Psechrus kunmingensis Yin, Wang & Zhang, 1985

Feng, Ping, Ma, Yan Yan & Yang, Zi Zhong, 2012, Psechrus kunmingensis: description of male and supplementary description of female, with discussion on intraspecific variation (Araneae, Psechridae, Psechrus), ZooKeys 238, pp. 87-99 : 89-96

Psechrus kunmingensis Yin, Wang & Zhang, 1985 Figs 1-24

Psechrus kunmingensis Yin, Wang & Zhang 1985: 25, Fig. 5 A–D (Description and illustration of female).

Psechrus kunmingensis Song, Zhu & Chen 1999: 397, Fig. 232 C–D, O–P (Illustration of male and female).

Psechrus kunmingensis Wang & Yin 2001: 334, Figs 9-10 (Description and illustration of female).

Material examined.

China, Yunnan Province:Xi Shan, Kunming, 2260m, 24°57'24.3"N, 102°37'43.7"E: 4 ♂ (KM01-04), 6 ♀ (KM05-10), 27-IV-2004, Zi Zhong Yang leg.; 5 ♀ (KM11-15), 27-IV-2004, Zhi Sheng Zhang leg.; 1 ♂ (KM18), 5 ♀ (KM16-17, KM19-21), 2 subadults (KM22, KM25), 12 juveniles (KM23-24, KM26-35), 20-IV-2011, Ping Feng and Yan Yan Ma leg.; 1 ♀ (KM36), 07-IX-2011, Zi Zhong Yang leg.; 1 ♂ (KM38), 1 ♀ (KM37), 04-V-2011, Zong Xu Li leg.. Maguohe township (by the 101 provincial road), Malong county, Qujing, 1880m, 25°27'50.7"N, 103°22'42.8"E, 3 ♀ (ML01-03), 18-VII-2012, Ping Feng and Ting Bang Yang leg.. Dong Shan, Xuanwei, Qujing, ca 2150m, 26°12'42.0"N, 104°08'15.6"E, 10 ♀ (XW01-10), 7 juveniles (XW11-17), 17-VII-2012, Ping Feng, Yan Yan Ma and Ting Bang Yang leg.. Yongfeng town, Zhaotong, ca 1930m, 27°14'55.6"N, 103°40'10.6"E, 1 ♀ (ZT01), 23-VII-2004, Zi Zhong Yang leg.. Fenghuang Shan, Zhaotong, 1970m, 27°18'30.0"N, 103°42'16.7"E, 4 ♀ (ZT02-05), 14-VII-2012, Ping Feng and Yan Yan Ma leg.. Huaning county, Yuxi, ca 1660m, 24°10'59.3"N, 102°56'45.2"E, 1 ♀ (HN01), 09-VIII-2002, Jin Yin Lu leg.. Mopan Shan, Xinping county, Yuxi, ca 1630m, 24°01'21.3"N, 101°58'15.7"E, 2 ♀ (XP01-02), 05-V-2012, Zi Zhong Yang leg.. Lukou village (by the 204 provincial road), Luxi county, Honghe Autonomous Prefecture, 1600m, 24°28'30.2"N, 103°32'35.7"E, 3 ♀ (LX01-03), 1 juvenile (LX04), 27-VII-2012, Ping Feng and Ting Bang Yang leg.. Kaiyuan (by the 323 national road), Honghe Autonomous Prefecture, 1980m, 23°43'27.7"N, 103°23'05.9"E, 5 ♀ (KY01-05), 1 juvenile (KY06), 26-VII-2012, Ping Feng and Yan Yan Ma leg.. Baila Shan, Luoping conty, Qujing, 1710m, 24°52'20.1"N, 104°15'37.2"E, 1 ♀ (LP01), 19-VII-2012, Ping Feng and Yan Yan Ma leg.. Guizhou Province: Weining county (by the 326 national road), Bijie, 2330m, 26°51'44.0"N, 104°18'15.2"E, 1 ♀ (WN01), 15-VII-2012, Ping Feng, Yan Yan Ma and Ting Bang Yang leg.

