Boconita sayona Huber 2020, gen. et sp. nov.

Boconita sayona Huber gen. et sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 8AA29E5E-D94A-4916-A0C4-D9DC0458EAFE

Figs 20–34, 44–46, 1029, 1033

Diagnosis

Distinguished from B. yacambu Huber gen. et sp. nov. by stronger frontal processes on male chelicerae (compare Figs 32 and 41), by much larger prolateral apophysis distally on male genital bulb (asterisk in Fig. 30), and by epigynal plate narrower posteriorly than anteriorly and with anterior indentation (i.e., V-shaped; Fig. 44).

Etymology

The species name refers to the Venezuelan folklore character La Sayona, who, cursed by her mother, appears as a seductive and beautiful woman who tempts married men and lures them into ruin; noun in apposition.

Type material

VENEZUELA – Trujillo • ♂ holotype, ZFMK (Ar 21820), near Boconó, Laguna Negra (9.3054° N, 70.1752° W), 1870 m a.s.l., 21 Nov. 2018 (B.A. Huber, O. Villarreal M.).

Other material examined

VENEZUELA – Trujillo • 4 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀, ZFMK (Ar 21821–22), and 1 ♀ in pure ethanol, ZFMK (Ven18-210), same collection data as for holotype.

Description

Male (holotype)

MEASUREMENTS. Total body length 4.5, carapace width 2.0. Distance PME–PME 150 µm; diameter PME 150 µm; distance PME–ALE 150 µm; distance AME–AME 20 µm; diameter AME 40 µm. Leg 1: 57.0 (14.8 +0.8+13.3 + 24.8 +3.3), tibia 2: 8.4, tibia 3: 6.5, tibia 4: 8.0; tibia 1 L/d: 70; femur 3 slightly thicker than other femora (femur 1 diameter: 280 µm; femur 3 diameter: 300 µm).

COLOR (in ethanol). Carapace ochre-yellow to orange, with dark median line and pair of light marks beside ocular area; clypeus only at rim slightly darker; sternum orange; legs dark brown, tips of femora and tibiae whitish, with indistinct darker rings on femora (subdistally) and tibiae (proximally and subdistally); abdomen ochre-yellow to gray, dorsally and laterally with dark bluish marks, ventrally with large indistinct light brown median plates in front of gonopore and in front of spinnerets, with dark internal mark behind gonopore.

BODY. Habitus as in Figs 20–22. Ocular area slightly raised. Carapace with shallow but distinct thoracic groove, not inflated posteriorly. Clypeus unmodified. Sternum wider than long (1.35/0.90), unmodified. Abdomen oval, slightly pointed at spinnerets.

CHELICERAE. As in Figs 32–33, with pair of frontal processes with several short modified hairs each and pair of small frontal apophyses; with distinct whitish area between frontal process and fang joint.

PALPS. As in Figs 24–25; very small relative to body size (Fig. 20); coxa with large retrolateral apophysis, trochanter barely modified, femur proximally with large retrolateral-ventral apophysis, with low dorsal hump, distally widened and with prominent rounded ventral process; patella dorso-distally slightly protruding; procursus (Figs 26–28) at basis with bifid dorsal process, without retrolateral apophysis, distally with bifid process, large retrolateral sclerite connected to smaller and lighter prolateral sclerite by transparent membrane; genital bulb complex (Figs 29–31), with several distinctive sclerites embedded in whitish membrane, with prolateral-ventral sclerite set with small cones.

LEGS. Without spines and curved hairs; few vertical hairs; femora densely covered with small cuticular cusps, with unusually thin and short hairs; femur 3 enlarged at basis; retrolateral trichobothrium of tibia 1 at 3%; prolateral trichobothrium present on all leg tibiae; tarsus 1 with ~35 pseudosegments, mostly very distinct.

Male (variation)

Tibia 1 in five males (including holotype): 13.2–14.4 (mean 13.7).

Female

In general similar to male (Fig. 23), but leg femora with regular hairs and without cusps; femur 3 not enlarged at basis; sternum orange as in male. Tibia 1 in two females: 10.7, 11.2. Epigynum (Fig. 44) dark brown plate wider than long, narrow posteriorly, wide anteriorly; posterior plate indistinct and very short. Internal genitalia (Figs 34, 45–46) with strong median transversal sclerite connected to pore plates, and pair of sclerites (pockets? receptacles?) ventral of uterus externus (arrows in Fig. 34).

Distribution

Known from type locality only, in Venezuela, Trujillo (Fig. 1033).

Natural history

Most specimens were found in large webs in sheltered spaces close to the lake; few were found at the bases of trees deeper in the forest.