Priscula azuay Huber, 2023

Huber, Bernhard A., Meng, Guanliang, Dupérré, Nadine, Astrin, Jonas & Herrera, Mauricio, 2023, Andean giants: Priscula spiders from Ecuador, with notes on species groups and egg-sac troglomorphism (Araneae: Pholcidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 909, pp. 1-63 : 15-19

Priscula azuay Huber sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:7433AF78-D32F-4BED-810D-55A2102A705C

Figs 5A–B , 8–11

Diagnosis

Distinguished from known congeners by details of procursus( Fig. 9A–C ; distinctive dorsal distal membrane larger than in similar P. espejoi sp. nov.; short distal ventral sclerite; without retrolateral process), genital bulb ( Fig. 9D–F ; main bulbal process long and slender, gradually narrowing at tip), epigynum ( Fig. 11A– B ; in lateral view without anterior bulge, similar to P. llaviucu sp. nov. but posterior bulge weaker than in P. llaviucu ), and female internal genitalia ( Fig. 10C ; pore plates roughly triangular, narrower anteriorly than posteriorly and converging anteriorly – apparently indistinguishable from P. espejoi ). From P. espejoi also distinguished by male chelicerae ( Fig. 10A–B ; frontal apophyses in ‘regular’ more proximal position).

Etymology

The species name is derived from the type locality, noun in apposition.

Type material

Holotype ECUADOR – Azuay • 1 ♂; between Guayaquil and Cuenca , ‘loc. 2’; 2.706° S, 79.435° W; 2400 m a.s.l.; 21 Sep. 2021; B.A. Huber and M. Herrera leg.; MECN-ARAC-26-T .

Paratypes ECUADOR – Azuay • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; same collection data as for holotype; MECN-ARAC-27-T , in ZFMK Ar 24098 .

Note

The female paratype is assigned with some hesitation to this species. Its genetic distance to the holotype is 9.3%, while its distance to an unambiguous P. espejoi sp. nov. male is only 7.1%. However, two other sequenced females collected at the same locality had a much lower distance to the P. espejoi male (0.0– 0.2%); those females are thus considered conspecific with the P. espejoi male, and the single female described here is tentatively assigned to P. azuay sp. nov.

Description

Male (holotype)

MEASUREMENTS. Total body length 6.2, carapace width 2.4. Distance PME–PME 200 µm; diameter PME 230 µm; distance PME–ALE 130 µm; distance AME–AME 30 µm; diameter AME 65 µm. ALE and PLE larger than PME (diameters 270 µm). Leg 1: 48.8 (12.5+1.1 +12.3 +20.0 +2.9), tibia 2: 9.5, tibia 3: 6.9, tibia 4: 9.2; tibia 1 L/d: 52.

COLOR (in ethanol). Carapace pale ochre-yellow, with brown median mark and lateral bands, ocular area and clypeus also dark brown; sternum brown with some lighter marks; legs ochre-yellow, with dark rings subdistally on femora and proximally and subdistally on tibiae; abdomen gray, dorsally and laterally densely covered with black marks and small white marks in-between, ventrally with distinct brown plate in front of gonopore.

BODY. Habitus as in Fig. 5A . Ocular area raised, without hump on posterior side, with stronger hairs at median side of each ocular triad. Deep thoracic groove. Clypeus unmodified except sclerotized rim. Sternum wider than long (1.55/1.15), unmodified.Abdomen higher than long, dorso-posteriorly rounded.

CHELICERAE. As in Fig. 10A–B , with short entapophyses, pair of small frontal apophyses in relatively proximal position, without stridulatory ridges.

PALPS. As in Fig. 8A–C ; coxa unmodified, trochanter with low whitish rounded ventral protrusion, femur large, proximally with distinct retrolateral process, ventrally without process at half-length, distal ventral rim protruding, in ventral view with wide excavation; patella ventrally reduced to strongly sclerotized narrow rim; tibia small relative to femur; procursus ( Fig. 9A–C ) dorsally with small subdistal hump, distally with distinctive membranous elements and short ventral (slightly prolateral) spine; genital bulb ( Fig. 9D–F ) with distinctive process on proximal sclerite, with whitish area on retrolateral-ventral side, large spiraling main bulbal process.