Type records.

Kunming, Yunnan Province, China, 1 ♀ holotype, 5-IV-1979, Jia Fu Wang leg.; 3 ♀ paratypes, VII-1983, Ming Yao Liu leg.; 4 ♀, 21-VII-1981, Jia Fu Wang leg.

Diagnosis.

Maleresembles Psechrus sinensis Berland & Berland, 1914 (Wang & Yin 2001: 338, Figs 25-26), Psechrus tingpingensis Yin, Wang & Zhang, 1985 (Wang & Yin 2001: 340, Figs 31-33) and Psechrus triangulus Yang et al., 2003 (Yang et al. 2003: 45, Figs D-F) by having an embolic basal apophysis (Figs 1-3) and a rounded bulge with dense patch of hairs on the ventral palpal femur (Fig. 7); distinguished from these species by: 1) embolic basal apophysis long and distally bifurcated (Figs 1-3, 17-19); 2) much longer embolus (almost as long as the width of the tegulum) (Figs 2, 17); 3) distal section of embolus directed retrolaterally. Female copulatory organs similar to Psechrus sinensis (Wang & Yin 2001: 338, Fig. 28) and Psechrus jinggangensis Wang & Yin, 2001 (Wang & Yin 2001: 335, Fig. 12) by having coiled copulatory ducts; distinguished from these species by the posteriorly and laterally lobed epigynal median septum, which interlocks with lateral lobe, and folds inward; the spermathecal heads arise anteriorly at spermathecae (Figs 11, 24a, 24b).

Description.

Males (KM38 first, KM03 in parentheses): Body length 18.21 (15.05). Prosoma length 7.53 (6.46), prosoma width 5.89 (4.56), opisthosoma length 11.18 (7.37), opisthosoma width 5.08(2.93). Eyes diameter: AME 0.32 (0.34), ALE 0.39 (0.37), PME 0.35(0.37), PLE 0.43 (0.42). Distance between eyes: AME-AME 0.23 (0.18), AME-ALE 0.14 (0.08), ALE-PLE 0.53 (0.44), PME-PME 0.23 (0.25), PME-PLE 0.38(0.33), AME-PME 0.57 (0.56). Clypeus height at AME 0.85 (0.76), clypeus height at ALE 0.80 (0.69).

Carapace brown, with a gray band at central part and white hair along the margin (Fig. 4). Cervical groove and fovea with dark stripe (Fig. 4). Eight eyes arranged in two recurved rows, eye region with long white hairs (Fig. 6). Sternum light brown, with an inverted triangle dark mark and long hairs. Labium deep reddish brown; gnathocoxae brown. Chelicerae yellow at basal part, and reddish brown at terminal part, with 3 promarginal, 5 retromarginal teeth, and 3 denticles (Fig. 8). Legs yellow to reddish brown; Coxae and trochanteri of the first walking legs with short macrosetae in a distal row each (Fig. 9). Patellae of legs with a slit at retrolateral side (Fig. 5). Dorsal opisthosoma dark gray, with a pair of longitudinal black patches at lateral side, and pairs of white radiative patches. Ventral opisthosoma with a white band, from pedicel to cribellum.

Male palp: distal 1/3 part of dorsal palpal CB with dense scopula. Embolic base with a long and distally bifurcated apophysis (Figs 1-3, 17-19); conductor close to embolus, almost joined together along their entire lengths. In retrolateral view, there is a small triangular apophysis (as indicated by arrows) beside the embolus (Figs 19, 23); Tegulum with a broad apophysis (as indicated by arrows) under embolic base (Figs 3, 18-19). Sperm duct visible through tegulum, follows slightly meandering path ve ntrally (Figs 1, 2, 17). Palpal tibia very short, with dense patch of hairs at retrolateral side (Fig. 1); palpal femur with a rounded bulge and dense patch of hairs (Fig. 7).

Spination of palp and legs as shown in Table 1; Measurements of the palp and legs as shown in Table 2. KM38 first, KM03 in parentheses. Leg formula: 1423.

