothria: palp: Ti d9; Ta d11. Leg I: Me d3; Ta d13. Leg II: Me d4; Ta d13. Leg III: Ti d8; Me d4; Ta d13. Leg IV: Ti d5; Me d5; Ta d12.

Tarsal pseudoscopula not dense. Tarsal claws: ITC present on leg I; STC with one tooth on all legs. Spination: principally thorn-like setae on all segments. Spines: Palp: Fe 0; Pa 0; Ti 0; Ta 3v. Leg I: Fe 0; Pa 0; Ti 4v; Me 24v; Ta 18v. Leg II: Fe 0; Pa 0; Ti 0; Me 4v, 1r; Ta 2vr. Leg III: Fe 0; Pa 0; Ti 1pv, 1v; Me 2p, 2pv, 5v; Ta 1p, 2pv. Leg IV: Fe 0; Pa 0; Ti 0;Me 3pv, 2v; Ta 3pv.

ABDOMEN. With no pattern, tubercles absent. Book lung apertures projected, oval, sclerotized. Two spermathecae receptacles with a wide basis which narrows in the basal third, followed by a long narrow neck finished in a fundus with fewer lobes and orientation of the receptacles, convergent ( Fig. 3E ). Spinnerets: PMS length 1.02; PLS length 3.91, apical segment digitiform. Basal segment of PLS divided in two unequal cuticle plates

Male

Unknown.

Distribution

Only known from its type locality, Colombia, Quindío Department, Calarcá, Corregimiento La Virginia ( Fig. 13 ).

Figures

Fig. 3. Paratropis calarca sp. nov., holotype, ♀ (ICN-Ar111265). A. Carapace, dorsal view. B. Sternum, ventral view. C. Abdomen, dorsal view. D. Abdomen, ventral view. E. Female spermathecae, dorsal view.

Fig. 13. Geographic distribution of the new species of the genus Paratropis Simon, 1889.