Revalidation of Santinezia
albilineataRoewer, 1932 (Arachnida: Opiliones: Cranaidae)
Manzanilla Osvaldo Villarreal 1 &
Carlos J. Rodríguez 2
1,2 Museo del Instituto de Zoología Agrícola, Facultad de Agronomía,
Universidad Central de Venezuela, Apartado 4579, Maracay 2101, Venezuela
Email: 1 osvaldovillarreal@gmail.com (corresponding
author), 2 aldaroncr@gmail.com
Date
of publication (online): 26 November 2011
Date
of publication (print): 26 November 2011
ISSN
0974-7907 (online) | 0974-7893 (print)
Editor: Adriano B. Kury
Manuscript
details:
Ms # o2514
Received 21 July
2010
Final received 08
April 2011
Finally accepted 02
November 2011
Citation: Villarreal, M.O. & C.J. Rodríguez (2011). Revalidation
of Santinezia
albilineata Roewer, 1932 (Arachnida: Opiliones: Cranaidae). Journal of Threatened Taxa 3(11): 2202–2206.
Copyright: © Manzanilla Osvaldo Villarreal & Carlos J. Rodríguez
2011. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium for non-profit
purposes, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the
authors and the source of publication.
Acknowledgements:Adriano Kury and Ricardo Pinto-da-Rocha,selflessly provided important information and comments. Rubén Candia (MB-UCV,
Venezuela) provided information on the types of Cranaostygnus marcuzzi.
Abstract: Santinezia albilineata Roewer, 1923 is revalidated from the synonymy of Santinezia curvipes (Roewer, 1916). Both species, which
inhabit the central northern costal mountain range in Venezuela, are
illustrated and compared. Santinezia
albilineata can be
differentiated easily from S. curvipes, by the following characters of the males:
development and direction of the ventral process of the coxa IV, direction of
the retrolateral distal tubercle of the trochanter IV, perpendicular with blunt
tip in S. albilineata and
sharp and posteriorly projected in S. curvipes; retrolateral proximal tubercle of the femur IV
absent, this is present in S. curvipes. The
genital characters in S. albilineata are: ventral plate with five lateral setae,
the three proximal aligned and larger. Distal setae distal
straight. With two small mesodorsal setae. S. curvipes ventral plate with five non-aligned
lateral setae, the basal largest and located at the height of the lateral
expansion, the four remaining grouped medially. Absence of mesodorsal setae.
Keywords: Gonyleptoidea, Laniatores, taxonomy,
Venezuela.
For
figures, images -- click here
The knowledge of
taxonomy of the genera in Cranaidae is unsatisfactory and the generic
boundaries are not clearly established. An attempt to define the status of subfamilies was recently made (Orrico
& Kury 2009), however a systematic revision is yet needed. The only cranaine genus studied under
phylogenetic treatment is SantineziaRoewer, 1923, which has almost 30 species described from Panama to Brazil, with
an Andean-Amazonic distribution, and only one species from Central America
(Kury 2003; Pinto-da-Rocha & Kury 2003; Townsend & Milne 2010).
In a taxonomic review
of Santineziafrom Venezuela (González-Sponga 2003), 11 new species and two new subspecies
were described and a new combination was proposed; a few months later, a
taxonomic and systematic review of the genus was published (Pinto-da-Rocha
& Kury 2003), which included only species prior to the aforementioned
paper, being composed of 17 species assembled in three groups: curvipes, festae and gigantea, distributed in northern South America.
Both articles reached
similar conclusions in several taxonomic points, as in the establishment of the
synonymy between S. francourbanii Avram,
1987 andS. curvipes Roewer,
1916, however, there are some points of disagreement on the taxonomic status of
three populations of the genus inhabiting the central track of Cordillera de La
Costa, in Venezuela, specifically: Henri Pittier National Park, a locality near
San Casimiro (both in the Aragua State) and El Avila National Park (in the
Capital District and Miranda State). While González-Sponga (2003), accepts these three populations as an
equal number of species (S. curvipes- Distrito Capital and Miranda; S. marcuzzii- north of Aragua State and S. albilineata- south of Aragua State), Pinto-da-Rocha & Kury (2003) recognize only one
species: S. curvipes.
In the present note
the external morphology and the genital structure of the males of three
localities were studied, to resolve the taxonomic status of populations
referred as Santinezia curvipes (Roewer, 1916) or its current synonym: S. albilineata Roewer, 1923, and the revalidation of the last species
is proposed.
