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| Sadala rauli Peñaherrera-R. & Cisneros-Heredia, 2023 |
Abstract
We describe a new species of giant crab spider of the genus Sadala Simon, 1880 collected in Lowland Evergreen rainforests at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station, Yasuni Biosphere Reserve, Amazonian Ecuador. This new species corresponds to the first record of the genus from Ecuador. Females of the new species of Sadala are similar to S. punicea and S. nanay, by having the epigyne with a median septum diamond-shaped posteriorly. The new species is easily distinguished from S. punicea and S. nanay by having relatively straight anterior lateral margins of the median septum. This study increases to 10 the number of described species of Sadala.
Keywords: giant crab spider, huntsman spider, new species, northern South America, taxonomy, Tiputini
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| Habitus of Sadala rauli sp. nov., female paratype, at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station, province of Orellana, Ecuador. |
Sadala rauli Peñaherrera-R. & Cisneros-Heredia, new species
Generic placement. The new species is assigned to the genus Sadala by having chelicerae with three promarginal teeth and intermarginal denticles, 5–10 escort setae at the base of fang, short-toothed female palpal claw, three pairs of spines on ventral tibiae I–II, and median septum of epigyne with triangular scape-like projection (Rheims & Jäger, 2022).
Diagnosis. Females of Sadala rauli sp. nov. resembles S. punicea and S. nanay by having the epigyne with a long TP, wider than long, and MS diamond-shaped posteriorly (Figures 1 and 2). The new species is easily differentiated from S. punicea and S. nanay by having relatively straight anterior lateral margins of the MS (more curved in S. punicea and S. nanay). Also, S. rauli differs from S. punicea by having a MS more than 1.5 times longer than wide with elliptical CO.
Etymology. The specific name is a patronym for Victor Raul Peñaherrera de la Cadena, grandfather of Pedro Peñaherrera-R., who in life had the project of narrating the history of Ecuador in a book that could not be completed and now will form part of the natural history of Ecuador immortalized in this species.
Pedro Peñaherrera-R. and Diego F. Cisneros-Heredia. 2023. A New Species of Spider of the Genus Sadala Simon, 1880 (Araneae, Sparassidae) from the Yasuni Biosphere Reserve, Amazonian lowlands of Ecuador. Ecology and Evolution. DOI: 10.1002/ece3.10242
