Scytodes caratinga Rheims & Brescovit, 2009, new species

Scytodes caratinga new species

Figs. 56–58

Type material: Holotype: female from Santa Teresa [19°57' S; 40°31' W], Espírito Santo, Brazil, April – September 2005, T.G. Souza, deposited in IBSP 97222.

Paratype: BRAZIL. Minas Gerais: Caratinga [19°46' S; 42°07' W], Estação Biológica de Caratinga, Fazenda Montes Claros, 1Ƥ, 8 July 2001, E.O. Machado (LACB 1171).

Etymology. The specific name is a noun in apposition that refers to the type locality of the paratype.

Diagnosis. Females of Scytodes caratinga n.sp. are distinguished from those of the remaining Neotropical Scytodes by the widely separated and slightly oval hyaline pockets with a large, slightly squared sclerotized area in the middle (Fig. 48).

Description. Male unknown.

Female (Paratype, LACB 1171). Carapace orange, lighter at center, with brown pattern as shown on Fig. 56. Chelicerae orange with large brown dorsal markings. Pedipalps yellow with brown markings. Labium brown. Endites pale yellow. Sternum yellow with brown markings in front of each coxae, extending towards the center. Legs orange. Femur I–IV with ventral pair of longitudinal, brown stripes. Tibia I–IV with median, transversal, brown band and brown extremities. Abdomen gray with faint black pattern (Fig. 56). Total length 5.1. Carapace domed, 2.3 long, 1.9 wide. Eye diameters: PME 0.12, ALE 0.12, PLE 0.14. Lateral eyes on a tubercle. Chelicerae with subapical hyaline keel and five stridulatory ridges. Labium 0.18 long, 0.26 wide. Sternum 1.14 long, 0.90 wide. Leg measurements: I: femur 2.9, patella 0.5, tibia 3.1, metatarsus 3.6, tarsus 0.6, total 10.7; II: 2.2, 0.5, 2.3, 2.6, 0.6, 8.2; III: 1.6, 0.5, 1.4, 1.6, 0.5, 5.6; IV: 2.3, 0.5, 2.0, 2.3, 0.6, 7.7. Palpal femur with stridulatory pick short and stout on rounded and projected socket. Epigynum with ridged positioning ridges, separated from each other by almost three times their width (Fig. 57). Vulva with rounded spermathecae on short stalks adjacent to widely separated, oval hyaline pockets with large, slightly square sclerotized region in the middle (Fig. 58). Abdomen 2.8 long, 3.1 wide, covered with slender hairs.

Variation. Two females: total length 4.2–5.1; femur I 2.8–2.9.

Distribution. Transition area between Atlantic Forest and Cerrado. Eastern state of Minas Gerais to Espírito Santo.