Priscula piedraensis González-Sponga, 1999

Figs 800–801, 814–817, 823–825, 1060

Priscula piedraensis González-Sponga, 1999: 145, figs 38–46 (♂ ♀).

Notes

The exact type locality is unclear. According to the collection card, it is between Santo Domingo and Las Piedras (i.e., approximately 8.88° N, 70.66° W); according to the original description it is in the surroundings of Las Piedras (i.e., approximately 8.89° N, 70.64° W). Each of our two new collecting sites below is close to one of the two possible original collecting sites.

The male palp of the male holotype is very similar to that of P. andinensis González-Sponga, 1999, but the procursus is ventrally weakly curved rather than equipped with a strong protrusion (arrows in Figs 805 and 815). Some males herein assigned to P. andinensis (e.g., from Mesa Bolívar, SE Pregonero, etc.) are somewhat intermediate, though closer to the types of P. andinensis . It is thus unclear if the single male specimen known of P. piedraensis is just a morphologically unusual specimen of P. andinensis or if it represents a separate species indeed.

Females of the two species appear indistinguishable, both externally and internally (Figs 816–817; the epigynum of the female paratype of P. piedraensis was not cleared; Figs 823–825 are from a newly collected specimen). The female specimens listed below are assigned to this species (rather than to P. andinensis) only because of the geographic proximity to the type locality. Tibia 1 in four newly collected females: 6.6, 6.7, 6.9, 7.2.

Types

VENEZUELA – Mérida • ♂ holotype, 1 ♀ paratype, 1 juv., MIZA 105603 (MAGS 1067), between Santo Domingo and Las Piedras [approximately 8.88° N, 70.66° W; see Notes above], 21 Jun. 1987 (A. R. Delgado, M.A. González S.); examined .

New records

VENEZUELA – Mérida • 2 ♀♀, ZFMK (22096), and 1 ♀, 1 juv. in pure ethanol, ZFMK (Ven20-107), Las Piedras, ‘site 2’ (8.9002° N, 70.6279° W), 1700 m a.s.l., at rocks near river, 7 Feb. 2020 (B.A. Huber, O. Villarreal M., Q. Arias C.) • 1 ♀, 1 juv., ZFMK (22097) (one leg transferred into pure ethanol, Ven18-234), between Santo Domingo and Las Piedras (8.8765° N, 70.6553° W), 1760 m a.s.l., 27 Nov. 2018 (B.A. Huber, O. Villarreal M.) .

Distribution

Known from near Las Piedras only, in Venezuela, Mérida (Fig. 1060).

Natural history

The types were collected from cavities formed by erosion in road cuts (González-Sponga 1999). The newly collected specimens were found in small cavities on an exposed, vertical rock wall at the riverside.