Thyene pulchra Peckham & Peckham 1903

Hill, David E. & Mariante, Rafael M., 2019, Review of specimens corresponding to three species of Thyene (Araneae: Salticidae: Plexippini) in the Peckham Collection, Peckhamia 185 (1), pp. 1-12 : 10-12

♀ Thyene pulchra Peckham & Peckham 1903

There are two vials (MCZ:IZ:22787: 6 females, labeled as the type, and MCZ:IZ:151905: 2 females and 2 penultimate males, all from Durban) representing Thyene pulchra in the Peckham Collection ( Figures 9- 10 ). In their description the Peckhams (1903) listed only 5 females from Durban. Although the dorsal view of the female Thyene coccineovittata drawn by Berland & Millot (1941; Figure 1 :71B) agrees with the Peckhams description of the female T. pulchra , to date this species has maintained a separate identity. Our female Thyene cf. pulchra from Brazil ( Mariante & Hill 2018; to be updated in the near future) also agrees in general appearance with the original description of this species by the Peckhams as well as the more recent description by Wesołowska & Haddad (2009).

The dark, paired spots of the posterodorsal opisthosoma of this species are faded but still visible in the older specimens ( Figure 9 ). The epigynum ( Figure 10 ) is very lightly sclerotized, and in recent specimens ( Wesołowska & Haddad 2009) only the "parentheses" situated toward the anterior end of the epigynal plate are readily visible from the exterior. Sclerotization of these structures is much lighter than that seen in the female T. ogdeni ( Figure 8 ). The Peckhams' drawing of the epigynum of T. pulchra ( Figure 10 :9) is confusing, but can best be interpreted as a sketch of the sclerotized "parentheses" of the syntype shown in Figure 10 :3, with the anterior end drawn at the bottom of the figure. Presently the best reference description for the female T. pulchra (male not known) can be found in Wesołowska & Haddad (2009).

Figures

Figure 1. Drawings of male and female Thyene coccineovittata (Simon 1886) by Berland & Millot (1941), with figure numbers from the original publication shown in rectangles. The male (71A, 70A-C) resembles T. crudelis, although the RTA (70A) is significantly larger here than shown by the Peckhams, and the endites (70B) shown by the Peckhams did not have a lateral projection. Berland & Millot recognized the female T. ogdeni as the female of this species (or a subspecies), although the drawings that they published (71B, 72A) do not agree with either the descriptions or the specimens held by the Peckhams for that species. The female shown in (71B) resembles the female T. pulchra, but the epigynum shown in (72A) might represent any of several different species of Thyene.

Figure 8 (continued on next page). Ventral view of the epigynum of Thyene ogdeni in the Peckham collection (anterior at top of page). 1-8, Females from Durban (MCZ:IZ:151903). 9, Female from Mashonaland (MCZ:IZ:151907). 10-17, Females from Durban (MCZ:IZ:151900). 18, Line drawing of the epigynum from Peckham & Peckham (1903, pl. 25, fig. 2D).

Figure 9. Dorsal opisthosoma of the female Thyene pulchra. 1-3, Syntypes from Durban (MCZ:IZ: 22787). 4, Another female from Durban (MCZ:IZ:151905). 5, Drawing by Peckham & Peckham (1903, pl. XXV, fig. 3).

Figure 10. Ventral view of epigyna of female Thyene pulchra (anterior toward the top of the page). 1-6, All six syntypes from the Peckham Collection (MCZ:IZ:22787). 7-8, Two additional females from the Peckham Collection (MCZ:IZ:151905). 9, Drawing of the epigynum published by the Peckhams (1903, pl. XXV, fig. 3A). This compares with (3), with the anterior direction toward the bottom of the page.