Zephyrarchaea austini
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Ordo: Araneae
Familia: Archaeidae
Genus: Zephyrarchaea
Name
Zephyrarchaea austini Rix & Harvey sp. n. – Wikispecies link – ZooBank link – Pensoft Profile
Vernacular name
Kangaroo Island Assassin Spider
Type material
Holotype female: Kangaroo Island, Western River Wilderness Protection Area, Waterfall Creek walking trail, near waterfall, South Australia, Australia, 35°41'44"S, 136°54'37"E, sifting elevated leaf litter, open eucalypt woodland with complex understorey of Xanthorrhoea and low shrubs, 9-10.V.2010, M. Rix, D. Harms (SAM NN28000DNA: Ar77-50-F).
Other material examined
AUSTRALIA: South Australia: Western River Wilderness Protection Area: same data as holotype, 3 juveniles (WAM T114027DNA: Ar77-142-J/Ar77-143-J).
Etymology
The specific epithet is a patronym in honour of Professor Andy Austin, in recognition of his contributions to biodiversity research.
Diagnosis
Females of Zephyrarchaea austini can be distinguished from Zephyrarchaea janineae and Zephyrarchaea mainae by the absence of dorsal hump-like tubercles on the abdomen (Fig. 19C); from Zephyrarchaea barrettae, Zephyrarchaea melindae and Zephyrarchaea robinsi by the strongly concave post-ocular depression in lateral view (Fig. 9D); and from Zephyrarchaea grayi, Zephyrarchaea marae and Zephyrarchaea vichickmani by the smaller body size (carapace length < 1.10) and shorter carapace (CH/CL ratio < 1.70) (Figs 7, 19C).
This species can also be distinguished from other genotyped taxa (see Fig. 3) by the following 45 unique nucleotide substitutions for COI and COII (n = 3): T(42), A(45), C(130), T(132), G(222), A(243), G(291), A(354), G(360), T(372), A(453), A(504), G(567), G(648), A(690), A(702), C(717), C(721), G(756), C(852), A(858), A(891), G(901), A(910), G(962), C(971), G(1050), G(1165), G(1197), A(1198), T(1233), G(1234), C(1235), T(1236), G(1317), A(1374), A(1403), T(1404), G(1416), G(1418), A(1419), A(1449), T(1530), G(1574), G(1585).
Description
Holotype female: Total length 2.77; leg I femur 1.80; F1/CL ratio 1.80. Cephalothorax pale reddish-brown; legs tan brown with darker annulations; abdomen mottled grey-brown and beige (Fig. 19C). Carapace short (CH/CL ratio 1.58); 1.00 long, 1.58 high, 0.92 wide; ‘neck’ 0.55 wide; highest point of pars cephalica (HPC) near posterior third of ‘head’ (ratio of HPC to post-ocular length 0.67), carapace with pronounced concave depression anterior to HPC; ‘head’ not strongly elevated dorsally (post-ocular ratio 0.23) (Fig. 9D). Chelicerae without accessory setae on anterior face of paturon. Abdomen 1.49 long, 1.13 wide; almost spherical in lateral profile, without dorsal hump-like tubercles. Internal genitalia (Fig. 19D) with cluster of ≤ 15 sausage-shaped spermathecae fanning out either side of gonopore, clusters widely separated along midline of genital plate.
Male: Unknown.
Distribution and habitat
Zephyrarchaea austini is known only from eucalypt woodland and associated heathland habitats near ‘Billy Goat Falls’, in the Western River Wilderness Protection Area of Kangaroo Island, South Australia (Fig. 30).
Conservation status
This species appears to be a rare short-range endemic taxon (Harvey 2002b[1]), with the single known population on Kangaroo Island potentially threatened by fire, dieback disease (affecting heathland vegetation) and climate change.
Original Description
- Rix, M; Harvey, M; 2012: Australian Assassins, Part II: A review of the new assassin spider genus Zephyrarchaea (Araneae, Archaeidae) from southern Australia ZooKeys, 191: 1-62. doi
Images
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![Figure 3. Phylogeny of Zephyrarchaea species from Rix and Harvey (2012)[2], showing results from a combined, gene-partitioned Bayesian analysis of that study’s multi-gene dataset (2591 bp: COI, COII, tRNA-K, tRNA-D, ATP8, ATP6, H3). Clades with >95% posterior probability support are denoted by thickened branches, with lower individual clade support values shown above nodes. Note the presence of three main regional clades, each illustrated with an exemplar species (highlighted*). The Victorian species Zephyrarchaea grayi sp. n. and Zephyrarchaea porchi sp. n. were not able to be sequenced for this study (shown as black dots on inset map).](/wiki/File:ZooKeys-191-001-g003.jpg)
![Figure 7. Graphs depicting the relationship between carapace length (CL) and carapace height (CH) for species of Zephyrarchaea. Smaller grey dots denote species of Austrarchaea (see Rix and Harvey 2011[2]); boxes denote the three lineages of Zephyrarchaea from Victoria/South Australia, the Stirling Range and elsewhere in southern Western Australia.](/wiki/File:ZooKeys-191-001-g007.jpg)
Other References
- ↑ 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
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Rix M, Harvey M (2012) Phylogeny and historical biogeography of ancient assassin spiders (Araneae: Archaeidae) in the Australian mesic zone: evidence for Miocene speciation within Tertiary refugia. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 62: 375-396. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2011.10.009
