Difference between revisions of "Austrarchaea raveni"

Latest revision as of 15:59, 15 August 2011

Taxonavigation

Ordo: Araneae
Familia: Archaeidae
Genus: Austrarchaea

Name

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

Type material

Holotype male: Mount Nebo, D'Aguilar Range, Queensland, Australia, 15.VIII.1990, [inside hollow log], M. Harvey, T. Churchill (QMB S90193).
Paratype: Allotype female, D'Aguilar National Park, Mount Glorious, Maiala section, track to Greene's Falls, Queensland, Australia, 27°19'57"S, 152°45'47"E, sifting elevated leaf litter, subtropical rainforest, 633 m, 4.V.2010, M. Rix, D. Harms (QMB S90192DNA: Ar73-83-F).

Other material examined

AUSTRALIA: Queensland: D'Aguilar National Park: Mount Glorious, Maiala section, track to Greene's Falls, 27°19'30"S, 152°45'45"E, hand collected at night from maternal web at base of fallen log, 3.III.2001, M. & A. Rix, 1♀, 1 juvenile (WAM T94092); Mount Glorious, Maiala section, track to Greene's Falls, 27°19'57"S, 152°45'47"E, sifting elevated leaf litter, subtropical rainforest, 633 m, 4.V.2010, M. Rix, D. Harms, 6 juveniles (WAM T112574DNA: Ar73-84-J/Ar73-85-J); Mount Glorious, Maiala section, ANIC Berlesate, ~635 m, 13.III.1973, R. Taylor, 1 juvenile (ANIC). Mount Glorious: “Mount Glorious", spraying logs with Mortein, 26.IV.1988, P. Blus, V. Davies, 1 juvenile (QMB S30810); Hiller Family's Property, 20.I.– 26.VI.1978, G. Monteith, 1 juvenile (QMB S30807). Mount Mee Forest Reserve: The Mill Rainforest Walk, 27°04'57"S, 152°42'39"E, sifting elevated leaf litter, subtropical rainforest, 271 m, 1.V.2010, M. Rix, D. Harms, 1♂, 3 juveniles (WAM T112575DNA: Ar69-86-M/Ar69-87-J/Ar69-88-J).

Additional material (not examined)

AUSTRALIA: Queensland: Brisbane Forest Park: Mount Glorious, Lawton Road section of Westside Track, NW. of Maiala, 27°19'07"S, 152°44'50"E, beating ferns ~20 cm from ground, rainforest, 1.I.2010, G. Anderson, 1 juvenile (QMB).

Etymology

The specific epithet is a patronym in honour of Dr Robert Raven, for his extraordinary contributions to arachnology, and for his ongoing efforts documenting the diverse spider fauna of south-eastern Queensland.

Diagnosis

Austrarchaea raveni can be distinguished from all other Archaeidae from mid-eastern Australia by the very short, barely differentiated comb of accessory setae on the male chelicerae (Fig. 14C) combined with the unique shape of the conductor (Figs 14D-E), which is ‘ear-shaped’ with a large proximal lobe.
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 and COII (n = 6): G(9), G(843), T(1408).

Description

Holotype male: Total length 2.90; leg I femur 3.10; F1/CL ratio 2.88. 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. 14B). Carapace very tall (CH/CL ratio 2.41); 1.08 long, 2.59 high, 0.98 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 0.90), carapace slightly concave anterior to HPC; ‘head’ moderately elevated postero-dorsally (post-ocular ratio 0.35) (Fig. 8D). Chelicerae with short, barely differentiated comb of accessory setae on anterior face of paturon (Fig. 14C). Abdomen 1.59 long, 1.18 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. Partially expanded pedipalp (Figs 14D-F) with lobed, ‘ear-shaped’ conductor; tegular sclerite 1 (TS 1) spiniform, obscured by conductor in retrolateral view; TS 2 spiniform, longer than TS 1, directed across proximal lobe of conductor; TS 2a sinuous, largely obscured by TS 2; TS 3 embedded proximally within distal haematodocha, with sharply-pointed, broadly triangular apex directed retro-ventrally across conductor.
Allotype female: Total length 3.05; leg I femur 3.14; F1/CL ratio 2.58. Cephalothorax brown; legs pale tan-brown with darker annulations; abdomen mottled grey-brown and beige, palest posteriorly (Fig. 14A). Carapace very tall (CH/CL ratio 2.34); 1.22 long, 2.85 high, 1.10 wide; ‘neck’ 0.60 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 0.83), carapace gently sloping anterior to HPC; ‘head’ moderately elevated postero-dorsally (post-ocular ratio 0.33) (Fig. 7D). Chelicerae without accessory setae on anterior face of paturon. Abdomen 1.59 long, 1.03 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. 14G); innermost (anterior) spermathecae sausage-shaped, curved antero-laterally; other spermathecae variably aciniform, straight, directed antero-laterally.
Variation: Males (n=2): total length 2.64–2.90; carapace length 1.06–1.08; carapace height 2.46–2.59; CH/CL ratio 2.31–2.41. Females (n=2): total length 3.05–3.46; carapace length 1.22–1.30; carapace height 2.85–3.10; CH/CL ratio 2.34–2.38.

Distribution and habitat

Austrarchaea raveni is known only from rainforest habitats at Mount Glorious, Mount Nebo and Mount Mee, on the D’Aguilar Range north-west of Brisbane, south-eastern Queensland (Fig. 32).

Conservation status

This species is a short-range endemic taxon (Harvey 2002b^[1]), which although restricted in distribution, is relatively abundant within several National Parks and Forest Reserves (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 14. Austrarchaea raveni sp. n. A–B, Cephalothorax and abdomen, lateral view: A, allotype female (QMB S90192) from D’Aguilar National Park, Queensland; B, holotype male (QMB S90193) from D’Aguilar National Park, Queensland. C, Holotype male chelicerae, lateral view, showing accessory setae. D–F, Holotype male pedipalp (partially expanded): D–E, bulb, retrolateral view (inset shows conductor and embolus on unexpanded pedipalp of male from Mt Mee Forest Reserve, Queensland); 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 32. Austrarchaea raveni 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. raveni highlighted in yellow; B, satellite image showing detail of inset (A); C, subtropical rainforest near the type locality – Mount Glorious, D’Aguilar National Park, Queensland (May 2010). Image (C) by M. Rix.