Females (KM37 first, together with those of others [KM05, KM06, KY02 and ZT04] given as ranges in parentheses): Body length 16.75 (14.17-20.30). Prosoma length 7.09 (5.15-7.50), prosoma width 5.07 (4.26-4.83), opisthosoma length 9.90 (8.52-13.46), opisthosoma width 5.08 (4.19-7.75). Eyes diameter: AME 0.33 (0.30-0.33), ALE 0.36 (0.44-0.47), PME 0.39(0.38-o.44), PLE 0.43 (0.41-0.47). Distance between eyes: AME-AME 0.20 (0.18-0.16), AME-ALE 0.11 (0.07-0.13), ALE-PLE 0.59 (0.42-0.55), PME-PME 0.29 (0.24-0.27), PME-PLE 0.34 (0.35-0.37), AME-PME 0.64 (0.55-0.53). Clypeus height at AME 0.75 (0.72-0.83), clypeus height at ALE 0.72 (0.71-0.81).

Coloration (Figs 12-13) as in male only generally darker; other characters as in male except as noted. Chelicerae with 3 promarginal, 5 retromarginal teeth, and 4 denticles (Fig. 16). Patellae of legs with a slit at retrolateral side (Fig. 15).

Female copulatory organ: the SO and SG are outside the epigynal field (the SO are anterior and lateral to the epigyne, while the SG are right anterior to the epigyne); the MS lobed at the posterior and lateral edges; there are many wrinkles at the epigyne, especially at the anterior part (Fig. 20); the shadow of the round spermathecae is evidently visible through the ventral view of epigyne (Fig. 10). Copulatory ducts coiled; the spermathecae is mostly covered by folds of LL and MS; the spermathecal heads arise anteriorly at spermathecae (Figs 11, 21). The incision at posterior margin of MS, shape of lobes of MS, the length of CD and shape of SH vary a lot (Fig. 24a, b); schematic course of internal duct system shown in Fig. 22.

Note. Illustrations given in previous publications about Psechrus kunmingensis were wrong with the arising position of the spermathecal heads or the position of the spermathecae. Yin et al. (1985, 25, Fig. 5 A–D) and Song and Chen (1999, 397 Fig. 232 C–D) were almost the same. They mis-illustrated the spermathecal heads arise posteriorly. The spermathecae are at lateral vulva not medial vulva as shown by Wang and Yin (2001, 334, Figs 9-10).

Spination of palp and legs as shown in Table 1; Measurements of the palp and legs as shown in Table 2. KM37 first, those of others given as ranges in parentheses. Leg formula: 1423.

Intraspecific variation.

All 6 examined males were collected from the type locality. The distal fork of EA is relatively variable (Fig. 23): one male (KM18) with 2 short and tiny apophysis, some with relatively strong and blunt forks (KM01, KM04 and KM38), while others exhibit slender and sharp forks with the ventral one curved distally (KM02 and KM03).

All examined adult females vary in many aspects (Figs 10-11, 24a, 24b): 1) the number of SO varies from five (KM05, ZT01, HN01 and WN01) to seven (KM37 and KM36); 2) incision at posterior margin of MS is less distinct in some individuals (XW06, WN01, LX03 and KY02), but others are evident and symmetrical (KM37, HN 01 and ZT04); The epigyne of female specimens collected from Zhaotong (the northernmost locality) to Kaiyuan (the southernmost localiy) show disciplinary changes: the lateral bulges of MS range from very sharp (ZT04) to really broadly rounded (KY02); the CD vary from broad and distinctly visible (KM37, HN01, LX03 and KY02) to almost invisible (WN01 and ZT04); almost the whole spermathecae are covered (KM37, XW06, ZT04) to more than half part spermathecae are exposed (HN01, LX03 and KY02); 6) spermathecal heads show huge variation in shape and length, and among the dissected vulvae, no two are exactly the same, even opposing sides of the same individual.

Distribution.

CHINA: Yunnan Province (Kunming, Qujing, Zhaotong, Yuxi, Honghe), Guizhou Province (Bijie), see Fig. 25.