Difference between revisions of "Austrarchaea woodae"

Latest revision as of 12:29, 30 August 2012

Taxonavigation

Ordo: Araneae
Familia: Archaeidae
Genus: Austrarchaea

Name

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

Vernacular name

Mount Bartle Frere Assassin Spider

Type material

Holotype male: Mount Bartle Frere, [Wooroonooran National Park], Boulder Caves, Queensland, Australia, [17°23'S, 145°47'E], 1050 m, 8.XII.1990, G. Monteith, G. Thompson, D. Cook, R. Sheridan (QMB S72988).

Etymology

The specific epithet is a patronym in honour of Dr Hannah Wood, for her pioneering research into the systematics, biology and biogeography of assassin spiders and other Palpimanoidea, and for her collaborative support of MGR and MSH during assassin spider research conducted at the Western Australian Museum.

Diagnosis

Austrarchaea woodae can be distinguished from all other Archaeidae from north-eastern Queensland by the presence of a unique Type C pedipalp (Fig. 6), with a proximally constricted conductor (Figs 6, 13D), large, flattened, distally folded tegular sclerite 3 (TS 3) (Figs 6, 13D–E), and apple-shaped bulb profile in ventral view (Figs 6, 13C–D). This species can be further distinguished by the dense, pick-like tuft of accessory setae on the male chelicerae (Fig. 13B; similar only to Austrarchaea harmsi among Australian Archaeidae), and by the almost spherical abdomen with recumbent hump-like tubercles (Fig. 13A; similar only to species of Zephyrarchaea among Australian Archaeidae).

Description

Holotype male: Total length 3.54; leg I femur 3.74; F1/CL ratio 2.95. Cephalothorax dark reddish-brown; legs tan-brown with darker annulations; abdomen mottled grey-brown and beige, with darker brown dorsal scute and sclerites (Fig. 13A). Carapace very tall (CH/CL ratio 2.22); 1.27 long, 2.82 high, 1.18 wide, ‘neck’ 0.56 wide; bearing two pairs of rudimentary horns; highest point of pars cephalica (HPC) near posterior third of ‘head’ (ratio of HPC to post-ocular length 0.67), carapace steeply sloping and convex posterior to HPC; ‘head’ moderately elevated dorsally (post-ocular ratio 0.31). Chelicerae with dense, pick-like tuft of accessory setae on anterior face of paturon (Fig. 13B). Abdomen 1.69 long, 1.44 wide; almost spherical, with largely recumbent hump-like tubercles; dorsal scute fused anteriorly to epigastric sclerites. Unexpanded pedipalp (Figs 13C–E) of Type C morphology (Fig. 6), with retrolaterally directed, proximally constricted conductor and apple-shaped bulb profile in ventral view; embolus distally directed, slightly sinuous, without spur; tegular sclerite 3 (TS 3) large, flattened, with prominent, distally folded apex; TS 2-2a looped over retrolateral edge of conductor, TS 2 with strongly developed, spur-like apex extending to near distal rim of conductor, TS 2a looping around TS 3 proximally and projecting beyond distal rim of conductor to near tip of embolus; TS 1 indistinct, obscured by TS 2-3.
Female: Unknown.

Distribution and habitat

Austrarchaea woodae is known only from near the summit of Mount Bartle Frere, 12 km south-west of Babinda (Figs 22, 25). The only known specimen was collected in high altitude tropical rainforest.

Conservation status

Unknown (data deficient).

Remarks

See Remarks for Austrarchaea daviesae (above).

Original Description

• Rix, M; Harvey, M; 2012: Australian Assassins, Part III: A review of the Assassin Spiders (Araneae, Archaeidae) of tropical north-eastern Queensland ZooKeys, 218: 1-50. doi

Images

'Figure 6. Morphological differences between the five pedipalp types (Types A-E) identified for species of Austrarchaea from north-eastern Queensland, with left bulbs illustrated in ventral view at scale-identical sizes. Type A pedipalps are shared among at least five species from the Wet Tropics bioregion; Types B-E are autapomorphic for single species. Note especially the variation in the size and shape of the bulb, and the shape and orientation of the conductor. C = conductor; E = embolus; ESp = embolic spur; (TS)1-3 = tegular sclerites 1-3. Scale bar = 0.2 mm.  Figure 13. Austrarchaea woodae sp. n. A–E, Holotype male (QMB S72988) from Boulder Caves, Mount Bartle Frere, Wooroonooran National Park, NE. Queensland: A, cephalothorax and abdomen, lateral view; B, chelicerae, lateral view, showing accessory setae; C–D, pedipalpal bulb, ventral view; E, detail of distal tegular sclerites, retrolateral view. C = conductor; E = embolus; T = tegulum; (TS)2-3 = tegular sclerites 2-3. Scale bars: A = 1.0 mm; D = 0.2 mm.  Figure 22. Distribution of Austrarchaea woodae sp. n.: A, topographic map showing the known distribution of Archaeidae in the north-eastern Queensland Wet Tropics bioregion, with collection localities for Austrarchaea woodae highlighted in yellow; B–C, topographic and satellite maps showing detail of inset (A). Labelled boundaries in (B) denote upland subregional zones of faunal endemism identified by Winter et al. (1984), Williams et al. (1996) and other authors for the central Wet Tropics (modified from Edward 2011). Small squares in (B–C) denote unidentified juvenile specimens; small circles denote unidentified female specimens; large circles denote described species of Austrarchaea. AU = Atherton Uplands; BK = Bellenden Ker/Bartle Frere; HI = Hinchinbrook Island; KU = Kirrama Uplands; LE = Lee Uplands; LU = Lamb Uplands; MT = Malbon-Thompson Uplands.  ' Figure 25. Summary distribution of the Austrarchaea daviesae species-group in tropical north-eastern Queensland, showing collections records for described species (labelled, with black circles) and unidentified juveniles or females (yellow circles) (see Table 1). Note the high proportion of unidentified specimens, especially within the Wet Tropics bioregion between Cooktown and Ingham.