Creugas gulosus Thorell, 1878

Creugas gulosus Thorell, 1878 View in CoL

( Figs. 9a–d View FIGURE 9 ; 10a–d View FIGURE 10 . Map 1)

Creugas gulosus Thorell, 1878: 175 View in CoL . Holotype, juvenile, Amboina, coll. Beccari, 1874, in MCG, examined.

Corinna gulosa : Deeleman-Reinhold, 2001: 260, figs 337–347, map 19. For complete synonymy, see Bonaldo (2000). Liocranum pallipes L. Koch, 1873: 430 , pl. 34, fig. 1. New Synonymy.

Medmassa pallipes : Simon, 1898: 195.

Medmassa pusilla Simon, 1896: 415 . New Synonymy.

Material. Australia: Queensland: 1♂, Auchenflower, Brisbane , 27°29'S, 153°00'E, in house, 23 Mar 1965, V GoogleMaps . E. Davies , QM S28013 View Materials ; 1♂, Fortitude Valley , QM building, Gregory Tce , 27°28'S, 153°00'E, 12 Jan 1984, V GoogleMaps . E. Davies , QM S28399 View Materials ; 1♀, same data but 17 Nov 1978, V . E. Davies , QM S44127 View Materials ; 1♀, Brisbane , 27°28'S, 153°00'E, 24 Dec 1972, R GoogleMaps . J. Raven , QM S26460 View Materials ; 2♂, Heron Is. , 23°27'S 151°55'E, 14–16 Jul 1978, V GoogleMaps . E. Davies , QM S28396 View Materials ; 1♂, Raine Is. , 11°37'S, 144°01'E, Jun 1980, B. King, QM S28421 View Materials GoogleMaps ; 1♂, Hawthorne, Brisbane , 24°31'S, 147°32'E, in house, 11 Jan 1993, C. Goodwin, QM S20856 View Materials GoogleMaps . Bushy Island, Capricorn group, 20.953°S, 150.072°E, 0–5m, collected by QM / QPWS GoogleMaps : 2♂ 3♀, site 3, pitfall, 0–5m, Pisonia forest, 18–20 Dec 2008, QM S87359 View Materials ; 1♀, same data, QM S87351 View Materials ; 5♂ 2♀, site 2, 20.953°S, 150.072°E, pitfall, 0–5m, beach among Pandanus , 18–20 Dec 2008, QM S87362 View Materials GoogleMaps ; 1♂, 19–20 Dec 2008, QM / QPWS, QM S87364 View Materials . 1♂, Tyron Is. , site 4, 23.248°S 151.777° E, pitfall, 0–5m, young Pisonia reveg, 22 Aug–9 Oct 2008, A. McDougall, A. Nakamura, QM S87370 View Materials GoogleMaps ; 1♂, North Reef Is. , site 1, 23.185°S, 151.903°E, pitfall, 0–5m, Pisonia stand, 28–30 Apr 2008, A. McDougall, A. Nakamura, QM S87400 View Materials GoogleMaps ; 1♀, Woody Is., Low Isles , 16°23'S, 145°30'E, 10 Jan 2009, R GoogleMaps . Raven , QM S88426 View Materials ; 1♀, Northwest Island , 30 Oct 1936, C. White, QM W679 . New Caledonia: syntypes (of Medmassa pusilla ), 2 juveniles, Boc. 5.177 .

Diagnosis. Creugas differs from other Australian corinnids by the presence of shallow crescentic depressions delimited by a ridge at the anterior lateral corners of the sternum ( Fig. 9b View FIGURE 9 ).

Description Male QM S28399 View Materials

Carapace 3.68 long, 3.03 wide. Abdomen 3.43 long, 2.16 wide. Total, 8.4.

