Crossopriza johncloudsleyi Deeleman-Reinhold & van Harten, 2001

Bernhard A. Huber & Charles M. Warui, 2012, East African pholcid spiders: an overview, with descriptions of eight new species (Araneae, Pholcidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 29 (29), pp. 1-44 : 18-22

Crossopriza johncloudsleyi Deeleman-Reinhold & van Harten, 2001

Figs 28-31 , 62-63 , 70-74

Crossopriza johncloudsleyi Deeleman-Reinhold & van Harten, 2001: 197-199 ; figs 11-16, ♂, ♀♀ (Yemen).

Diagnosis

Easily distinguished from known congeners by male clypeus modification (shapes of pair of apophyses; Fig. 29 ), male palp (shapes of procursus and bulbal process; Figs 70, 71 ), and distinctive epigynum (large pits and lateral processes; Figs 30 , 62 , 73 ).

Type material

Holotype

♂, examined .

Paratypes

5 ♀♀, 1 juv. (3 ♀♀ examined, the other two ♀♀ paratypes could not be located) .

Type locality

YEMEN, Ja’ar (13°13’N, 45°18’E), 50 m a.s.l., 15-16 May 2000 (A. van Harten), in RMNH ( 15173 ).

Other material examined

KENYA: Rift Valley Province: 2 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀, in CJFM (1 ♂, 1 ♀, 3841 ) and ZFMK (1 ♂, 1 ♀, Ar 8736 ), Lake Hannington [= Lake Bogoria , ~ 0°15’N, 36°05’E], 1000 m a.s.l., lakeside scrub, 2 Aug. 1974 (Murphy) ; 2 ♀♀, in CJFM ( 2275 ), Lake Baringo [~ 0°38’N, 36°01’E, 980 m a.s.l.], 28 Aug. 1972 (Murphy) ; 1 ♀, in CJFM ( 3805 ), Baringo , near hot springs, 1100 m a.s.l., 31 Jul. 1974 (Murphy) ; 1 ♀, 2 juvs., in MCZ ( 34026 ), Lokori [~ 1°58’N, 36°06’E, 600 m a.s.l.], 16 Aug. 1965 (B. Patterson Expedition) ; 1 ♀, in MCZ ( 34012 ), 15 miles ENE Lokori [~ 2°02’N, 36°18’E, 600 m a.s.l.], 28-29 Jun. 1966 (collector not given) ; 1 ♂, in MCZ ( 34022 ), Lothagam (2°56’N, 36°04’E) [~ 400 m a.s.l.], 2-5 Aug. 1967 (B. Patterson) ; 1 ♀, in MCZ ( 34018 ), Kangatotha (“ 40 km E of Lodwar, W of Lake Rudolf”) [~ 3°07’N, 36°00’E, 400 m a.s.l.], 27 Aug. – 7 Sep. 1963 (B. Patterson) ; 1 ♂, in NMH, Kajiado [1°51’S, 36°47’E, 1700 m a.s.l.], road culverts, May 1973 (collector not given) .

Description

Male (Lake Bogoria)

MEASUREMENTS. Total body length 2.8, carapace width 1.2. Leg 1: 21.0 (6.0 + 0.5 + 5.8 + 7.2 + 1.5), tibia 2: 3.7, tibia 3: 2.7, tibia 4: 3.3; tibia 1 L/d: 50. Distance PME-PME 70 µm, diameter PME 85 µm, distance PME-ALE 35 µm, distance AME-AME 25 µm, diameter AME 85 µm.

COLOR. Carapace ochre-yellow, medially slightly darker including ocular area and clypeus, sternum light brown with slightly darker radiating marks, legs ochre-yellow with many small black marks, mostly on femora ( Fig. 28 ) and tibiae, not on coxae, few on metatarsi, abdomen ochre-grey with indistinct small dark and white internal marks dorsally and laterally, ventrally with darker pattern, wider anterior of gonopore.

BODY. Habitus as in Figs 28 and 29 ; ocular area elevated, compact, no ‘accessory eyes’ (cf. Huber 2009); carapace with thoracic pit; clypeus with pair of distally slightly hooked apophyses on rim, ~140 µm long. Chelicerae as in Fig. 72 , with large frontal apophyses provided with one thick modified hair each and pair of smaller apophyses laterally, some hair bases accompanied by small cuticular elevations, fine stridulatory ridges. Sternum wider than long (0.78/0.50), unmodified.

