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searchable PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

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height to the full diameter of an anterior lateral eyebut becomes increasingly lower in those species thatare in the process of losing or have lost some or allof the eyes. The eyes lie in two close rows near thefront edge of the carapace and are of medium size.In eyed taxa the eyes are present as eight or six butall or some may be in various stages of reductionand disappearance, in extreme cases only evident astrivial black or whitish spots; all of the <strong>for</strong>egoingfeatures are listed among the eyed taxa and brieflynoted among the completely eyeless taxa. The eyesof the frent row when the number is eight are in amoderately procurved line typically narrower thanthe four of the posterior row which is mostlystraight or lightly curved. The triads of the six-eyedtaxa may be close together or widely separated.The sternum is longer than broad, suboval, withthe posterior coxae separated by their width in femalesbut somewhat less in males. The labium is aswide as long and about half as high as the endites.The chelicerae are stout, moderately geniculate, withsmall lateral condyle (boss) at base on the side. Eachchelicera has two rows of teeth margining the longfang furrow: on the promargin are usually threeteeth of which the middle one is often largest, andcontinued by a smooth or irregular carina nearly fulllength; on the retromargin is usually a variable seriesof four to ten teeth or denticles with those atbase longest.The legs are quite robust, especially in males,with the femora thickest and the fourth leg longestand more slender, in the leg <strong>for</strong>mula 4123 of thesubgenus. The full leg charts of the measurements ofboth sexes of an eight-eyed species (see arkansa) -aregiven to illustrate the patterns of the group; withthem comes the conclusion that such data contributelittle to fuller understanding of the taxa. The femoraare subequal in length. The patella-tibia index offerssome indication of the comparative total leg lengths.The leg spines are well represented on all legs: theyare weaker in females and little larger than manyhairs; in males they are heavier and on some legsegments shorter and heavier. The typical spine patternsare presence of 1-1-1 median spines on dorsaof femora and tibiae and 2-2-2 or 2-2-0 ventralspines on tibiae and metatarsi of most legs. Specialspinal reference is given only when such data appearnecessary. The spine <strong>for</strong>mulae of Chamberlin andIvie are useful and presumably valid. I have preferredto emphasize the characters of eyes whenpresent and genitalia of this distinctive group.The segments of the male palpus feature a slenderfemur, a very short patella and a similarly short tibiawhich bears a long flattened apophysis typical of theentire genus. A small angular spur or groove on theprolateral side of the tibia presents trivial differencesin size and position among the species. The cymbiumis a concave bowl, the alveolus, into which thepalpal bulb and elements are fixed. Most of thetegulum is flattened; the frontal smooth area is herecalled subtegulum and the large basal area oftenshowing internal tubular structures is the tegulum.The embolus originates at the base of the tegulum asa thin black tube and curves around the subtegulum,sometimes coming free of the restraining groove; itoffers little in<strong>for</strong>mation <strong>for</strong> separation of the taxa.On the retrolateral side of the tegulum beyond theorigin of the embolus lies a conspicuous rounded ortwisted tegular process, the conductor, which continuesas a very long coil lying free on the side ofthe palpus. The conductor is a principle mark of thecicurellas but offers few features in <strong>for</strong>m or lengthto identify the various taxa.The total number of mature males known fromCicurella collections, about a dozen, is only a fifthof the number of mature females, and this mightbring the implication that the ratio of the sexes is anunequal one. In general many spider studies assignnumber superiority to the males but in general it isbelieved in spiders that the ratio of the sexes is essentiallyequal, at least in the beginning. Only 15 ofthe about 70 known taxa have assignable males, 8among the eyed taxa, and 7 to the eyeless ones. Immaturespecimens of all grades of development cannotbe assigned to specific taxa, but the frequentpresence of obvious subadult males among immaturessuggests that the disparity is due to otherfactors.The abdomen is longer than wide, a suboval sacof medium height and is liberally clothed over mostof its surfaces by short soft gray or whitish hairs. Inmost members of the cicurellas it is whitish to grayin color without any distinctive darker pattern. Theepigynal area often shows some brownish color andhas on each side the pinkish book lung openings andthe central epigastric furrow through which the eggsare extruded. The internal tracheal system is presumedto be of the divided branch style described byForster (1970, p. 14).The six functional spinnerets are subapical in positionat the end of the abdomen. The two shortstout anterior spinnerets are well separated by nearlyhalf their length. In front of them lies the colulus(aborted cribellum) reduced to a narrow brown sclerotizedband and smooth area without setae about aswide as the space between the anterior lateral spinnerets.The two more slender posterior spinneretpairs lie close together in a slightly procurved row,80

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