36 
Psyche 
[Vol. 93 
I examined a female epigynum in ventral view with the pigmented 
integument carefully removed. The mystery suddenly resolved itself 
when I found the same structure embedded in the female genital 
duct (Fig. 8), proving that Witica talis, placed in the group Witicae 
close to Hypognatha and Cyrtarachneae by Simon (1895) and 
Roewer (1942), is in fact the male of “Edricus” crassicauda, placed 
in Cycloseae by the same two authors. 
In examining all available males, I noted certain differences in the 
appendage of the embolus in males from Trinidad and some South 
American localities (Fig. 14). This different structure was found in 
females (Fig. 13) from the same areas, further proof that Witica 
males belong with females of “ Edricus , "and also providing evidence 
that there are two species, the females of which look quite similar 
except for the contents of the genital duct. 
Only one embolus tip was found on each side in each female duct, 
never two. Are they there to protect a male’s sperm and prevent 
further mating by the female? Or might they be spermatophores 
with sperm inside the tips? Or do they just function to block the 
ducts? Only one or two males with broken emboli were in collec- 
tions suggesting that males do not survive mating. Males with 
broken tips could not be determined to species. 
The relationship and placement of the two species of Witica is 
uncertain. The male palpus lacks a median apophysis and terminal 
apophysis, but I expect this to be a secondary loss rather than a 
primitive absence, perhaps correlated with the minute size of the 
males. The female genitalia are unusual in being lightly sclerotized 
and lacking a scape and other projections; the epigynum resembles 
the epigynum of Pronous. The enormous difference in size of the 
sexes, the total length of females being more than 4.5 times that of 
the male, is found in some other orb-weaver genera, such as Gaste- 
racantha and Nephila (the latter probably belonging to the family 
Tetragnathidae). Also, males of Arachnura are dwarf. The females 
of Arachnura have a tail, perhaps a synapomorphy. A male 
Arachnura logio Yaginuma from Japan examined also has a spheri- 
cal abdomen with a sclerotized dorsal plate, but has a median apo- 
physis and terminal apophysis in the palpus. The anterior median 
eyes of males and females of Arachnura are more projecting than 
those of Witica. 
