Difference between revisions of "Austrarchaea dianneae"

Latest revision as of 15:59, 15 August 2011

Taxonavigation

Ordo: Araneae
Familia: Archaeidae
Genus: Austrarchaea

Name

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

Type material

Holotype male: Tamborine National Park, Joalah section, track to Curtis Falls, Queensland, Australia, 27°55'33"S, 153°11'35"E, sifting elevated leaf litter and hand collecting at night, subtropical rainforest, 313 m, 26.IV.2010, M. Rix, D. Harms (QMB S90185).
Paratypes: Allotype female, same data as holotype (QMB S90186); 2 males and 7 juveniles, same data as holotype (WAM T112557DNA: Ar59-60-M/Ar59-61-J/Ar59-62-J).

Other material examined

AUSTRALIA: Queensland: Lamington National Park: Binna Burra, Ships Stern Circuit track, 28°11'51"S, 153°11'28"E, sifting elevated leaf litter, subtropical rainforest, 764 m, 25.IV.2010, M. & A. Rix, D. & S. Harms, J. Wojcieszek, 2♂, 4 juveniles (WAM T112556DNA: Ar56-54-M/Ar56-55-J/ Ar56-56-J); Wojigumal Creek, 28°12'29"S, 153°11'56"E, pyrethrum, 570 m, 19.III.2008, A. Nakamura, 1♀ (QMB S87980).

Additional material examined (of tentative identification)

AUSTRALIA: Queensland: Lamington National Park: IBISCA Plot IQ-300-C, 28°09'04"S, 153°08'17"E, pitfall trap, 260 m, 23.I.2007, K. Staunton, 1 juvenile (QMB S90181).

Etymology

The specific epithet is a patronym in honour of the late Dianne Wojcieszek (1962–2003), for her love of the Mount Tamborine Hinterland.

Diagnosis

Austrarchaea dianneae can be distinguished from all other Archaeidae from mid-eastern Australia except Austrarchaea cunninghami sp. n. by the shape of the conductor (Figs 11D-E), which is broad, foliate and curved laterally, with a triangular apex; and from Austrarchaea cunninghami sp. n. by the longer, spiniform tegular sclerite 1 (TS 1) (Fig. 11F) and by the more conical, posteriorly elevated shape of the male ‘head’ (Fig. 8H).
This species can also be distinguished from other genotyped taxa from mid-eastern Australia (see Fig. 3B) by the following three unique nucleotide substitutions for COI (n = 6): T(303), G(798), A(1065).

Description

Holotype male: Total length 3.03; leg I femur 3.12; F1/CL ratio 2.83. Cephalothorax dark reddish-brown; legs tan-brown with darker annulations; abdomen mottled grey-brown and beige, with darker reddish-brown dorsal scute and sclerites (Fig. 11B). Carapace very tall (CH/CL ratio 2.37); 1.10 long, 2.62 high, 1.02 wide; ‘neck’ 0.51 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 0.87), carapace gently sloping and almost horizontal anterior to HPC; ‘head’ not strongly elevated dorsally (post-ocular ratio 0.29) (Fig. 8H). Chelicerae with brush of accessory setae on anterior face of paturon (Fig. 11C). Abdomen 1.69 long, 1.33 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 11D-F) with broad, foliate conductor, curved laterally with triangular apex; tegular sclerite 1 (TS 1) spiniform, obscured by conductor in retrolateral view; TS 2 spur-like, longer than TS 1; TS 2a sinuous, largely obscured by TS 2; TS 3 embedded proximally within distal haematodocha, with sharply-pointed, triangular apex projecting beyond retro-distal rim of tegulum.
Allotype female: Total length 3.74; leg I femur 3.18; F1/CL ratio 2.43. Cephalothorax dark reddish-brown; legs tan-brown with darker annulations; abdomen mottled grey-brown and beige, palest posteriorly (Fig. 11A). Carapace very tall (CH/CL ratio 2.28); 1.31 long, 2.97 high, 1.21 wide; ‘neck’ 0.65 wide; bearing two pairs of rudimentary horns; highest point of pars cephalica (HPC) near middle of ‘head’ (ratio of HPC to post-ocular length 0.55), carapace gently sloping posterior to HPC; ‘head’ not strongly elevated dorsally (post-ocular ratio 0.25) (Fig. 7H). Chelicerae without accessory setae on anterior face of paturon. Abdomen 2.15 long, 1.64 wide; with three pairs of dorsal hump-like tubercles (HT 1–6). Internal genitalia with cluster of ≤ 12 variably shaped spermathecae on either side of gonopore, clusters meeting near midline of genital plate (Fig. 11G); innermost (anterior) spermathecae longest, sausage-shaped, curved antero-laterally; other spermathecae variably pyriform, curved, directed laterally.
Variation: Males (n=5): total length 2.73–3.21; carapace length 1.09–1.13; carapace height 2.53–2.62; CH/CL ratio 2.24–2.39. Females (n=2): total length 3.64–3.74; carapace length 1.31 (invariable); carapace height 2.87–2.97; CH/CL ratio 2.20–2.28.

Distribution and habitat

Austrarchaea dianneae is known only from subtropical rainforest habitats in the Tamborine and Lamington National Parks south of Brisbane, south-eastern Queensland (Fig. 29). At Binna Burra (Lamington National Park) it has been found in sympatry with Austrarchaea nodosa, in the only known example of two-species sympatry among Australian archaeids (see Nomenclatural Remarks for Austrarchaea nodosa, above).

Conservation status

This species is a short-range endemic taxon (Harvey 2002b^[1]), which although restricted in distribution, is abundant within the Tamborine National Park (M. Rix, pers. obs.) and is further protected within the World Heritage-listed Lamington National Park. 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 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 11. Austrarchaea dianneae sp. n. A–B, Cephalothorax and abdomen, lateral view: A, allotype female (QMB S90186) from Tamborine National Park, Queensland; B, holotype male (QMB S90185) from Tamborine 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 29. Austrarchaea dianneae 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. dianneae highlighted in yellow; B, satellite image showing detail of inset (A); C, subtropical rainforest at the type locality – Joalah Section, Tamborine National Park, Queensland (June 2009). Note the sympatric occurrence of this species with A. nodosa on the ‘scenic rim’ at Binna Burra, Lamington National Park. Image (C) by M. Rix.