Repositories are Museo
de Historia Natural La Salle, Caracas (MHNLS) and Museo del Instituto de Zoología
Agrícola, UCV - Maracay (MIZA).
Taxonomy
Cranaidae Roewer, 1913
Santinezia Roewer, 1923
Inezia Roewer
1913: 392. Preoccupied by IneziaCherrie, 1909.
SantineziaRoewer 1923: 552; Pinto-da-Rocha & Kury 2003: 181; Kury 2003: 97; González-Sponga
2003: 3.
Nieblia Roewer
1925: 27. (Synonymy established by Pinto-da-Rocha & Kury 2003: 181).
Ikossimus Roewer
1931: 334. (Synonymy established by González-Sponga 2003: 3).
Cranaostygnus Caporiacco,
1951. (Synonymy established by González-Sponga, 2003: 3).
Santinezia curvipes (Roewer, 1916)
Images 1–5; Figs. 1–6
Inezia curvipes Roewer, 1916: 8.
Santinezia curvipes Roewer, 1932: 553;
Roewer, 1932: 290; Soares & Soares, 1948: 617; Moritz, 1971: 195; Avram,
1987: 84; González-Sponga, 2003: 42; Pinto-da-Rocha & Kury, 2003: 26.
Cranaostygnus marcuzzi Caporiacco, 1951: 26.
(Synonymy established by Pinto-da-Rocha & Kury, 2003).
Santinezia marcuzzii (misspelling): González-Sponga,
2003: 3 and 45.
Goniosoma pavaniMuñoz-Cuevas, 1972: 28. (Synonymy established by González-Sponga, 2003).
Santinezia benedictoiSoares & Avram, 1981: 95. (Synonymy established by González-Sponga, 2003).
Santinezia francourbaniiAvram, 1987: 83; Rambla & Juberthie, 1994: 221. (Synonymy established by
González-Sponga, 2003).
Santinezia orghidani Avram,
1987: 85. (Synonymy established by González-Sponga, 2003).
Santinezia orhidani(misspelling): González-Sponga, 2003: 45.
Material examined: 21.viii.1998,
1 male, 1 female, 1675m, Parque Nacional El Ávila, Los Mecedores, DistritoCapital, Venezuela (MHNLS IV-252) (H. Escalona); 30.vi.2009, 5 males, 7 females
1500m, Parque Nacional El Ávila, Los Venados (MIZA 2181) (O. Villarreal M.; L.
Ovalles); 05.iv.2009, 5 males, 1 female, 1200–1300
m, Parque NacionalHenri Pittier, camino Rancho Grande-Cumbre, Aragua (MIZA 1717)(O. Villarreal M.; H. Escalona); 09.x.2008, 1 male, Parque
Nacional Henri Pittier camino Pico
Periquito-Portachuelo, Aragua (MIZA 1353) (H. Sánchez; O.Villarreal M.; J.
Valera; I. Salvi).
Emended diagnosis: Carapace
reticulated dark brown on yellowish-brown background; abdominal scute
reddish-brown with mesotergal areas slightly darker (Image 1). Ventral tubercles of the coxa IV short
(two times larger than wide), projected posteriorly, forming an acute angle
with the rear margin of the coxa (Image 2); retrolateral distal tubercle of the
trochanter IV sharp and posteriorly projected (Image 3); presence of a retrolateral proximal
tubercle in the femur IV (Images 3–4). Penis: Ventral plate with five non-aligned lateral setae,
basal largest and located at the height of lateral expansion, the four
remaining grouped medially. Absence of mesodorsal setae; distal setae of the
ventral plate curved. Distal cleft
of the ventral plate shallow. Ratio length/width of the plate ventral 1.13–1.25. Apical portion of the penis trunk
dorsally projected (Figs. 1–6). Species of the genus Santineziafrequently present conspicuous sexual dimorphism.
Females of S. curvipes have differences with the males, on the
yellow spots, showing additional spots on the groove III in the dorsal scute
(Image 5). This species can be
distinguished from S. albilineata,
by the absence of spots inside mesotergal area III (S. albilineata has two elongate
spots) (Image 10).
Complete
descriptions of this species were done by Roewer (1916) and González-Sponga(2003). Here we present only
diagnostic characters.
