Pisaboa fombonai Huber sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 7E9E992E-D750-4245-B04F-39A628AF1F15

Figs 742–744, 750–757, 764–766, 1063

Diagnosis

Distinguished from known congeners by shape of procursus (Figs 750–752; wide in lateral view, narrow and bent in dorsal view; with distinctive distal elements; straight in lateral view rather than S-shaped as in very similar P. lionzae Huber sp. nov.), by shape of genital bulb (Figs 754–756; large retrolateral whitish process; very similar to P. lionzae Huber sp. nov.), and by shape of epigynal plate (Fig. 764; anterior plate roundish with pair of deep pockets close to posterior margin; with pair of whitish processes in front of epigynum), and by internal female genitalia (Figs 753, 765–766; evenly curved elongated pore plates; shape of anterior putative receptacle). From very similar P. lionzae Huber sp. nov. also by more distal position of male cheliceral apophyses (Fig. 757).

Etymology

This species is named for Rufino Blanco Fombona (1874–1944), Venezuela-born writer, nominated six times for the Nobel Prize in Literature between 1928 and 1935.

Type material

VENEZUELA – Mérida • ♂ holotype, ZFMK (Ar 22072), forest above Caño Azul (8.8543° N, 71.3651° W), 280 m a.s.l., 13 Feb. 2020 (B.A. Huber, O. Villarreal M., Q. Arias C.) .

Other material examined

VENEZUELA – Mérida • 1 ♂, 5 ♀♀, ZFMK (Ar 22073), and 4 ♀♀ in pure ethanol, ZFMK (Ven20- 136), same collection data as for holotype .

Description

Male (holotype)

MEASUREMENTS. Total body length 1.9, carapace width 0.85. Distance PME–PME 65 µm; diameter PME 90 µm; distance PME–ALE 60 µm; distance AME–AME 20 µm; diameter AME 25 µm. Leg 1: 19.1 (4.3 +0.4 +4.5+8.4 +1.5), tibia 2: 2.7, tibia 3: 2.2, tibia 4: 2.6; tibia 1 L/d: 64; femora 1–4 approximately same maximum diameter (0.16–0.17).

COLOR (in ethanol). Carapace pale ochre-yellow to orange, with dark ochre median V-mark and three pairs of dark ochre lateral marks; ocular area light; clypeus ochre-yellow with dark mark below ocular area; sternum ochre-yellow, slightly darker medially; legs ochre-yellow, with indistinct dark rings on femora (subdistally) and tibiae (proximally, subdistally); abdomen pale gray, with indistinct dark and whitish internal marks, ventrally with light brown plate in front of gonopore.

BODY. Habitus as in Fig. 742. Ocular area moderately raised. Carapace with shallow but distinct thoracic groove. Clypeus unmodified. Sternum wider than long (0.58/0.40), with pair of very low whitish and elongate humps anteriorly. Abdomen slightly elongated, pointed at spinnerets.

CHELICERAE. As in Fig. 757, with pair of articulated apophyses distally.

PALPS. In general very similar to P. silvae Huber, 2000 and P. mapiri Huber, 2000 (cf. Huber 2000: figs 1137, 1143, 1146); coxa with large retrolateral-ventral apophysis, trochanter barely modified, femur proximally with retrolateral process, distally widening, with short finger-shaped ventral process; tarsus with two short rounded processes dorsally; procursus (Figs 750–752) wide and straight in lateral view, narrow and bent in dorsal view, with distinctive distal elements; genital bulb (Figs 754–756) distally tapering, with large retrolateral whitish process.

LEGS. Without spines and curved hairs; with vertical hairs in high density on all tibiae; retrolateral trichobothrium of tibia 1 at 7%; prolateral trichobothrium absent on tibia 1; tarsus 1 with ~20 pseudosegments, distally fairly distinct.

Male (variation)

Other male paler but otherwise identical; tibia 1: 5.2.

Female

In general similar to male (Figs 743–744) but general coloration ochre rather than orange, sternum medially dark brown, dark rings on legs more distinct, abdomen with more distinct brown marks; sternum without humps but with longer hairs than in male, especially posteriorly; vertical hairs on tibiae in usual low density. Tibia 1 in nine females: 3.5–4.1 (mean 3.9). Epigynum (Fig. 764) roundish light brown plate, posteriorly weakly protruding, with pair of deep pockets close to posterior margin; internal structures partly visible in uncleared specimens; with short but wide posterior plate and pair of whitish processes in front of epigynum. Internal genitalia (Figs 753, 765–766) with evenly curved elongated pore plates, anterior putative receptacle V-shaped.

Distribution

Known from type locality only, in Venezuela, Mérida (Fig. 1063).

Natural history

The spiders were collected in a forest remnant along a small stream where they built their small domed webs (diameter ~ 10 cm) close to the ground, mostly hidden under dead leaves. No specimen was found higher in the vegetation (as was the case in P. lionzae Huber sp. nov.; P. laldea Huber, 2000; and P. retracta Huber sp. nov.).