Lobonychium palpiplus Roewer, 1938

Zhang, Chao & Martens, Jochen, 2018, Rediscovery of Lobonychiumpalpiplus Roewer, 1938 (Opiliones, Laniatores, Epedanidae) in Sabah, Malaysia, ZooKeys 785, pp. 29-40 : 29

Lobonychium palpiplus Roewer, 1938 Figs 1-7, 8-22, 23-30, 31-34, 36

Lobonychium palpiplus Roewer, 1938: 125, fig. 44.

Type specimens.

Male lectotype (SMF-5376-1201), here designated, labeled: " Lobonychium palpiplus , male lectotype (SMF-5376-1201), designated by Chao Zhang [handwritten]".

All types (lectotype and two paralectotypes) from Pontianak [00°01'S, 109°20'E], Borneo (West Kalimantan, Indonesia), deposited in the Senckenberg Museum Frankfurt, Germany, labeled: "Arachn. Coll. Roewer - Lfd. No. 5376, Opil: Epedaninae No. 16, Lobonychium palpiplus Rwr [abbreviation for Roewer], 2♂1♀, Borneo: Pontianak, Typus, Roewer det. 1935" (Fig. 35) (examined).

Additional material examined. 1♂ (MHBU-Opi-20151208m) and 2♀, (MHBU-Opi-20151208f, MHBU-Opi-2015120801f), Malaysia: Sabah, Trus Madi Mountain, about 1103 m alt. 05°25.637'N, 116°25.984'E, October 9, 2015, Z. Z. Gao leg.; 1♀, Malaysia: Sabah, Trus Madi Mountain, about 1081 m alt. 05°26.111'N, 116°27.237' E, October 10, 2015, Z. Z. Gao leg.; 1♀, Malaysia: Sabah, Trus Madi Mountain, about 760 m alt. 05°27.598'N, 116°26.936'E, October 12, 2015, Z. Z. Gao leg.; 1♀, Malaysia: Sabah, Kalabakan, about 330 m alt. 04°32.522'N, 117°10.020'E, October 18, 2015, Z. Z. Gao leg.; 2♀, Malaysia: Sabah, Trus Madi Mountain, about 1121 m alt. 0 5°26.529'N, 116°27.309'E, May 1, 2017, C. Jin leg.; 1♂1♀, Malaysia: Sabah, Trus Madi Mountain, about 1081 m alt. 05°26.111'N, 116°27.237'E, May 3, 2017, C. Jin leg.

Redescription.

Male (MHBU-Opi-20151208m) habitus as in Figs 1, 8-9, 31. Coloration (Fig. 31): entire body rusty yellow, with somewhat dark brown to blackish brown patches on dorsum; median area of carapace with dark brown reticulations; both lateral ridges of scutum with blackish brown stripes; opisthosomal region of scutum banded with a dark brown outline; a dark brown band across posterior margin of scutum; free tergites I–III each with a dark brown band; coxa with dark brown reticulations; free sternites with transverse dark brown band; chelicerae and pedipalp reticulated; trochanters of all legs pale yellow, femur, patella, tibia and metatarsus with black reticulations, tarsus lighter.

Dorsum (Figs 8, 31). Scutum elongate in appearance, both sides straight, nearly parallel, widest portion of body at scutal area IV, abdomen bluntly pointed posteriorly. Carapace unarmed on lateral portion of anterior margin. Surface of dorsum smooth. Ocularium low and oval, unarmed, removed from anterior border of scutum by 0.16 mm. Borders of opisthosomal scutum parallel to each other. Free tergites and anal operculum unarmed.

Venter (Fig. 9). Surface of coxa I tuberculated, antero-dorsally with a coarse tubercle, and a row of five tubercles on ventral surface. Coxa II with a row of small granules on ventral surface. Coxae III and IV nearly smooth aside from a row of small teeth on front and rear margins of coxa III. Genital operculum and free sternites with seta-tipped granules. Spiracles clearly visible.

Chelicerae (Figs 2-5, 16). Basichelicerite elongate, with a slight bulla and armed with two conspicuous granules at base of bulla, medial surface with a basal protuberance (Figs 2, 3, 5). Cheliceral hand with some greater seta-tipped tubercles. Fingers relatively short, inner edges toothed (Fig. 4): moveable finger and fixed finger with eight crested teeth, respectively.

