Caponina Simon, 1892

Sánchez-Ruiz, Alexander, Martínez, Leonel & Bonaldo, Alexandre B., 2022, An update on the spider genus Caponina Simon (Araneae: Caponiidae) with descriptions of three new six-eyed species from Colombia, European Journal of Taxonomy 813, pp. 87-102 : 89-91

Genus Caponina Simon, 1892

Caponina Simon, 1892: 573 (

type species C. testacea Simon, 1892 by monotypy).

Bruchnops Mello-Leitão, 1939: 629 ; type species B. notabilis Mello-Leitão (by monotypy), synonymized by Platnick (1994a).

Emended diagnosis

Members of Caponina can be distinguished from all genera of Nopinae by having the tarsi entire, lacking adesmatic joins; and from other non-nopine genera with six or four eyes such as Nasutonops Brescovit & Sánchez-Ruiz, 2016 , Iraponia Kranz-Baltensperger, Platnick & Dupérré, 2009 and Notnops Platnick, 1994 as follows: from the six-eyed Nasutonops by the lack of a clypeal horn on the carapace; from the six-eyed Iraponia by the lack of a postepigastric scutum on the abdominal venter in males and by having a pair of sclerotized bars on the female internal genitalia, lacking the anteromedian receptaculum; and from the four-eyed Notnops by having the embolus protruding ventrally from the apical median area of the tegulum in males (instead of from the posterior area), and by the lack of an anteromedian receptaculum in the female internal genitalia. Other representatives of non-nopine genera such as Calponia Platnick, 1993 and Caponia Simon, 1887 have eight eyes; Diploglena Purcell, 1904 , Laoponia Platnick & Jäger, 2008 , Taintnops Platnick, 1994 and Tisentnops Platnick, 1994 have only two eyes, and Carajas Brescovit & Sánchez-Ruiz, 2016 is completely devoid of eyes.

Key for all species of Caponina Simon, 1892

1. Four eyes (rarely three) ..................................................................................................................... 2

– Six eyes (rarely five) ......................................................................................................................... 3

2. Female internal genitalia with anterior expansions on the pair of sclerotized bars; sclerotization around spiracles narrow, widely separated from each other ( Platnick 1994a: fig. 22) ....................... ......................................................................................... C. testacea Simon, 1892 (males unknown)

– Female internal genitalia lacking anterior expansions on the pair of sclerotized bars; sclerotizations around spiracles widened, almost touching each other ( Platnick 1994a: fig. 23) ............................... .......................................................................................... C. tijuca Platnick, 1994 (males unknown)

3. Males (those of C. chinacota and C. cajabamba , unknown) ........................................................... 4

– Females (those of C. bochalema sp. nov. and C. huila sp. nov., unknown) ....................................11

4. Cymbium short, length not reaching twice palpal tibia length ( Fig. 3E, G ) ..................................... 5

– Cymbium long, length more than twice as long as palpal tibia length ( Fig. 3H, J ) ......................... 8

5. Palpal femur with pronounced dorsal tubercle ( Fig. 1E–G ) ............................................................. 6

– Palpal femur without dorsal tubercle ( Platnick 1994a: figs 29, 31) ................................................... ........................................................................................................ C. notabilis (Mello-Leitão, 1939)

6. Tegulum round or oval, large, length greater than or equal to cymbium length ( Fig. 3E–G ) .......... 7

– Tegulum pear-shaped, small, length shorter than cymbium ( Fig. 1E–G ) ........ C. alejandroi sp. nov.

7. Tegulum round, embolus with very thin and long tip and small opening ( Brescovit & Sánchez-Ruiz 2013: figs 5, 7–9) ................................................... C. papamanga Brescovit & Sánchez-Ruiz, 2013

– Tegulum oval, embolus with thick, short and sharp tip and large opening ( Fig. 3E–G ) .................... ......................................................................................................................... C. bochalema sp. nov.

8. Embolus base anteriorly directed ( Fig. 3H–J ) .................................................................................. 9

– Embolus base posteriorly directed ( Platnick 1994a: figs 39–41) .............. C. paramo Platnick, 1994

9. Tegulum pear-shaped, small; palpal femur with dorsal tubercle .................................................... 10

– Tegulum oval, large; palpal femur without dorsal tubercle ( Platnick 1994a: figs 26– 28) ................................................................................................................ C. alegre Platnick, 1994

10. Palpal femur with a pronounced dorsal tubercle; cymbium very thick with pronounced curvature and squared tip ( Platnick 1994a: figs 36–38) ................................................. C. chilensis Platnick, 1994

– Palpal femur with a moderate dorsal tubercle; cymbium cylindrical with moderate curvature and rounded tip ( Fig. 3H–J ) ............................................................. C. huila sp. nov. (females unknown)

