Difference between revisions of "Austrarchaea wallacei"

Latest revision as of 12:29, 30 August 2012

Taxonavigation

Ordo: Araneae
Familia: Archaeidae
Genus: Austrarchaea

Name

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

Vernacular name

Mount Misery Assassin Spider

Type material

Holotype male: Mount Misery, summit, [Monkhouse Timber Reserve], Queensland, Australia, 15°52'S, 145°14'E, pitfall trap, 850 m, 6.XII.1990–17.I.1991, Queensland Museum & ANZSES (QMB S25964).

Etymology

The specific epithet is a patronym in honour of the late Doug Wallace OAM (1923–2012), for his passion and enthusiasm for arachnology, for his contributions to the study of Australian (and especially Queensland) spiders, for his efforts in founding and fostering the Rockhampton Arachnological Society, and for his encouragement of MGR over many years.

Diagnosis

Austrarchaea wallacei can be distinguished from all other Archaeidae from north-eastern Queensland except Austrarchaea karenae sp. n., Austrarchaea tealei sp. n. and Austrarchaea thompsoni sp. n. by the presence of a triangular spur on the embolus (Fig. 8D); from Austrarchaea thompsoni sp. n. by the presence of a prominent, triangular tegular sclerite 1 (TS 1) (Fig. 8D); and from Austrarchaea karenae sp. n.and Austrarchaea tealei sp. n. by the shape of tegular sclerite 3 (TS 3), which has a bluntly pointed, triangular apex (Figs 8C–D).

Description

Holotype male: Total length 3.28; leg I femur 3.01; F1/CL ratio 2.58. Cephalothorax dark reddish-brown; legs tan-brown with darker annulations; abdomen mottled grey-brown and beige, with darker brown dorsal scute and sclerites (Fig. 8A). Carapace tall (CH/CL ratio 2.14); 1.17 long, 2.49 high, 1.10 wide, ‘neck’ 0.62 wide; bearing two pairs of rudimentary horns; highest point of pars cephalica (HPC) approaching posterior quarter of ‘head’ (ratio of HPC to post-ocular length 0.72), carapace gently sloping posterior to HPC; ‘head’ moderately elevated dorsally (post-ocular ratio 0.33). Chelicerae with short brush of accessory setae on anterior face of paturon (Fig. 8B). Abdomen 1.59 long, 1.28 wide; with two pairs of dorsal hump-like tubercles (HT 1-4); dorsal scute fused anteriorly to epigastric sclerites, extending posteriorly to first pair of hump-like tubercles; HT 3-4 each covered by separate dorsal sclerites. Expanded pedipalp (Figs 8C–D) of Type A morphology (Fig. 6), with large, retrolaterally directed, arched conductor; embolus sinuous, with short triangular spur; tegular sclerite 3 (TS 3) short, spur-like, with flattened proximal portion and bluntly pointed, triangular apex; TS 2-2a flexed dorsally (due to haematodochal expansion), TS 2 with pointed apex; TS 1 triangular, with tapered, slightly curved tooth-like apex.
Female: Unknown.

Distribution and habitat

Austrarchaea wallacei is known only from the summit of Mount Misery, 34 km north-west of Cape Tribulation (Figs 17, 25). The single known specimen was collected in a pitfall trap in tropical rainforest at 850 m elevation.

Conservation status

Unknown (data deficient).

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 7. Austrarchaea daviesae Forster & Platnick, 1984. A–B, Cephalothorax and abdomen, lateral view: A, female (WAM T125183) from Malaan National Park, Atherton Tableland, NE. Queensland; B, holotype male (QMB S1091) from Majors Mountain, Atherton Tableland, NE. Queensland. C, Holotype male chelicerae, lateral view, showing accessory setae. D–F, Male (WAM T125183; from Malaan National Park, Atherton Tableland, NE. Queensland) pedipalp: D–E, bulb, ventral view; F, detail of distal tegular sclerites, retrolateral view. G, Female (WAM T125183) internal genitalia, postero-ventral view (genital plate removed). C = conductor; E = embolus; T = tegulum; (TS)2-3 = tegular sclerites 2-3. Scale bars: A-B = 1.0 mm; E = 0.2 mm.  Figure 8. Austrarchaea wallacei sp. n. A–D, Holotype male (QMB S25964) from Mount Misery, Monkhouse Timber Reserve, NE. Queensland: A, cephalothorax and abdomen, lateral view; B, chelicerae, lateral view, showing accessory setae; C–D, right pedipalpal bulb (expanded; flipped horizontal for inter-specific comparison), retrolateral view. bH = basal haematodocha; C = conductor; E = embolus; ESp = embolic spur; H = haematodocha; T = tegulum; (TS)1-3 = tegular sclerites 1-3. Scale bars: A = 1.0 mm; D = 0.2 mm.  Figure 17. Distribution of Austrarchaea wallacei sp. n.: A, topographic map showing the known distribution of Archaeidae in the north-eastern Queensland Wet Tropics bioregion, with collection localities for Austrarchaea wallacei 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 northern 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. BM = Black Mountain Corridor; CU = Carbine Uplands; FU = Mt Finnigan Uplands; TU = Thornton Uplands; WU = Windsor 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.