Colour: carapace, sternum, maxillae, labium and chelicerae dark red brown, striae slightly darker, femora orange brown without bands, patellae to tarsi noticeably paler; abdomen dorsally light brown with small yellow brown scute, laterally mottled light brown, fading to pallid ventrally; genital area darker with light transverse bands on booklungs. Carapace ( Fig. 9a View FIGURE 9 ): broad, widening strongly to coxae III, cuticle scale-like with fine pile of feathery hairs. Caput large, rounded; striae shallow, dark, distinct; fovea short, in posterior third. Eyes: PME much the smallest; back row clearly the wider; AME within 0.5 diameters; lateral eyes close; PME small, round, oval, two diameters apart; clypeus ca. 1.5 diameters of AME. Cheliceral fang short, with 1 large and 2 smaller promarginal and 5 small retromarginal teeth. Sternum ( Fig. 9b View FIGURE 9 ): cuticle pustulose with sparse bristle cover; intercoxal sclerites produced anteriorly and posteriorly; pedicel shield arrow-shaped ventrally. Legs: not strongly different; femoral constriction absent; leg I slightly larger, not longer than IV. Spines: tibiae I and II with 6 pairs (male) fine spines ventrally, most basal spine set basal of dorsal edge, metatarsi I and II with 2 basal pairs ventrally. I: fe pv1d2; pa 0; ti v2.2.2.2.2; me v2.2.0. II: fe pv1d2; pa 0; ti v2.2.2.2.2 proventral spines very long; me v2.2. III: fe p2d3r2; pa 0; ti p2d1r2v2.2.2; me p2r2v2.2.1. IV: fe p2d3r2; pa 0; ti p2d1r2v2.2.2; me p2r2v2.2.1. Palp: fe p1d2; pa p1; ti p1. Abdominal scutes: dorsal, small, ovoid in anterior third; genital scute ( Fig. 9b View FIGURE 9 ) with undulations over booklung and slightly sclerotised post-epigastric sclerites. No ventral or tracheal scutes. Palp ( Fig. 10a–d View FIGURE 10 ): large triangular RTA and deeply bifid ventrolateral process interlocking with large basal retrolateral cymbial extension (not a spine); cymbium asymmetrical, with bulb set retrolaterally in distal cymbium, large basal tegulum with large hooked prodistal embolus with pallid conductor-like process retrodistally; cymbium apically pallid with dense dorsal ovoid scopulate zone.

Female QM S26460 View Materials

Carapace 3.30 long, 2.55 wide. Abdomen 3.20 long, 2.44 wide.

Colour: carapace orange brown with darker bands marginally and on interstrial ridges; abdomen lightly mottled brown dorsally, with anterior medial pallid dagger shape flanked by two pallid dots; legs yellow brown without bands; genital region not sclerotised and without striations on booklung covers. Spines: as ♂ with strong spines on ventral metatarsi I, II. Palp: tarsus subapically deepens and narrows to tuftless dentate claw. Epigyne ( Fig. 9b, c View FIGURE 9 ): externally, two procurved ridges centrally forming longitudinal fossa posteriorly, with banana-shaped depression laterally from which insemination ducts arise and pass forward to broad spermatheca with small ental lobe; no paragenital weakness evident.

Distribution and Habitat. Cosmotropical.Widespread in the Pacific, presumably introduced into Australia, where it has been recorded from houses in diverse locations.

MAPS 1–6. Records of species of Pacific Corinnidae : Creugas gulosus Thorell, 1878 (1), Medmassa christae sp. nov. (2), Melanesotypus guadal sp. nov. (3), and Battalus Karsch, 1878 (4–6).

Remarks. Although the type (a subadult female) of Liocranum pallipes has not been located in BMNH, MNHP, ZMH, ZMB, or NHW, it is clearly a corinnid and only two corinnids found in the region, Creugas and Medmassa , have the numerous pairs of strong spines on tibiae I, II. The narrower carapace shape (L. Koch, 1873, pl. 34, fig. 1) is more indicative of Creugas (than of Medmassa ) which is here recorded from Queensland in 1936 on a Great Barrier Reef island, as are many others, indicating either dispersal on flotsam or being carried aboard ships.

The types of Medmassa pusilla Simon, 1896 are both juvenile. Both specimens are now pallid but have five strong paired spines ventrally in tibiae I and two pairs ventrally on metatarsi I, the tracheal scute is absent and there are three small erect spines on ventral femur I. Despite intensive and extensive arachnological collecting (1987– 1991) in New Caledonia from the shoreline to the mountaintops, I have not found no endemic corinnid that has the strong paired tibial and metatarsal spines. The shape of the carapace is broad like Creugas gulosus and, on the evidence of that along with the strong paired spines and absence of a tracheal scute, that is what I consider this to be.