11. Internal genitalia with concave or straight sclerotization around spiracles on posterior plate ( Platnick 1994a: figs 24–25, 35) .................................................................................................................... 12

– Internal genitalia with convex sclerotization around spiracles on posterior plate ( Platnick 1994a: figs 32–34) ...................................................................................................................................... 14

12. Sclerotization around spiracles on posterior plate concave; pair of sclerotized bars with anterolateral extensions ( Platnick 1994a: figs 24, 35) ......................................................................................... 13

– Sclerotization around spiracles on posterior plate straight; pair of sclerotized bars without anterolateral extensions ( Platnick 1994a: fig. 25) ............................................... C. notabilis (Mello-Leitão, 1939)

13. Sclerotization around spiracles on posterior plate broad; pair of sclerotized bars anteriorly widened, with long and thin anterolateral extensions ( Platnick 1994a: fig. 35) ... C. chinacota Platnick, 1994

– Sclerotization around spiracles on posterior plate narrow; pair of sclerotized bars anteriorly narrow, with short and thick anterolateral extensions ( Platnick 1994a: fig. 24) ....... C. alegre Platnick, 1994

14. Anterolateral extensions on the pair of sclerotized bars elongated, size reaching at least a third or more of the pair of sclerotized bars ( Figs 1I , 2E ; Platnick 1994a: fig. 33) ..................................... 15

– Anterolateral extensions on the pair of sclerotized bars absent or short, size not reaching a fifth of the pair of sclerotized bars ( Platnick 1994a: figs 32, 34) ............................................................... 16

15 Sclerotization around spiracles touching at middle of abdomen, forming a single piece of sclerotization; pair of sclerotized bars broad with club-shaped anterolateral extensions fused in the apical third of the pair of sclerotized bars ( Platnick 1994a: fig. 33) .... C. cajabamba Platnick, 1994

– Sclerotization around spiracles not touching; pair of sclerotized bars narrow with elongated, thin, boomerang-shaped anterolateral extensions fused from the base to the middle of the pair of sclerotized bars ( Figs 1H–I , 2D–E ) ................................................................. C. alejandroi sp. nov.

16. Sclerotization around spiracles not touching ( Platnick 1994a: figs 32; Brescovit & Sánchez-Ruiz 2013: fig. 10) ................................................................................................................................... 17

– Sclerotization around spiracles touching at middle of abdomen, forming a single piece of sclerotization ( Platnick 1994a: fig. 34) ............................................................................ C. paramo Platnick, 1994

17 Pair of sclerotized bars wide and dorsolaterally folded; anterolateral extensions absent ( Platnick 1994a: fig. 32) .......................................................................................... C. chilensis Platnick, 1994

– Pair of sclerotized bars narrow, with club-shaped apical ends; anterolateral extensions very short ( Brescovit & Sánchez-Ruiz 2013: fig. 10) ............. C. papamanga Brescovit & Sánchez-Ruiz, 2013

Figures

Fig. 3. A–B, E–G. Caponina bochalema sp. nov., ♂, holotype (IAvH-I 3757). A. Habitus, dorsal view. B. Habitus, ventral view. E. Left palp, retrolateral view. F. Left palp, ventral view. G. Left palp, prolateral view. – C–D, H–J. Caponina huila sp. nov., ♂, holotype (IAvH-I 3761). C. Habitus, dorsal view. D. Habitus, ventral view. H. Left palp, retrolateral view. I. Left palp, ventral view. J. Left palp, prolateral view. Scale bars: A–D = 1.5 mm; E–J = 1 mm.

Fig. 1. Caponina alejandroi sp. nov. A–B, E–G. ♂, holotype (IAvH-I 3747). C–D, H–I. ♀, paratype (IAvH-I 3749). A. Habitus, dorsal view. B. Habitus, ventral view. C. Habitus, dorsal view. D. Habitus, ventral view. E. Left palp, retrolateral view. F. Left palp, ventral view. G. Left palp, prolateral view. H. External genitalia, ventral view. I. Internal genitalia, dorsal view. Scale bars: A–D = 1.5 mm; E–G = 1 mm; H–I = 0.5 mm. Abbreviations: see Material and methods.

Fig. 2. Caponina alejandroi sp. nov.A–C. ♂, holotype (IAvH-I 3747). D–E. ♀, paratype (IAvH-I 3749). A. Left palp, retrolateral view. B. Left palp, ventral view. C. Left palp, prolateral view. D. External genitalia, ventral view. E. Internal genitalia, dorsal view. Scale bars: A–D = 1.5 mm; E–G = 1 mm; H–I = 0.5 mm. Abbreviations: see Material and methods.