Mistralia verrucosa ( Maury, 1990 ) Porto & Derkarabetian & Giribet & Pérez-González, 2024

Porto, Willians, Derkarabetian, Shahan, Giribet, Gonzalo & Pérez-González, Abel, 2024, Systematic revision of the South American “ Nuncia ” (Opiliones, Laniatores, Triaenonychidae), ZooKeys 1207, pp. 1-149 : 1-149

Mistralia verrucosa ( Maury, 1990) comb. nov.

Figs 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43

Nuncia verrucosa Maury, 1990: 106, figs 1–12; Maury 1992: 5; Acosta and Maury 1998: 579; Kury 2003: 22; Pérez-Schultheiss et al. 2021: 413, fig. 3 c, f.

Material examined.

Holotype. ♂ Chile. Termas del Río Amarillo , Palena Province, E. Maury coll., 04. XII. 1986 ( MACN 8685 ) . Paratype (allotype ♀). Chile. Los Derrumbes, Puyehue, Osorno Province , E. Maury coll., 04–05. XII. 1985 ( MACN 8686 ) .

Paratypes. Chile. Río Palena , Aysén Province, 1 ♂ and 1 ♀, E. Maury coll., 06–07. XII. 1986 ( MACN 8687 ) .

Additional material.

Argentina. Río Negro: Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi, Río Frías Superior, D. Anghicante coll., 26. I. 1990, 2 imm. Neuquén: Lago Ortiz Basualdo, M. Ramírez coll., I. 1990, 1 ♂ ( MACN), P. N. Nahuel Huapi, Puerto Blest, M. Ramírez coll., 10. I. 1998, 1 ♂ 1 ♀ 1 imm. ( MACN). Osorno: Los Derrumbes, 5 km al S de Termas Puyehue, A. Roig coll., I. 1988, 1 ♂ ( MACN). Same locality, E. Maury coll., 18. I. 1989, 1 ♂ ( MACN). Los Derrumbes, 5 km al S de Termas Puyehue, 40.73807 ° S, 72.31114 ° W, 536 m, E. Maury coll., 04. 12. 1985, 1 ♀ ( MACN).

Diagnosis.

This species can be readily distinguished from other species within the genus by its distinctive ocularium with a prominent elongated process. The tubercles on the dorsal scutum are wart-like. The dorsal plate of the penis is divided into two elongated structures with small apical projections.

Distribution.

Argentina: Provinces of Neuquén and Río Negro. Chile: Los Lagos Region (Fig. 4 B ).

Redescription of male.

Measurements: Total length 3.60, length of carapace 1.16, length of dorsal scutum 2.70, max. width of carapace 1.74. max. width of mesotergum 2.00. Appendage measurements: Pedipalps. Length of trochanter 0.28, length of femora 1.15, length of patella 0.56, length of tibia 0.87, length of tarsus 0.91. Leg I: trochanter (tr) 0.36, femora (fe) 1.62, patella (pa) 0.66, tibia (ti) 1.27, metatarsus (mt) 1.44, tarsus (ta) 0.91. II: tr 0.39, fe 2.4, pa 0.73, ti 1.97, mt 2.57, ta 1.97. III: tr 0.37, fe 1.78, pa 0.63, ti 1.49, mt 2.17, ta 1.05. IV: tr 0.44, fe 2.52, pa 0.73, ti 1.77, mt 3.36, ta 1.12.

Dorsum (Fig. 38 , 39 ). Eta (η) hourglass-shaped dorsal scutum. Anterior margin with 2–3 small setiferous tubercles on each side. Ocularium raised, with a long spine between eyes, covered in setiferous tubercles and with few setae on the spine. Carapace with fine microgranulation; adorned with warts-shaped tubercles, while the mesotergum microgranulate. Areas I – IV with setiferous tubercles, with area I having a pair of wart-shaped tubercles, and areas II – IV exhibiting 2–3 robust wart-shaped tubercles. Posterior margin adorned with a row of six wart-like tubercles. Free tergites also with a row of wart-shaped tubercles similar to those found on the posterior margin of the dorsal scutum.

Chelicerae (Fig. 40 A, B ). Segment I with few setae. Segment II with few granules.

