Difference between revisions of "Austrarchaea harmsi"

Latest revision as of 15:59, 15 August 2011

Taxonavigation

Ordo: Araneae
Familia: Archaeidae
Genus: Austrarchaea

Name

Austrarchaea harmsi Rix & Harvey sp. n. – Wikispecies link – ZooBank link – Pensoft Profile

Type material

Holotype male, Bunya Mountains National Park, Dandabah, Scenic Circuit track, ~400 m from entrance, Queensland, Australia, 26°52'43"S, 151°35'53"E, sifting elevated leaf litter, subtropical araucarian rainforest, 959 m, 2.V.2010, M. Rix, D. Harms (QMB S90189).
Paratypes: Allotype female, Bunya Mountains National Park, Dandabah, off Bunya Mountains Road, Queensland, Australia, 26°53'07"S, 151°35'38"E, sifting elevated leaf litter, subtropical araucarian rainforest, 1030 m, 2.V.2010, M. Rix, D. Harms (QMB S90187); 1 male, same data as holotype (QMB S90188); 2 males and 3 juveniles, same data as holotype (WAM T112559DNA: Ar70-73-M/Ar70-74-J/Ar70-75-J).

Other material examined

AUSTRALIA: Queensland: Bunya Mountains National Park: Dandabah, on tree trunk at night, 3.III.1976, 1♂ (QMB S1095); off Bunya Mountains Road, 26°53'00"S, 151°35'20"E, sifting elevated leaf litter, subtropical araucarian rainforest, 917 m, 2.V.2010, M. Rix, D. Harms, 3 juveniles (WAM T112560DNA: Ar71-71-J/Ar71-72-J); adjacent to Stirling Family's Property, ~1.5 km SE. of Dandabah, beating low-hanging Bunya Pine branch in rainforest, 7-10.XI.2005, M. Rix, 1 juvenile (WAM T94093); Marlaybrook, 1.III.1976, V. Davies, R. Raven, 1 juvenile (QMB S30826).

Additional material (not examined)

AUSTRALIA: Queensland: Bunya Mountains National Park: track starting from Paradise carpark going towards Westcliff lookout, 26°52'33"S, 151°34'24"E, shaking dense mats of grass, transition zone between araucarian rainforest and grasslands, 1040 m, 3.V.2009, H. Wood, 1♂ (CASENT 9028427); same data, 1♂ (CASENT 9034524); same data, 2♀ (CASENT 9028386).

Etymology

The specific epithet is a patronym in honour of Danilo Harms, for his contributions to arachnology, and his invaluable assistance to the senior author during field work in south-eastern Australia.

Diagnosis

Austrarchaea harmsi can be distinguished from all other Archaeidae from mid-eastern Australia by the dense, pick-like tuft of accessory setae on the male chelicerae (Fig. 16C) and by the unique shape of the conductor (Figs 16D-E), which is ‘shield-shaped’ and twisted proximally.
This species can also be distinguished from other genotyped taxa from mid-eastern Australia (see Fig. 3B) by the following eight unique nucleotide substitutions for COI and COII (n = 5): C(57), A(756), A(798), C(1061), C(1191), A(1294), T(1465), A(1467).

Description

Holotype male: Total length 2.67; leg I femur 2.67; F1/CL ratio 2.57. Cephalothorax dark reddish-brown; legs tan-brown with darker annulations; abdomen mottled grey-brown brown and beige, with darker reddish-brown dorsal scute and sclerites (Fig. 16B). Carapace tall (CH/CL ratio 2.12); 1.04 long, 2.21 high, 0.97 wide; ‘neck’ 0.46 wide; bearing two pairs of rudimentary horns; highest point of pars cephalica (HPC) near posterior margin of ‘head’ (ratio of HPC to post-ocular length 0.88), carapace slightly concave anterior to HPC; ‘head’ strongly elevated postero-dorsally (post-ocular ratio 0.40) (Fig. 8E). Chelicerae with dense, pick-like tuft of accessory setae on anterior face of paturon (Fig. 16C). Abdomen 1.44 long, 1.05 wide; with three pairs of dorsal hump-like tubercles (HT 1–6); dorsal scute fused anteriorly to epigastric sclerites, extending posteriorly to first pair of hump-like tubercles; HT 3–6 each covered by separate dorsal sclerites. Unexpanded pedipalp (Figs 16D-F) with twisted, ‘shield-shaped’ conductor; tegular sclerite 1 (TS 1) relatively short, spiniform, obscured by conductor in retrolateral view; TS 2 spur-like, sinuous, longer than TS 1; TS 2a sinuous, largely obscured by TS 2; TS 3 porrect, spur-like, with sharply-pointed apex mostly obscured in retrolateral view by haematodochal membranes and retro-distal rim of tegulum.
Allotype female: Total length 3.28; leg I femur 2.72; F1/CL ratio 2.28. Cephalothorax dark reddish-brown; legs tan-brown with darker annulations; abdomen mottled grey-brown and beige (Fig. 16A). Carapace tall (CH/CL ratio 2.09); 1.19 long, 2.49 high, 1.08 wide; ‘neck’ 0.56 wide; bearing two pairs of rudimentary horns (lateral pair asymmetrically reduced); highest point of pars cephalica (HPC) near middle of ‘head’ (ratio of HPC to post-ocular length 0.60), carapace gently sloping posterior to HPC; ‘head’ moderately elevated postero-dorsally (post-ocular ratio 0.36) (Fig. 7E). Chelicerae without accessory setae on anterior face of paturon. Abdomen 1.90 long, 1.44 wide; with three pairs of dorsal hump-like tubercles (HT 1–6). Internal genitalia with dense cluster of ≤ 15 variably shaped spermathecae on either side of gonopore, clusters meeting near midline of genital plate (Fig. 16G); innermost (anterior) spermathecae longest, sausage-shaped, curved antero-laterally; other spermathecae variably pyriform, straight, directed antero-laterally.
Variation: Males (n=5): total length 2.64–3.05; carapace length 1.04–1.08; carapace height 2.15–2.24; CH/CL ratio 2.08–2.14.

