Euthycaelus janae, Sherwood, 2022

Sherwood, Danniella, 2022, Euthycaelus janae, a new species and the first record of the subfamily Schismatothelinae from Peru (Araneae: Theraphosidae), Faunitaxys (New York, N. Y.) 10 (49), pp. 1-4 : 2

Euthycaelus janae sp. nov.

( Fig. 1 -2 )

ZooBank:http://zoobank.org/ 98F5DC4F-3B07-4184-B379-36B4C310EA91

Holotype, ♀ ( BMNH /1914.9.4.3), Pebas, Peru, “ Purch. of Rosenberg ” [collection date and collector unknown].

Diagnosis. – Euthycaelus janae sp. nov. can be distinguished from congeners by spermathecal morphology, namely from E. colonica ( Fig. 3 ) and E. norae ( Fig. 4 ) by the RCB more than 1.0 times wider than the width of the receptacle and the more rounded appearance of the receptacles, from E. amandae ( Fig. 5 ) and E. quinteroi ( Fig. 6 ) by the receptacles less high than wide, and from E. astutus (see Mori & Bertani, 2020: 117, Fig. 315) by the absence of stalks on the spermathecae.

Etymology. – The specific epithet is a matronym in honour of Jan Beccaloni (Natural History Museum, London) in recognition of her more than 30 years of sterling service at the museum and of her immense support and loyal friendship to the authors for many years.

Description of holotype ♀ (BMNH 1914.9.4.3)

– Total length including chelicerae: 26.2. – Carapace: 13.1 long, 10.0 wide. – Caput : raised. – Ocular tubercle: slightly raised, 1.1 long, 2.4 wide. – Eyes: ALE> AME, AME> PLE, PLE> PME, anterior row procurved, posterior row recurved. – Clypeus: 0.2; clypeal fringe: long. – Fovea : deep, transverse. – Chelicera: 5.5 long, 2.5 wide. – Abdomen: 7.6 long, 5.3 wide. – Maxilla with 90–110 cuspules, covering approximately 27% of proximal edge. – Labium: 1.5 long, 2.3 wide, with 170–190 labial cuspules most separated by 0.5–1.0 times the width of a single cuspule. – Labio-sternal mound s: joined. – Sternum: 5.7 long, 4.2 wide, with 3 pairs of sigilla. – Tarsi I–II fully scopulate, tarsus III divided by band of setae, tarsus IV uninterpretable [missing on both sides]. – Metatarsal scopulae: I 77%; II 88%; III 48%; IV 47%. Lengths of leg and palpal segments: see table 1, legs 4,1,2,3. – Spination: tibia II v 0–1–2, III d 1–0–2, v 0–0–3, IV d 1–1–0, v 1–2–2, palp v 0–0–1, metatarsus I v 1–0–2, II v 1–0–3 (apical), III d 1–2–2, v 1–1–3 (apical), IV d 1–2–1, v 1–2–4 (3 apical). Posterior lateral spinnerets uninterpretable, missing. – Spermatheca with two rounded, short, hypersclerotized receptacles, connected by hypersclerotised RCB ca. 1.2 times receptacle width, BP hypersclerotised, short ( Fig. 1–2 ). – Colour: alcohol preserved brown.

Distribution. – Pebas, Peru ( Fig. 7 ).

Remarks. – The only congener of which the female is unknown is E. guane but given the distribution of this species only in Colombia, disjunct from the type locality of E. janae sp. nov. and considering the numerous ecoregional barriers between these localities ( Dinerstein et al., 2017), we discounted the possibility that E. janae sp. nov. was the undescribed female of E. guane . The new species is known only from the Peruvian Amazon, specifically in the Solimões–Japurá moist forests ecoregion (per Dinerstein et al., 2017).

Figures

Fig. 1-2. Euthycaelus janae sp. nov. holotype female (BMNH 1914.9.4.3), spermathecae. 1. Dorsal view. 2. Apical view.

Fig. 3-6. Spermathecae of some other Euthycaelus taxa. 3.E.colonicus,dorsal view.4.E.norae, dorsalview.5.E.amandae,dorsal view.6.E.quinteroi, dorsalview (adapted from Gabriel &Sherwood,2022).

Fig. 7. Type localities of all known Euthycaelus species. E. amandae (red circles) E. astutus (blue square) E. colonica (yellow hexagon) E. guane (green triangle) E. janae sp. nov. (pink star) E. norae (black inverted triangle) E. quintero (orange heart).