LEGS. Without spines; with curved hairs on metatarsi 1–3, some weakly curved hairs also on tibiae 1–2; with few short vertical hairs; retrolateral trichobothrium of tibia 1 at 5%; prolateral trichobothrium present on all leg tibiae; tarsi without regular pseudosegmentation but rather with many indistinct platelets.

Male (variation)

Tibia 1 in second male: 13.5.

Female

In general similar to male ( Fig. 5B ), but clypeus rim not sclerotized, hairs between eye triads shorter. Tibia 1: 6.8. Epigynum ( Fig. 11A–B ) main anterior plate trapezoidal, in lateral view anteriorly not protruding. Internal genitalia ( Figs 10C , 11C–D ) with pair of triangular pore plates converging anteriorly.

Distribution

Known from type locality only, in Azuay Province, Ecuador ( Fig. 4A ).

Natural history

The spiders were found in a tunnel under the road. In the neighboring forest, we found P. espejoi sp. nov.

Figures

Fig. 5. Priscula spp., gularis group, live specimens. A–B. P. azuay Huber sp. nov.; male and female from Guayaquil-Cuenca, ‘loc. 2’. C–D. P. llaviucu Huber sp. nov.; male and female with egg-sac from Cajas National Park. E–F. P. cf. gularis; males from near Zhud and from near Baños. G–H. P. espejoi Huber sp. nov.; male and female with egg-sac from Guayaquil-Cuenca, ‘loc. 1’.

Fig. 8. Priscula azuay Huber sp. nov.; male paratype from between Guayaquil and Cuenca, ‘loc. 2’, ZFMK Ar 24098; left male palp, prolateral, dorsal, and retrolateral views; asterisk marks whitish area on genital bulb. Abbreviations: b=genital bulb; bp =main bulbal process; c =coxa; f =femur; pa=patella; pr = procursus; ps =proximal bulbal sclerite; ta =tarsus; ti =tibia; tr =trochanter. Scale line: 0.5 mm.

Fig. 9. Priscula azuay Huber sp. nov.; male paratype from between Guayaquil and Cuenca, ‘loc. 2’, ZFMK Ar 24098. A–C. Left tarsus and procursus, prolateral, dorsal, and retrolateral views; arrow points at distinctive dorsal distal membrane. D–F. Left genital bulb, dorsal, retrolateral, and ventral views; arrows point at process on proximal bulbal sclerite; asterisks mark whitish area on genital bulb. Abbreviations: bp = main bulbal process; ps = proximal bulbal sclerite; vs = ventral sclerite. Scale lines: 0.5 mm.

Fig. 10. Priscula azuay Huber sp. nov.; male and female paratypes from between Guayaquil and Cuenca, ‘loc. 2’, ZFMK Ar 24098. A–B. Male chelicerae, frontal and lateral views; arrow points at whitish area. C. Cleared female genitalia, dorsal view. Abbreviation: pp=pore plates. Scale lines: 0.5 mm.

Fig. 11. Priscula azuay Huber sp. nov.; female paratype from between Guayaquil and Cuenca, ‘loc. 2’, ZFMK Ar 24098. A–B. Abdomen, ventral and lateral views. C–D. Cleared genitalia, ventral and dorsal views. Scale lines: 0.5 mm.

Fig. 4. Known distribution of Priscula in Ecuador. A. Representatives of the gularis group. Circles: P. gularis (TL=type locality) and specimens treated herein as “P. gularis?” and “P. cf. gularis”. Squares: other Ecuadorian representatives of the gularis group. B. Representatives of the andinensis group (red) and binghamae group (blue) in Ecuador. The background colors indicate biogeographic regions of Ecuador (as far as relevant for Priscula, i.e., Andean regions from western foothill forests to eastern foothill forests), taken from Torres-Carvajal et al. (2019).