Patrera florezi Martínez & Brescovit & Villarreal & Oliveira 2021

Patrera florezi species group

Diagnosis: males can be diagnosed by the following character combination: oval cymbium, provided with a retrolateral protuberance with an internal furrow (tutacular groove) on distal margin; long embolus describing a S-shaped,, basally inserted on the tegulum; a small sclerotized ventral tegular process situated under the median apophysis (except in P. bonaldoi n. sp. which is reduced), and bifid from base retrolateral tibial apophysis (except in P. boteroi and P. quimbaya which is entire) (Figs 13C ̅E; 14C̅E; 15C̅E; 16C̅E; 18C̅E; 19C̅E; 20C̅E; 21C̅E). Females of these species are distinguished from those of fulvastra and philipi groups by having a scape-like hood on anterior region of epigynum (except in P. carvalhoi and P. quimbaya, where it is triangular), thin copulatory ducts, curved towards the external side of the epigynum, and short seminal receptacles on the copulatory ducts and large spermathecae, posteriorly positioned (Figs 13F ̅G; 15F̅G; 16F̅G; 17F̅G; 18F̅G; 20F̅G; 21F̅G).

Composition: Nine species: P. bonaldoi n. sp., P. boteroi n. sp., P. carvalhoi n. sp., P. florezi n. sp., P. perijaensis n. sp., P. quimbaya n. sp., P. sampedroi n. sp., P. yukpa n. sp., and P. wiwa n. sp.

Natural History. In Colombia, the species of the florezi group are distributed from the Magdalena, Cesar, Norte de Santander to Risaralda and Cundinamarca at an altitudinal range from 1250 to 4867 meters (Fig. 32). Males and females of these species are usually collected during the night manually and by beating foliage of shrubs and low vegetation of a wide variety of ecosystems, such as conserved high mountain wet forest, cloud forest and Páramos. This group is highly diverse in the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, with three species sharing this distribution. The Sierra Nevada is the biggest coastal mountain on earth. Since its separation of the Andean mountain range and the contrast with adjacent ecosystems allow a high rate of endemism, it is called a continental island (Vuilleumier 1969; Camero 2003).