Distribution and habitat

Austrarchaea harmsi is known only from araucarian rainforest habitats in the Bunya Mountains National Park of south-eastern Queensland (Fig. 34).

Conservation status

This species is a short-range endemic taxon (Harvey 2002b^[1]), which although restricted in distribution, is abundant within the Bunya Mountains National Park (M. Rix, pers. obs.). It is not considered to be of conservation concern.

Original Description

• Rix, M; Harvey, M; 2011: Australian Assassins, Part I: A review of the Assassin Spiders (Araneae, Archaeidae) of mid-eastern Australia ZooKeys, 123: 1-100. doi

Other References

1. ↑ Harvey M (2002b) Short-range endemism among the Australian fauna: some examples from non-marine environments. Invertebrate Systematics 16: 555-570. doi:10.1071/IS02009

Images

Figure 1. Habitus images of live Archaeidae from mid-eastern Australia: A–B, female Austrarchaea nodosa (Forster, 1956) from Binna Burra, Lamington National Park, Queensland; C–D, female A. mascordi sp. n. from Coolah Tops National Park, New South Wales; E–F, juvenile A. raveni sp. n. from Mount Glorious, Queensland. Images A–D by M. Rix; images E–F by Greg Anderson, used with permission.  Figure 3. Molecular phylogenetic data analysed as part of this study. A, Schematic map of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I–II (COI–COII) gene complex in Archaeidae and other basal Araneomorphae, showing (i) the position of primers used to amplify and sequence 1.6 kilobases of mtDNA, and (ii) the inferred stop and initiation codons for COI and COII, respectively. Note the centralised, overlapping position of the two internal sequencing primer sites (SeqF2a/SeqR1), and the TTG initiation codon for COII, present in all but one of the spider species sequenced for this study. B, Majority-rule consensus tree with re-estimated branch lengths, resulting from a combined, gene-partitioned Bayesian analysis of the COI–COII mtDNA data. Thickened branches represent clades with >95% posterior probability support, and individual support values are shown above other nodes.  Figure 7. Lateral ‘head’ profiles of females of species of Austrarchaea from mid-eastern Australia, showing variation in carapace shape as quantified by the post-ocular ratio (P.O. Ratio) and ratio of highest point of carapace relative to post-ocular length (HPC Ratio): A, allotype A. alani sp. n.; B, allotype A. aleenae sp. n.; C, allotype A. judyae sp. n.; D, allotype A. raveni sp. n.; E, allotype A. harmsi sp. n.; F, allotype A. monteithi sp. n.; G, allotype A. cunninghami sp. n.; H, allotype A. dianneae sp. n.; I, A. nodosa (Forster, 1956); J, allotype A. platnickorum sp. n.; K, allotype A. binfordae sp. n.; L, A. milledgei sp. n. (WAM T112568); M, allotype A. mascordi sp. n.; N, allotype A. smithae sp. n.; O, allotype A. mcguiganae sp. n. Asterisks (*) denote concave depressions.  Figure 8. Lateral ‘head’ profiles of males of species of Austrarchaea from south-eastern Queensland and extreme north-eastern New South Wales (including the Border Ranges), showing variation in carapace shape as quantified by the post-ocular ratio (P.O. Ratio) and ratio of highest point of carapace relative to post-ocular length (HPC Ratio): A, holotype A. alani sp. n.; B, holotype A. aleenae sp. n.; C, holotype A. judyae sp. n.; D, holotype A. raveni sp. n.; E, holotype A. harmsi sp. n.; F, holotype A. clyneae sp. n.; G, holotype A. cunninghami sp. n.; H, holotype A. dianneae sp. n.; I, A. nodosa (Forster, 1956) (QMB S75416). Asterisks (*) denote concave depressions.  Figure 16. Austrarchaea harmsi sp. n. A–B, Cephalothorax and abdomen, lateral view: A, allotype female (QMB S90187) from Bunya Mountains National Park, Queensland; B, holotype male (QMB S90189) from Bunya Mountains National Park, Queensland. C, Holotype male chelicerae, lateral view, showing accessory setae. D–F, Holotype male pedipalp: D–E, bulb, retrolateral view; F, detail of distal tegular sclerites, prodistal view. G, Allotype female internal genitalia, dorsal view. C = conductor; E = embolus; Es = embolic sclerite; T = tegulum; (TS)1–3 = tegular sclerites 1–3. Scale bars: A–B = 1.0 mm; E = 0.2 mm.  Figure 34. Austrarchaea harmsi sp. n., distribution and habitat: A, topographic map showing the known distribution of Archaeidae in south-eastern Queensland and eastern New South Wales, with collection localities for A. harmsi highlighted in yellow; B, satellite image showing detail of inset (A); C, subtropical araucarian (Araucaria bidwillii) rainforest at the type locality – Dandabah, Bunya Mountains National Park, Queensland (May 2010). Image (C) by M. Rix.