Pedipalpi (Fig. 6). Coxa dorsally with one small tubercle near distal margin. Trochanter ventrally with one setiferous tubercle and dorsally with one small tubercle. Femur ventrally with a row of seven setiferous tubercles of even size and spirally arranged from base to distal end on medial side; dorsally with many low conical tubercles along entire length. Patella ventro-mesally with two long and one short setiferous tubercles, and ventro-ectally with one long and one short setiferous tubercles. Tibia ventro-mesally with three setiferous tubercles, and ventro-ectally with four setiferous tubercles. Tarsus with three setiferous tubercles on each side of ventral surface. Tarsal claw curved, approximately same length as tarsus.

Legs (Figs 10-15). Slender and long. All segments unarmed, nearly smooth. Femora I–IV not curved, almost straight. Tibia II distended at distal portion, conspicuously longer than tibiae I, III and IV (Figs 12-15). Distitarsus I with two (Fig. 10), distitarsus II with three tarsomeres. Distitarsi III–IV without scopula. Each claw of tarsi III–IV with one basal lobe nearly circular in shape (Fig. 11). Tarsal formula ( I–IV): 7/19/7/7.

Penis (Figs 23-30). Shaft slender, nearly parallel-sided, then distended towards apical portion (pars distalis). Ventral plate inflated, hollow on inner side, forming a heart-shaped stereoscopic ventral frame (ventral view, Fig. 28) (Figs 27, 30). Glans partially sunken into dorsal depressed portion of pars distalis (Fig. 26). Prior to inflation of capsula externa (follis) (Fig. 30), stylus with capsula interna sunken into capsula externa (Fig. 27). Capsula externa dorsally and ventrally extended at distal end. Everted capsula interna with a bifurcate ventral lobe distally. Stylus finger-shaped. Spination symmetrical. One pair of setae A, C, D, and E. Two pairs of setae F. Four pairs of setae B (Figs 28-30).

Female (MHBU-Opi-20151208f) (Figs 7, 17-22, 32-34). Generally similar to male except abdomen slightly wider than in male (Figs 17, 32). Tibia II conspicuously longer than tibiae I, III and IV, but inconspicuously distended distally (Fig. 21). Inner edges of finger of chelicera toothed (Fig. 19): moveable finger with 12 teeth; fixed finger with seven teeth. Tarsal formula ( I–IV): 7/22/7/7.

Ovipositor (Fig. 22). Ventral surface with four setae and dorsal surface with six setae.

Measurements.

Male (female): body 1.89 (2.74) long, 1.36 (1.64) wide at widest portion, scutum 1.69 (1.76) long. Ocularium 0.19 (0.20) long, 0.37 (0.35) wide. Proximal article of chelicera 0.69 (0.62) long, 0.24 (0.23) wide; second 0.89 (0.98) long, 0.26 (0.26) wide; distal 0.40 (0.44) long, 0.09 (0.08) wide. Pedipalp claw 0.64 (0.63) long. Penis 0.88 long. Measurements of pedipalp and legs as in Tables 1, 2.

Habitat.

The specimens were collected by leaf litter sieving in dark moist places under dense forest canopy.

Variation.

The collection examined contains ten specimens, two males and eight females. The male (MHBU-Opi-20151208m) and the female (MHBU-Opi-20151208f) described here are asymmetrical in the position of granules on the left (Figs 5, 20) and right (Figs 16, 18) basichelicerites of chelicerae. Another male body 1.96 long, 1.21 wide at the widest portion, scutum 1.68 long. Size range of other females (n=7) as follows minimum (maximum in parentheses): body 2.20 (2.70) long, 1.59 (1.76) wide at the widest portion, scutum 1.72 (1.89) long. The variations in the number of segments in the tarsus are shown in Table 3.

Distribution.

Indonesia (Pontianak), Malaysia (Trus Madi Mountain, Kalabakan).

Remarks.

The three type specimens have not been dissected and are in good condition, with all appendages attached. The original description of the types by Roewer (1938) corresponds more-or-less to the morphology of the type specimens except for few minor characters, e.g., the male tibia II is distended at its distal portion, the presence of one short setiferous tubercle ventro-mesally on the pedipalpal patella, the minimum numbers of the tarsomeres II and III are 18 and 6, respectively, and the smaller male body (1.89-1.96).

Additionally, the localities of the new records from Malaysia are at most about 120 km apart. The distance between the recorded type locality (Indonesian part of Borneo) and the new localities (Malaysian part) is nearly 1000 km (Fig. 36).

According to the drawings presented by Suzuki (1969: 30, fig. 19 E; 1977: 19, fig. 6 F–G; 1981: 268, fig. 1 B–C) the male genital morphology of Epedanidae seems to be quite homogeneous and little functional variation has been documented to date.