Myrmarachne morningside, Benjamin, 2015

Benjamin, Suresh P., 2015, Model mimics: antlike jumping spiders of the genus Myrmarachne from Sri Lanka, Journal of Natural History 49 (43), pp. 2609-2666 : 2628-2629

Myrmarachne morningside sp. nov.

( Figures 20A–D , 21A–D , 22A–D )

Type material

Holotype. male from Sri Lanka, Sabaragamuuwa Province , Ratnapura District , Eastern Sinharaja, Morningside section , 23 February 2007, SP. Benjamin and Z. Jaleel, MHNG.

Paratype

Male from Sri Lanka, same data as holotype.

Etymology

The specific name is a noun in apposition taken from the type locality.

Diagnosis

Very similar in outward appearance to M. spissa . Separated from it by the diskshaped tegulum and shiny appearance, mostly of the dorsal parts of the prosoma. In addition M. spissa has a pair of long whitish setae at about the centre of its prosoma, which are absent in M. morningside . Very similar in size, habitat preference and genital morphology to M. paludosa comb. nov. and M. aurantiaca sp. nov. M. paludosa comb. nov. has an upward pointing, tapering RTA and M. aurantiaca sp. nov. has an RTA with a curved base. It is predicted that females of this species would have an elongated S similar to other endemic Myrmarachne of the island.

Description

Male holotype from Morningside: total length: 5.6; prosoma length: 3.5, width: 1.0. Leg I: femur 1.1, patella 0.4, tibia 1.1, metatarsus 1.0, tarsus 0.4. Prosoma oval, 1.5× long than wide. Opisthosoma oval, 2× longer than wide, constricted at the centre of the anterior half. Uniformly black in colour, legs a lighter yellow-brown. Prosoma and opisthosoma are both covered with fine whitish hairs. Chelicerae, somewhat longer than carapace, anteriorly bulb-like, tapering towards the base, dentition not examined. Leg formula 4132. Leg spination not examined. Male palps as in Figures 21C, D , 22A–D . Female unknown.

Distribution

Endemic to Sri Lanka.

Natural history

Collected together with ants of the genus Camponotus – probably the same species collected with M. paludosa comb. nov. However, it is not the Camponotus species found with M. prava .

Other material examined

Sri Lanka, Sabaragamuwa province, 1 male, Ratnapura District, Gilimale Forest Reserve , 23 February 2007, SP. Benjamin and Z. Jaleel, MHNG .

Figures

Figure 20. Myrmarachne morningside sp. nov. (A–D) male in life.

Figure 21. Myrmarachne morningside sp. nov. (A–D) male holotype. (A) dorsal view; (B) lateral view; (C) male palp, ventral view; (D) male palp, retrolateral view. Scale bars = 0.1 mm.

Figure 22. Myrmarachne morningside sp. nov. (A–D) male palp. (A) ventral view; (B–D) retrolateral view. Scale bars = 10 µm (D); 100 µm (A,B,C).