Paratus halabala, Zapata, Lorena V. & Ramírez, Martín J., 2010

Zapata, Lorena V. & Ramírez, Martín J., 2010, A new species of the genus Paratus Simon (Araneae: Liocranidae) from Thailand, Zootaxa 2418, pp. 65-68 : 65-68

Paratus halabala sp. nov.

Figs. 1–13

Type material: Holotype: male, Thailand, Naratiwat Province, Waeng District, Hala Bala WS, Research Station , 190– 200 m [N5º47’44.8”, E101º50’4.2”], 13–14 October 2003, ATOL Expedition 2003, deposited in Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, Buenos Aires ( MACN-Ar 25051 ; curator Cristina Scioscia ) .

Etymology. The specific epithet is a noun in apposition that refers to the type locality.

Diagnosis. Paratus halabala sp. nov. is similar to P. i n d i c u s in having a conductor on the male copulatory bulb, but can be distinguished from this and from P. sinensis by the short, thick embolus and short retrolateral tibial apophysis. It can be distinguished from P. reticulatus , whose male is unknown, by having 7 pairs of ventral spines on tibia I (instead of 5 pairs).

Description. Male (holotype): Total length 2.60. Carapace: 1.43 long, 1.37 wide, 0.63 high. Clypeus low, 0.07. Eyegroup width 0.62. Eye sizes and interdistances: Anterior median eye (AME) 0.10, anterior lateral eye (ALE) 0.07, posterior median eye (PME) 0.13, posterior lateral eye (PLE) 0.08, AME-AME 0.07, AME-ALE 0.05, AME-PME 0.05, PME-PME 0.05, PME-PLE 0.10, ALE-PLE touching. Anterior eye row straight, posterior eye row procurved, slightly wider than anterior one. Chelicerae 0.70 long, coloured as carapace, without pattern, with 6 promarginal teeth, gradually decreasing in size towards the fang. Carapace light brown, with two lateral darker bands. Pars cephalica without bands or spots. Carapace highest at the level of the thoracic groove. Sternum pale without pattern, truncate between coxae IV. Palpal coxae parallel, 0.53 long, 0.23 wide. Labium slightly wider than long. Abdomen colour: lighter than carapace, with some longitudinal rows of dark roundish spots of different sizes and a few, irregularly distributed guanine dots in the anterior part. Colulus absent. Posterior lateral spinnerets slightly longer than the anterior lateral spinnerets. Colour of the legs similar to the carapace, with 1 to 3 darker rings on femora, some incomplete. Tibiae I and II with 7 pairs of long ventral spines, longest spine 0.48. Metatarsi I and II with 3 pairs of long ventral spines, longest spine 0.55.

Length of leg articles: Palp as in Figs. 6–13 . Femur 0.67 long, with one prolateral, apical, dark, irregular spot. Retrolateral tibial apophysis smaller than tibia diameter. Patella (0.20) almost as long as tibia (0.23) and about 3.2 times shorter than femur and cymbium. Tegulum bulbous, rounded in ventral view, with translucent, not sclerotized conductor accompanying the embolus, which is short and thick, not gradually tapering.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 7. Paratus halabala sp. nov., male holotype. 1 - 5 habitus (1 dorsal, 2 ventral, 3 lateral, 4 frontal); 5 left leg I, prolateral; 6 – 7 left male palp (6 retrolateral, 7 ventral).

FIGURES 8 – 13. Paratus halabala sp. nov., male holotype. 8 – 10 left palp (8 retrolateral, 9 ventral, 10 prolateral); 11 – 13 detail of embolus and conductor (11 retrolateral, 12 ventral, 13 prolateral). Scale bars: 8 – 10 = 0.25 mm; 11 – 13 = 100 um.