Baalzebub albonotatus ( Petrunkevitch, 1930 )

Baalzebub albonotatus ( Petrunkevitch, 1930) View in CoL

Figs 1 View Fig , 58 View Fig

Theridiosoma albonotatum Petrunkevitch, 1930: 305 , figs 177–179 [ ♀]

[ holotype ♀ from Puerto Rico, Rio Grande, El Yunque National Forest (Peabody Museum of Natural History, New Haven), not examined].

Baalzebub albonotatus View in CoL – Coddington 1986: 74, figs 163–164, 167 [ ♂, ♀] [transferred from Theridiosoma View in CoL ].

Diagnosis

Males and females of B. albonotatus can be distinguished from the other congeneric species by the longitudinal guanine blotches silver band centrally on the dorsum of the opisthosoma ( Fig. 58A–C View Fig ; Petrunkevitch 1930: fig. 178) (absent in other cogeneric species).

Material examined

PANAMA – Chiriquí Province • 1 ♂; Reserva Forestal Fortuna , Sendero Zamudio ; 8.732861° N, 82.284667° W; 1360 m a.s.l.; 20 Jun. 2008; L. Piacentini and F. Labarque leg.; non-quantitative sample; voucher code SFNQK8L001; preparation codes FML-00835, FML-00836; DNA barcode SPIPA232-10 ; MACN-Ar. GoogleMaps

Description

Male (MACN-Ar SFNQK8L001)

Total length 1.11. Prosoma: length 0.51, width 0.45, height 0.48. Sternum: length 0.27, width 0.31. Eye diameters and interdistances: AME 0.06, PME 0.05, AME–PME 0.05. Opisthosoma: length 0.64, width 0.69, height 0.77. Leg formula: 1243. Dorsal shield of prosoma yellow, thoracic area olive-green centrally ( Fig. 58A–B View Fig ). Dorsum of ocular area dark ( Fig. 58A–B View Fig ). Sternum yellowish-orange ( Fig. 58C View Fig ). Opisthosoma color overall olive-green, with dorsal longitudinal guanine blotches silver band centrally ( Fig. 58A–C View Fig ). Epiandrium, tracheal spiracle, and spinneret field dark olive-green, and booklung cover whitish-gray ( Fig. 58C View Fig ). Femora yellowish-white but distally olive-green, patella olive-green, tibiae and metatarsi orange, and tarsi brownish-orange ( Fig. 58A–C View Fig ). Palp: paracymbium hooked, paracymbial process with setae row, median apophysis with deep trough, conductor covering embolic division, embolus laminated, multiple divided embolic apophysis ( Fig. 58D–F View Fig ; Coddington 1986: figs 163–164).

Female

For female species description, see Petrunkevitch (1930).

Records and biology

Baalzebub albonotatus has been found in Puerto Rico ( World Spider Catalog 2025) and Panama. Records in this study are limited to collections made at 1135 m a.s.l. in premontane rainforest from Reserva Forestal Fortuna ( Fig. 1 View Fig ).

Remarks

Whereas we have not examined the type of this species, we believe that species attribution is unproblematic. Coddington (1986: 72–74) examined male and female specimens of Baalzebub albonotatus from Puerto Rico (misspelled as “ B. albinotatus ”), provided SEM images of the male palp of this species ( Coddington 1986: figs 163–164), and distinguished it from Baalzebub baubo by “a median dorsal white stripe on the abdomen” ( Coddington 1986: 74). Unfortunately, Coddington (1986) did not describe the male of B. albonotatus ; however, we have done so here (see Description above). Our diagnosis aligns perfectly with the female description of B. albonotatus by Petrunkevitch (1930: 305) and the comparative diagnosis with B. baubo by Coddington (1986: 74). Additionally, our description of the male palp of B. albonotatus agrees in every way with the specimen illustrated by Coddington (1986).