Labahitha platnicki, Magalhaes & Berry & Koh & Gray, 2022

Magalhaes, Ivan L. F., Berry, James W., Koh, Joseph K. H. & Gray, Michael R., 2022, Labahitha spiders (Arachnida: Araneae: Filistatidae) from islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, European Journal of Taxonomy 805 (1), pp. 1-51 : 38-41

Labahitha platnicki sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:8B05E5F0-36E9-4340-83CC-64DC3F80D908

Figs 26–27, 29F

Diagnosis

The male is unknown. Females can be diagnosed from congeners by the colouration pattern (carapace deep brown with lighter margins and abdomen dark with light grey transversal markings; Fig. 26A) (vs colouration usually uniform, especially in the abdomen) and by the genitalia: the median receptacles are sclerotized, with many pores packed together, and have a median constriction ( Fig. 27) (vs median receptacles without a median constriction).

Etymology

The species is named after the eminent arachnologist Norman Platnick, who collected part of the type series and has recently passed away in an untimely manner, in memory of his innumerable contributions to arachnology and systematics.

Type material

Holotype

NEW CALEDONIA • ♀; Nord , Foué, W of Koné; 21.1° S, 164.81667° E; 15 Feb. 1993; N.I. Platnick, R.J. Raven and M.S. Harvey leg.; under bark of trees along beach; AMNH IFM-0890.

Paratypes

NEW CALEDONIA • 3 ♀♀, 1 imm. (together with the holotype); same collection data as for holotype; AMNH • 14 ♀♀; Nord , Roche Percée nr. Plage de Poè, W of Bourail; 21.6° S, 165.43333° E; 18 Feb. 1993; N.I. Platnick, R.J. Raven and M.S. Harvey leg.; coastal cliffs; AMNH IFM-1747 .

PAPUA NEW GUINEA • 5 ♀♀, 3 imm.; Bismarck Islands ; [5.55234° S, 150.13883° E]; 16 Aug. 1894; ZMB IFM-0720 • 1 ♀; Bismarck Islands , “Rala” [Rabaul?]; [5.55234° S, 150.13883° E]; 27 Jan. 1897; under bark of Alstonia ; ZMB .

Other material examined

None.

Description

Male

Unknown.

Female (holotype from Koné, Foué, Nord, New Caledonia, AMNH IFM-0890)

COLOURATION. Carapace reddish brown on median area, lateral borders yellow, with dark brown V-shaped median pattern, submarginal bands and clypeal markings. Chelicerae, labium and endites orange brown. Sternum orange brown stippled with dark brown. Legs yellowish cream, becoming orange brown distally, with longitudinal brown bands on femora, tibiae and metatarsi. Abdomen dark brown, dorsum with five grayish cream chevron-like markings posteriorly, venter greyish cream with brown pigment around spinnerets.

HABITUS. Anterior margin of the carapace unmodified. Eye apodemes present. Sternum suboval, with one pair of posterior sigilla.

MEASUREMENTS. Total length 2.63. Carapace length 1.09, width 0.85. Clypeus length 0.22. Eye diameters and interdistances: AME 0.04, PME 0.06, ALE 0.06, PLE 0.06, AME–AME 0.02, PME–PME 0.08. Sternum length 0.66, width 0.49. Palp: femur length 0.62, height 0.24, tibia length 0.33, height 0.21. Leg I: 3.30 (0.90, 0.32, 0.83, 0.73, 0.52). II: 2.69 (0.77, 0.28, 0.64, 0.58, 0.42). III: 2.29 (0.69, 0.24, 0.49, 0.53, 0.34). IV: 3.08 (0.93, 0.31, 0.74, 0.70, 0.40). Abdomen: length 1.71, width 1.18.

PALP AND LEG MACROSETAE. Absent.

EPIGASTRIC FURROW. Unsclerotized, with two lateral patches of thicker setae.

ENDOGYNE ( Fig. 27). Two pairs of receptacles, median receptacle globular, sclerotized, with a constricted base, bearing many glandular pores; lateral receptacle globular, unsclerotized, bearing few glandular pores. Interpulmonary fold large, pentagonal, covering the seminal receptacles.

STATE OF THE SPECIMEN. Genitalia dissected, right legs I–II and left legs III–IV missing from patella.

Variation

The median receptacles of specimens from the Bismarck Islands are more clearly bilobate ( Fig. 27B), while they are merely constricted in females from New Caledonia ( Fig. 27C). The discovery of males would be desirable to ascertain their co-specificity. Females (N = 4): total length 2.09–2.63 (2.35), carapace length 0.86–1.16 (1.01), femur I length 0.73–0.99 (0.85).

Natural history

Label data indicate specimens have been collected under bark of Alstonia R.Br. trees in the Bismarck Islands, and in coastal cliffs and under bark in coastal trees in New Caledonia.

Distribution

New Caledonia and Bismarck Islands, Papua New Guinea ( Fig. 1B).