Stephanopis nana Machado, 2019

Machado, Miguel, Teixeira, Renato Augusto & Milledge, Graham A., 2019, On the Australian Bark Crab Spider Genus Stephanopis: Taxonomic Review and Description of Seven New Species (Araneae: Thomisidae: Stephanopinae), Records of the Australian Museum 71 (6), pp. 217-276 : 260

Stephanopis nana Machado sp. nov.

http: //zoobank.org/NomenclaturalActs/ 462BB904-EA42-4B30-8908-02A3A250B823

Fig. 36

Holotype ♀, QM S14589 , Chinchilla , Queensland, Australia, 26°44'19.28"S 150°37'15.01"E, T. Adams, 19 February 1979 . Paratypes: QM S80820, 1♀, Moolayember Creek NP, Queensland, Australia, 25°14.5'S 148°37.4'E, C. Burwell, 10 March 2006 ; QM S80247 , 1♀, Little Wolfang Peak , Queensland, Australia, 22°33'S 147°49'43.32"E, Queensland Museum party, 5 March 2006 .

Diagnosis. The females of S. nana sp. nov. are similar to those of S. altifrons and S. nigra , possessing a high clypeus, eyes located on an elevated ocular projection ( Fig. 36B ) and opisthosoma with stout posterior setiferous tubercles ( Fig. 36A ). However, S. nana sp. nov. is easily recognizable by its considerably smaller body size and position of the CO: females of S. nigra have CO disposed horizontally while in S. altifrons they are oblique but delimiting a “V-shape” on the atrium. In S. nana sp. nov. the anterior folds of the openings are directed towards each other in the middle of the plate ( Fig. 36C ).

Description. Female (QM S14589 ): Anterior eye row strongly recurved and posterior procurve; prosoma and legs

predominantly pale-yellow with few brown or dark-brown spots ( Fig. 36A ); opisthosoma concave at the anterior border, rugose, rounded, predominantly pale-yellow with dark-brown patches randomly distributed. Spermathecae small, coiled and preceded by large “lung-shaped” chambers ( Fig. 36D ).

Measurements: eye diameters and interdistances: AME 0.05, ALE 0.15, PME 0.12, PLE 0.10, AME–AME 0.10, AME–ALE 0.09, PME–PME 0.17, PME–PLE 0.10, MOQ length 0.48, width 0.32; leg formula: 1-2-3-4: leg I—femur 2.97/ patella 1.75/ tibia 2.28/ metatarsus 1.70/ tarsus 0.90/ total 9.60; II—2.35/ 1.31/ 1.79/ 1.47/ 0.88/ 7.80; III—1.90/ 1.00/ 1.54/ 1.45/ 0.81/ 6.70; IV—1.92/ 0.89/ 1.39/ 1.40/ 0.73/ 6.33. Total body length 8.02; prosoma length 3.67, width 3.05; opisthosoma length 4.35; clypeus height 0.81; sternum length 1.56, width 1.38; gnathocoxae length 0.81, width 0.37; labium length 0.44, width 0.60.

Male: Unknown.

Etymology. The specific name is an adjective derived from the Ancient Greek that means “dwarf” and refers to the reduced size of these spiders, especially when compared to its similar congeneric species S. altifrons , S. carcinoides sp. nov. and S. nigra .

Distribution. Queensland, Australia ( Fig. 42 ).

Figures

Figure 36. Stephanopis nana sp. nov., female (QM S14589). (A) dorsal habitus; (B) front; (C) epigynal plate, ventral view; (D) epigynal plate/spermathecae.

Figure 42. Distribution records of S. nana sp. nov., S. nigra, S. palliolata and S. rufiventris.