Zephyrarchaea vichickmani
| Notice: | This page is derived from the original publication listed below, whose author(s) should always be credited. Further contributors may edit and improve the content of this page and, consequently, need to be credited as well (see page history). Any assessment of factual correctness requires a careful review of the original article as well as of subsequent contributions.
If you are uncertain whether your planned contribution is correct or not, we suggest that you use the associated discussion page instead of editing the page directly. This page should be cited as follows (rationale):
Citation formats to copy and paste
BibTeX: @article{Rix2012ZooKeys191, RIS/ Endnote: TY - JOUR Wikipedia/ Citizendium: <ref name="Rix2012ZooKeys191">{{Citation See also the citation download page at the journal. |
Ordo: Araneae
Familia: Archaeidae
Genus: Zephyrarchaea
Name
Zephyrarchaea vichickmani Rix & Harvey sp. n. – Wikispecies link – ZooBank link – Pensoft Profile
Vernacular name
Central Highlands Assassin Spider
Type material
Holotype male: Yarra Ranges National Park, Acheron Gap, Victoria, Australia, 37°40'37"S, 145°44'24"E, sifting elevated leaf litter under tree ferns, Nothofagus rainforest, 769 m, 29.III.2010, M. Rix (MV K11578).
Paratypes: Allotype female, same data as holotype (MV K11579); 1 female and 6 juveniles, same data as holotype (WAM T112583DNA: Ar14–49-F/Ar14–133-J/Ar14–134-J).
Other material examined
AUSTRALIA: Victoria: Yarra Ranges National Park: Acheron Gap, Central Highlands, 6 km NE. of Mount Donna Buang, 37°40'43"S, 145°44'20"E, pitfall trap, Nothofagus cunninghamii forest, 25.VI.–29.VIII.1996, G. Milledge, 1♀ (MV K5919); same data except 21.II.–23.IV.1996, 1 juvenile (MV K5920).
Etymology
The specific epithet is a patronym in honour of the late Professor Victor Hickman, for his extraordinary contributions to arachnology and in honour of L. S. Butler’s original (1929) patronym.
Diagnosis
Zephyrarchaea vichickmani can be distinguished from other known congeners except Zephyrarchaea marae sp. n. by the absence of a proximal tuft or brush on the male chelicerae (Fig. 16C); and from Zephyrarchaea marae sp. n. by the less sinuous shape of conductor sclerite 2 (C2) (Figs 16D–E) and the more concave anterior margin of the male diastema adjacent to the ‘neck’ (Fig. 16B). Females further distinguished from other known congeners except Zephyrarchaea marae sp. n. by the combination of a spherical abdomen (Fig. 16A), strongly concave post-ocular depression in lateral view (Fig. 9A), and moderately elevated ‘head’ dorsally (post-ocular ratio ≥ 0.25) (Fig. 9A).
This species can also be distinguished from other genotyped taxa (see Fig. 3) by the following 16 unique nucleotide substitutions for COI and COII (n = 3): C(24), G(54), G(216), G(309), A(360), A(393), C(702), G(795), T(951), A(976), A(1059), T(1063), A(1200), G(1281), C(1479), T(1596), and can be further distinguished from all other Australian Archaeidae except Zephyrarchaea marae by the absence of a COII amino acid residue at positions 1441–1443.
Description
Holotype male: Total length 2.77; leg I femur 1.80; F1/CL ratio 1.67. Cephalothorax dark reddish-brown; legs tan brown with darker annulations; abdomen mottled grey-brown and beige, with reddish-brown dorsal scute and sclerites (Fig. 16B). Carapace relatively short (CH/CL ratio 1.69); 1.08 long, 1.82 high, 1.01 wide; ‘neck’ 0.59 wide; highest point of pars cephalica (HPC) near posterior third of ‘head’ (ratio of HPC to post-ocular length 0.64), carapace with pronounced concave depression anterior to HPC; ‘head’ moderately elevated dorsally (post-ocular ratio 0.28) (Fig. 8B). Chelicerae with short comb of accessory setae on anterior face of paturon (Fig. 16C). Abdomen 1.59 long, 1.10 wide; almost spherical in lateral profile, without dorsal hump-like tubercles; dorsal scute fused anteriorly to epigastric sclerites, extending posteriorly to cover anterior two-thirds of dorsal abdomen. Unexpanded pedipalp (Figs 16D–F) bulbous, almost spherical, with gently curved, tapering embolus supported by conductor sclerites 1–2; tegular sclerite 1 (TS 1) strongly curved, claw-like in prolateral view, with twisted, flattened and rounded apex; TS 2–3 projecting well beyond retro-distal rim of tegulum.
Allotype female: Total length 3.90; leg I femur 2.08; F1/CL ratio 1.76. Cephalothorax dark reddish-brown; legs tan brown with darker annulations; abdomen mottled grey-brown and beige (Fig. 16A). Carapace relatively short (CH/CL ratio 1.83); 1.18 long, 2.15 high, 1.12 wide; ‘neck’ 0.69 wide; highest point of pars cephalica (HPC) approaching posterior third of ‘head’ (ratio of HPC to post-ocular length 0.61), carapace with pronounced concave depression anterior to HPC; ‘head’ moderately elevated dorsally (post-ocular ratio 0.26) (Fig. 9A). Chelicerae without accessory setae on anterior face of paturon. Abdomen 2.51 long, 1.92 wide; spherical in lateral profile, without dorsal hump-like tubercles. Internal genitalia (Fig. 16G) with cluster of ≤ 15 sausage-shaped spermathecae fanning out either side of gonopore, clusters widely separated along midline of genital plate; outermost (posterior) spermatheca on each side stalked, distally spherical.
Variation: Females (n = 3): total length 3.44–3.90; carapace length 1.14–1.18; carapace height 2.00–2.15; CH/CL ratio 1.75–1.83.
Distribution and habitat
Zephyrarchaea vichickmani is known only from temperate Nothofagus rainforest habitats in the Victorian Central Highlands, north-east of Melbourne (Fig. 26).
Conservation status
This species has an imperfectly known distribution, and although potentially restricted, the abundance of protected forested habitats near the type locality would suggest that the species is unlikely to be of conservation concern.
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
|
![Figure 3. Phylogeny of Zephyrarchaea species from Rix and Harvey (2012)[1], 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)
Other References
- ↑ 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