Remarks: After
studying specimens from two localities in the central track of Cordillera de la
Costa, we do not find characters to separate the populations in as many species
as it has been proposed in the literature (González-Sponga 2003). An analysis of the penis and
morphometry suggests that the decision taken by Pinto-da-Rocha & Kury
(2003) was correct, proposing S. marcuzzi as
a junior synonym of S. curvipes. The
specimens of Parque Nacional El Ávila, were smaller than those of Parque
Nacional Henri Pittier, and subtle differences have been observed in the
position of the more distal mesal seta and the shape of the distal portion of
the ventral plate (Figs. 4–6) however, they do not have other differences
that allow us to separate them as two species.
An attempt to define the taxonomic
status of Goniosoma marcuzziwas made, but the holotype of this species is lost (Rubén Candia pers. com.,
Dec 2009). We followed the
decision of Pinto-da-Rocha & Kury (2003).
Santinezia albilineata Roewer, 1923
(Revalidated)
Images 6–10;
Figs. 7–9.
Santinezia albilineata Roewer, 1932: 290, fig
7; Soares & Soares 1948: 617; Goodnight & Goodnight, 1949: 23;
Caporiacco, 1951: 27; Rambla, 1978: 8; Avram, 1987: 87; Decu et al., 1987: 34;
Rambla & Juberthie, 1994: 221 (type ZMB 7468, female holotype, not
examined).
Santinezia curvipes: Pinto-da-Rocha &
Kury, 2003: 198.
Santinezia decui (Avram, 1987): 86,
figs 16-19 (Types ISER female holotype lost?). (Synonymy established by González-Sponga
2003).
Material examined: 18.iv.2004, 11 males and 7
females, 1200m, road Tiara-La Esperanza, Aragua, Venezuela (MHNLS IV-244) (O.
Villarreal M. & H. Escalona); 19.x.1973 / 03.ix.1980, 12 males, 17 females,
Campamento Rangel, Tiara, Aragua, (MAGS 016) (Ayala-Kaletta/A.R.D.G; V.A.G.D.; M.A.G.S.).
Emended diagnosis: Carapace uniform dark
brown; mesotergum reticulated dark brown (Image
6). Santinezia albilineata can be differentiated
easily from S. curvipes,
by the following characters of the males: development and direction of the
ventral process of the coxa IV, typical for the genus: in S. albilineata can be large (more
than three times larger than wide) and perpendicular to direction of the coxa
(Image 7), while in S. curvipesthey are smaller and they are posteriorly projected, forming a acute angle with
the posterior part of the coxa; form and direction of the retrolateral distal
tubercle of the trochanter IV, perpendicular with blunt tip in S. albilineata (Image 8) and sharp
and posteriorly projected in S. curvipes;
retrolateral proximal tubercle of the femur IV absent (Images 8–9), this
is present in S. curvipes. Penis: Ventral plate with 5 lateral
setae, the 3 proximal aligned and larger. Distal setae distal
straight. With 2 small mesodorsal setae. Apical
portion of the truncus swollen, without dorsal projection. Ventral plate
enlarged, with large/width ratio: 1.48. Distal margin of the plate with a slight cleft (Figs.
7–9).
Females
with two elongate spots on the mesotergal area III (Image 10).
Remarks: Santinezia albilineata Roewer, 1923 was
described with material coming from San Casimiro, a locality in the south of
Aragua State, in the central track of Cordillera de la Costa, Venezuela and
posteriorly recorded from Rancho Grande, Aragua State and Los Teques, Miranda
State (di Caporiacco 1951). González-Sponga
(2003) in his taxonomic review of the genus in Venezuela redescribed this
species with specimens from Tiara, a town near from the type-locality[the same presented by the Avram (1987) as a type-locality of S. decui, the latter species proposed as synonym
of S. albilineataby González-Sponga (2003)].
In
his phylogenetic analysis of Santinezia,
Pinto-da-Rocha & Kury (2003) agreed with González-Sponga (2003) about the
status of S. decuiliving in San Casimiro and around, however, both species are considered by themas junior synonyms of S. curvipes.
These authors did not have access to material type of S. albilineata, mentioning that a
request of this type material made to ISER (Dr. V. Decu) was not answered and
that the material type could have been lost (Pinto-da-Rocha & Kury 2003).
Based on the study of
some exemplars from Tiara, we propose the revalidation of Santinezia albilineata, keeping S. decui as its synonym. This species belongs to the group “curvipes” proposed by Pinto-da-Rocha & Kury
(2003).
A detailed review of
the species from Cordillera de la Costa in Venezuela is still needed to
determine their taxonomic status. The taxonomic and geographical boundaries
between species of Santineziain this region are unknown.
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