Pedipalps (Fig. 40 C, D ). Trochanter with dorsal and ectal granules and a ventral spine with a seta. Ventral surface of femora with a row of four spines with subdistal setae and three small setiferous tubercles. In ectal view, there are 4–5 setiferous granules, while the dorsal surface features a row of three spines with subdistal setae. In mesal view, there are two distal tubercles with setae, with a row of setiferous granules on the top and bottom of the mesal surface. Dorsal surface of the patella with a few setiferous granules, while the mesal view exhibits two spines with setae, and the ectal view has setiferous granules. Tibia with setiferous granules on the dorsal and ventral surfaces, in addition to six ventral spines with subdistal setae. Tarsus with three mesal and ectal spines with subdistal setae.

Legs (Fig. 41 ). I with three rows of small tubercles and one row of long tubercles with subdistal setae, II and III with one row of small tubercles each, and IV exhibiting microgranulation, with six bridges between coxa II – III, 8–9 eight or nine bridges between coxa III and IV, and three or four between coxa IV and opisthosoma. Spiracles visible. The smooth surface covers ~ ¼ of leg II (which features three tubercles with setae) and III and occupies <¼ of the IV coxa (with a row of 2–3 small tubercles and a process directed towards the sternum). The opisthosomal sternites possess a row of small setiferous tubercles. Sternum arrow-shaped.

Trochanters I – IV bearing small dorsal setiferous tubercles, trochanter I with a ventral tubercle with setae. Femora I – IV bearing small setiferous tubercles. Femora I with a ventral row of remarkable spines with setae. Tarsal count: 5–10 / 12 – 4 – 4.

Penis (Figs 42 , 43 ). Pars distalis equipped with a ventral plate featuring a long cleft, dividing it into two lamellae. Each lamella with three small macrosetae on its ventral surface and one macroseta on the dorsal surface. Capsula externa shorter in length compared to the capsula interna, divided into two cylindrical structures adorned with numerous small apical denticles. Capsula interna tubular in shape, with dorsal-apical denticles.

Female. Similar to the male, with shorter pedipalpal femora and without interocular apophysis.

Female measurements. Total length 3.15, length of carapace 1.52, length of dorsal scutum 2.62, max. width of carapace 1.73, max. width of mesotergum 2.28. Appendage measurements: Pedipalps. Length of trochanter 0.27, length of femora 1.21, length of patella 0.75, length of tibia 0.90, length of tarsus 1.26. Leg I: trochanter (tr) 0.34, femora (fe) 1.60, patella (pa) 0.73, tibia (ti), 1.24, metatarsus (mt) 1.51, tarsus (ta) 0.81. II: tr 0.45, fe 2.42, pa 0.83, ti 2.00, mt 2.65, ta 1.98. III: tr 0.45, fe 1.77, pa 0.75, ti 1.37, mt 2.12, ta 1.07. IV: tr 0.39, fe 2.59, pa 0.89, ti 1.88, mt 3.48, ta 1.36. Tarsal count: 4–9 (10) – 4–4.

Figures

Figure 3. Phylogenetics relationships of Triaenonychidae, with clade names as discussed in the main text. Phylogeny is derived from the IQ-TREE analysis. Nodes without circles have < 95 % bootstrap support to AH-aLR and UFBoot.

Figure 4. Maps showing the distribution of the species used in this work. South America (Chile and western Argentina inset). Chile in green, Argentina / South America in grey. Terrestrial ecoregions (following Olson et al. 2001) highlighted in yellow (Chilean Matorral) and orange (Valdivian temperate forests).

Figure 38. Mistralia verrucosa comb. nov. habitus, male A dorsal view C lateral view E ventral view. Female B dorsal view D lateral view F ventral view. Scale bars: 1 mm. Species of Clade B, see Fig. 3.

Figure 39. Mistralia verrucosa comb. nov. male, SEM images of habitus A dorsal view B lateral view C, D ventral view. Scale bars: 1 mm (A, B, C); 500 µm (D).

Figure 40. Mistralia verrucosa comb. nov. chelicerae: mesal A ectal B Pedipalps: mesal C ectal D. Scale bars: 200 µm (A, B); 500 µm (C, D).

Figure 41. Mistralia verrucosa comb. nov. legs I A II B III C IV D. Scale bars: 1 mm.

Figure 42. Mistralia verrucosa comb. nov. penis: ventral A, B apical C lateral D, E dorsal F, G. Scale bars: 200 µm (A, D, F); 100 µm (B, E, G); 50 µm (C).

Figure 43. Mistralia verrucosa comb. nov. penis: ventral A apical B lateral C dorsal D. Colors: ventral plate (yellow), capsula externa (blue), capsula interna (red). Scale bars: 200 µm (A); 50 µm (B); 100 µm (C, D).