Pholcus kipungit Huber, sp. nov.

Pholcus kipungit Huber, sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:374082FB-1878-493D-A8B6-CC148D8BB223

Figs 108–109, 129–133, 140–142

Diagnosis

Distinguished from similar species (other species in the Ph. krabi group) by morphology of male palps (Figs 129–130; long trochanter apophysis; distinctive shapes of simple round uncus and small appendix; procursus strongly bent dorsad, with distinctive prolatero-ventral pointed process and fringed membranous distal elements) and by unique median sclerite in internal female genitalia visible through cuticle (Figs 132, 140).

Etymology

The species name is derived from the type locality; noun in apposition.

Type material

MALAYSIA-BORNEO: holotype, ♂, ZFMK (Ar 15042), Sabah, Mt Kinabalu, Poring Hot Springs, forest near beginning of Kipungit Trail (6.048° N, 116.706° E), 450 m a.s.l., domed webs in vegetation, 7 Aug. 2014 (B.A. Huber, S.B. Huber).

Other material examined

MALAYSIA-BORNEO: 1 ♀, together with holotype; 2 ♀♀, in absolute ethanol, ZFMK (Bor 205), same data; 1 ♂, RMNH, Sabah, Poring Hot Springs (6°03.467' N, 116°42.205' E), 9 Aug. 2009 (A. Floren); 1 ♂, 2 juvs, RMNH, Poring Hot Springs, 500 m a.s.l., primary forest, 2 May 1991 (C.L. & P.R. Deeleman); 1 ♀, ZFMK (Ar 15043), Sabah, Sepilok, Rainforest Discovery Centre, forest along Pitta Trail (5.875– 5.878° N, 117.937– 117.942° E), 30 m a.s.l., domed web among vegetation, 9 Aug. 2014 (B.A. Huber, S.B. Huber); 3 ♀♀, in absolute ethanol, ZFMK (Bor 174), same data; 3 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀, RMNH (2 vials), Sabah, Danum Valley [5.022° N, 117.747° E], primary forest, 6–16 May 1991 (C.L. & P.R. Deeleman).

Description

Male (holotype)

MEASUREMENTS. Total body length 3.7, carapace width 0.9. Leg 1: 32.1 (7.5 + 0.4 + 7.4 + 14.3 + 2.5), tibia 2: 4.5, tibia 3: 2.5, tibia 4: 4.1; tibia 1 L/d: 84. Distance PME-PME 270 µm, diameter PME 95 µm, distance PME-ALE ~35 µm; AME absent.

COLOR. Carapace pale whitish to gray with pair of light brown marks, ocular area and clypeus not darkened; sternum whitish; palps orange; legs pale ochre-yellow with dark patellae and tibia-metatarsus joints; abdomen pale gray with some indistinct darker marks dorsally.

BODY. Habitus as in Fig. 108; ocular area slightly raised and each triad on low hump; carapace without median furrow; clypeus unmodified; sternum wider than long (0.60/0.50), unmodified.

CHELICERAE. As in Fig. 131, with small proximal processes and pair of rounded distal apophyses without modified hairs.

PALPS. As in Figs 129–130; coxa unmodified; trochanter with very long retrolatero-ventral apophysis with retrolateral process proximally; femur with small retrolatero-ventral process proximally; tibia large; procursus strongly bent dorsad, with distinctive prolatero-ventral pointed process and fringed membranous distal elements; bulb with strong proximal sclerite, with small uncus and small appendix, short weakly sclerotized embolus.

LEGS. Without spines and curved hairs; few vertical hairs; retrolateral trichobothrium on tibia 1 at 3%; prolateral trichobothrium absent on tibia 1, present on other tibiae; tarsus 1 with> 30 pseudosegments, only distally fairly distinct.

Female

In general similar to male (Fig. 109) but eye triads closer together (PME-PME distance: 195 µm), entire clypeus and ocular area frontally black; legs pale ochre, less yellowish. Tibia 1: 6.7, 6.9 (missing in other females). Epigynum weakly sclerotized almost flat plate with posterior ‘knob’, internal distinctive median sclerite visible through cuticle (Figs 132, 140–141); internal genitalia as in Figs 133 and 142.

Natural history

Of the four webs seen at Poring, three had their apex connected to the underside of a leaf; the fourth (of the only male) was freely suspended among the twigs at about 1.5 m above the ground.

Distribution

Known from two localities in Sabah (Fig. 110).