PALPS. As in Figs 70 and 71 , coxa with prominent joint (arrow) and retrolateral hump, trochanter simple, femur with distinct ventral apophysis, tibia very large, procursus curved towards femur, with strong distal apophysis, bulb with only one process (bulbal apophysis) with distinctive prolatero-ventral ridges, sperm duct apparently opening at basis of bulbal apophysis.

LEGS. Without curved hairs, few vertical hairs, with spines ventrally on femur 1 (single row on distal half, ~17 spines); retrolateral trichobothrium on tibia 1 at 4%; prolateral trichobothrium absent on tibia 1, present on other tibiae; pseudosegments not visible in dissecting microscope.

VARIATION. Tibia 1 in two other males from Kenya: 5.6, 5.7. The holotype is slightly smaller (tibia 1: 4.5), lacks the small proximal apophyses on the chelicerae (arrow in Fig. 72 ), and has a slightly differently shaped palpal femur (ventral projection; see fig. 15 in Deeleman-Reinhold & van Harten 2001).

Female

In general similar to male but femur 1 without spines, clypeus unmodified, chelicerae without stridulatory ridges; tibia 1 in 6 females from Kenya: 4.6-5.2 (mean 4.8); in 3 females from Yemen: 3.4-3.5. Without stridulatory apparatus between prosoma and abdomen. Epigynum with large and complex frontal plate with pair of long lateral apophyses, pair of deep pits, and posterior elevated transversal ridge; simple posterior plate; internal genitalia as in Figs 63 and 74 . Paratypes with slightly smaller epigyna with slightly shorter projections, otherwise identical (also in dorsal view). ALS with only two spigots each.

Distribution

Known from Yemen and from several localities in Kenya, Rift Valley Province ( Fig. 19 ).

Figures

Figs 28 - 49. — 28 - 31. Crossopriza johncloudsleyi Deeleman-Reinhold & van Harten, 2001, ♂ (28, 29) and ♀ (30, 31). — 32 - 35. Buitinga wataita sp. nov., ♂ (32 - 34) and ♀ (35). — 36 - 39. Buitinga batwa sp. nov., ♂ (36 - 38) and ♀ (39). — 40 - 44. Spermophora mau sp. nov., ♂ (40, 41, 44) and ♀ (42, 43). — 46. Spermophora maathaiae sp. nov., ♂. — 45, 47 - 49. Spermophora bukusu sp. nov., ♂.

Figs 50-69. — 50-52. Spermophora kirinyaga sp. nov., ♂ (50) and ♀ (51, 52). — 53-56. Spermophora minotaura Berland, 1920, ♀♀, dark morph (53, 54) and light morph (55, 56). — 57-58. Spermophora kyambura sp. nov., ♂. — 59-61. Quamtana nyahururu sp. nov., ♂ (59, 60) and ♀ (61). — 62-63. Crossopriza johncloudsleyi Deeleman-Reinhold & van Harten, 2001, cleared ♀ genitalia, ventral and dorsal views. — 64-65. Buitinga batwa sp. nov., cleared ♀ genitalia, ventral and dorsal views. — 66-67. Spermophora maathaiae sp. nov., cleared ♀ genitalia, ventral and dorsal views. — 68. Spermophora bukusu sp. nov., cleared ♀ genitalia, ventral view. — 69. Spermophora kyambura sp. nov., cleared ♀ genitalia, dorsal view .

Figs 70 - 74. Crossopriza johncloudsleyi Deeleman-Reinhold & van Harten, 2001. 70 - 71. Left ♂ palp, prolateral and retrolateral views (arrow points to distinctive joint on coxa). 72. ♂ chelicerae, frontal view. 73 - 74. ♀ genitalia, ventral and cleared dorsal views. b: genital bulb; ba: bulbal apophysis; pr: procursus. Scale lines: 0.2 mm (72), 0.5 mm (70 - 71, 73 - 74).

Figs 16 - 19. Known distributions of the genera Anansus, Ninetis, Artema, Buitinga, and Crossopriza in East Africa (R: Rwanda; B: Burundi). For detailed maps of Buitinga, see Huber (2003 a). Squares: unidentified / undescribed specimens.