THE FEMALE OF BERTRANA HIEROGLYPHIC A 
PETRUNKEVITCH 
(ARANEAE, ARGIOPIDAE) 
By Arthur M. Chickering 
Museum of Comparative Zoology 
Four species of this very interesting genus are known at the present 
time. Keyserling (1884) established the genus and described the first 
known species from a group of females from Peras, Brazil. Two 
other species have been described from South America by Simon 
( 1893) ; one of these was from Peru and the other from Para, Brazil. 
Dr. Petrunkevitch was the first to describe a male which was the only 
specimen in the genus collected at the Wilcox camp on the San Lor- 
enzo River. I now have about five dozen specimens from various 
parts of Panama and the Canal Zone with both sexes well represented. 
1 have thought it worth while to publish a description of the female 
with very brief attention paid to the male. 
Genus Bertrana Keyserling, 1884 
Bertrana hieroglyphica Petrunkevitch, 1925 
Fe?nale. Total length 3.5 mm. Carapace 1.7 mm. long; .97 mm. 
wide opposite second coxae where it is widest; .44 mm. tall opposite 
second coxae where it is tallest; rises gently from PME to tallest 
region and then slopes directly to posterior border with a shallow 
concavity on the posterior declivity; lateral cephalothoracic grooves 
fairly distinct; with median fovea no more than a narrow groove; 
considerably overlapped by the globular abdomen. 
Eyes. Eight in two rows. Viewed from above, anterior row strong- 
ly recurved, posterior row gently so. Viewed from in front, posterior 
row definitely procurved, anterior row slightly so ; all measured by 
centers. Central ocular quadrangle wider in front than behind in 
ratio of about 5:4; wider in front than long in ratio of about 25 : 22. 
Ratio of eyes AME : ALE : PME : PLE = 8 : 6 : 7.5 : 6.5. AME 
separated from one another by about 1.5 times their diameter, from 
ALE by slightly more than their diameter. PME separated from one 
another by two thirds of their diameter, from PLE by slightly more 
than 5/3 of their diameter. Laterals separated from one another by 
about one third of the diameter of ALE. Height of clypeus equal to 
about three fourths of the diameter of AME. 
Chelicerae. Basal segment about .49 mm. long; moderately robust; 
quite normal in general form; fang normal and regularly curved; the 
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