ZooBank registration: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 21352C56-1D39-44B0-9A19-85EE3669C72F
Type material. NEW CALEDONIA: Province Sud: Holotype male (MNHN; ex. MCZ IZ- 1524013; 1 leg used for DNA extraction; DNA kept in MCZ cryogenic collection; GenBank accessions MW 849412 [18S rRNA], MW 843230 [28S rRNA], MW 837103 [COI]) from Sarrameìa, Plateau de Dogny, 21°37’1.06”S, 165°53’2.15”E, 914 m elevation, C.M. Baker & G. Giribet leg. 15.11.2018, collected by sifting leaf litter. Paratypes: 1 female (MCZ IZ-152402; 1 leg used for DNA extraction; DNA kept in MCZ cryogenic collection; GenBank accessions MW 849413 [18S rRNA], MW 843231 [28S rRNA], MW 837104 [COI]), 1 unsexed specimen (MCZ IZ-151592; 1 leg used for DNA extraction; DNA kept in MCZ cryogenic collection; GenBank accessions MW 849411 [18S rRNA], MW 843229 [28S rRNA], MW 837102 [COI]), with same collecting data as for holotype.
Etymology. The specific epithet, a noun in apposition, refers to the type locality, an emblematic mountain of New Caledonia that served as a place for exchange between the tribes from the east and the west of Grande Terre.
Diagnosis. As for genus.
3. This specimen was accessioned in the MCZ before becoming the holotype of a new species, which, for permit requirements, had to be deposited in the MNHN. Because the species was originally catalogued in MCZbase, its collecting data and images were available online before a new taxon was described, and because one leg and its DNA remain stored in the MCZ cryo - genic collection, we kept this record with the MCZ accession number.
Description. Male (holotype; Figs 4–5): As for genus. Body length 1.38, maximum width 1.14; carapace length 0.60, width 1.14; ocularium width 0.42, length 0.26, located 0.28 from anterior margin of carapace. Dorsum color a combination of earth colors (brown to orange-color) with a reflective band on first opisthosomal tergite when preserved in ethanol (Figs 4A–B). Cheliceral articles 0.52, 0.95 and 0.31 long from basal to distal. Palpal trochanter 0.27 long, femur 1.00, patella 0.65, tibia 0.55, tarsus 1.16 (Fig. 4C). Penis shaft 0.69, glans short, 0.15 long and twisted clockwise (Figs 4E, 5).
Female (paratype MCZ IZ-152402; Fig. 6): body length 1.66, maximum width 1.12, height without ocularium 1.22; carapace length 0.64, width 1.08; ocularium width 0.44, length 0.36, height 0.18, located 0.24 from anterior margin of carapace. Color as in male holotype. Ovipositor not studied.
Distribution. Only known from its type locality, the Plateau de Dogny, at an elevation above 900 m.
Comments. Martensopsalis dogny spec. nov. is the only species in this new genus that we were able to study in detail. Another specimen from high elevations at Mé Maoya (Province Nord; Fig. 1C) was included in a phylogenetic analysis (see Fig. 7) which showed that it is not conspecific with the species described here. Genetic and morphological studies of additional specimens from the localities reported in Table 1 will probably reveal the presence of additional species of Martensopsalis gen. nov.