New species of the genus Gaucha Mello-Leitão, 1924 (Solifugae, Mummuciidae) from Argentina

GONZÁLEZ REYES, ANDREA X; CORRONCA, J. A.

Congreso; 17Th International Arachnological Congress, Sao Pa; 2007

international Arachnological Society

Mummuciidae (Rˆewer, 1934) solifugids family consists of nine genera and 17 species to America. One of these genera is the monotypic Gaucha, with G. fasciata Mello-Leit„o, 1924 recorded to Porto Alegre, state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, Sierra de la Ventana, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and several localities of Uruguay. The genus is characterized by lateroventral spinelike setae on tarsi of legs II and III, without a dorsoapical spinelike seta on tibiae of the legs II and III, 12 lateroventral spinelike setae on tarsi of leg IV and two anterior teeth on cheliceral fixed finger on the male. The new species of Gaucha, here described, was collected in the Andean Dry Puna area (3000-4000masl), Salta Province, Argentina. This area is characterized by a low diversity of species but a high number of endemic species. We collected this new species of Mummuciidae from November 2005 until August 2006, using a pitfall trapping. The male and the female of this new species of Gaucha is described and illustrated here. This new species represented by 26 collected specimens differs for the only one known species, Gaucha fasciata, by the color pattern, the number and the size of the chelicerae teeth, specially the basal ones, the shape of the male flagellum and the presence and number of setae of the post-spiracular sternite. This new species represents the first record of this genus to the North-West of Argentina