On the female of Metagonia taruma (Araneae: Pholcidae), ecology of the Pholcid spiders in the Urucu River Basin, Amazonas, Brazil and new records from Brazilian Amazonia

Abstract

In this study we describe the unknown female of Metagonia taruma Huber, 2000, which was discovered after sampling in two forest gap types at Porto Urucu (Urucu River Basin, Coari, Amazonas, Brazil), and also provide information on the community ecology and natural history of the sampled species. The female of M. taruma is similar to that of M. samiria (Huber, 2000) by having an epigynum with a slightly projecting broad scape with a distal pocket; it differs by the larger pore plates. We collected twelve Pholcidae species at Porto Urucu and M. taruma was the most frequent and abundant. The populations of Carapoia ocaina Huber, 2000 and Mesabolivar aurantiacus (Mello-Leitão, 1930) present homogeneous sex ratios, while M. taruma and Mesabolivar sp. were female biased. Only two species (M. taruma and Mesabolivar sp.) exhibited differences in abundance in each forest gap type, being higher at the poorly regenerated gaps. Thus, the use of Pholcidae species as ecological indicators is promising. We also present new records, throughout the Amazon Basin, for the Pholcidae species collected at Porto Urucu. © 2010 Sociedade Brasileira de Zoologia.