Miturgopelma paruwi, Raven & Hebron & Williams, 2023

Raven, Robert J., Hebron, Wendy & Williams, Kylie, 2023, Revisions of Australian ground-hunting spiders VI: five new stripe-less miturgid genera and 48 new species (Miturgidae: Miturginae), Zootaxa 5358 (1), pp. 1-117 : 58-60

Miturgopelma paruwi sp. nov.

Figs 45–46

Diagnosis. Males differ from those species that have the paired hook RTA in the distal embolus and the shape of the median apophysis, and from Miturgopelma ferruginea in the ventral keel on the palpal tibia ( Fig. 46c, e ). Female unknown.

Etymology. The specific epithet is a Tasmanian aboriginal word for beetle, the nickname for the father of Robert Beeton who found the spider (with RJR) on a Bush Blitz expedition to the Gowen Brae, Central Highlands; the species epithet was given by the Palawa people on whose land at Gowen Brae Reserve, Central Highlands, it was found.

Type Material. Tasmania: male holotype, Seventeen Mile Plain Reserve , 40.877°S, 144.835°E, 9–13 Mar 2010, C. Young, R . Mollison, TMAG J4528 .

Paratypes. 1 ma., Flat Rock Reserve via Chaunceyvale , 42.50308°S, 147.269380°E, C. Young, R . Mollison , 21 Mar 2010, TMAG J4186 ; 5 ma., same data but pitfall trap, TMAG J4208 , J4147 , J4196 ; J4166; 1 ma., Seventeen Mile Plain Reserve , 40.877°S, 144.835°E, 9–13 Mar 2010, C. Young, R . Mollison , TMAG J4268 ; 2 ma., Bruny Island, Big Lagoon, Bruny Island Neck, 43.2419°S, 147.3931°E, TMAG J5413 , J 4185 ; 1 ma., Bruny Island, South Bruny Island , 43.609°S, 147.193°E, TMAG J5414 ; 1 ma., Parattah , 42°20’S 147°24’E, V. V . Hickman , AM KS29053 ; 1ma., Gowen Brae , 42.03°S, 146.42005°E, 25 Feb 2014, TMAG ; 1 ma., South Hobart , 42.09°S, 147.31°E, 25 Feb 2014, J. Barclay, 31 Mar 1989, TMAG J4529 . Victoria: 1 ma., Fowlers Gap , 31.2957°S, 141.7087°E, V . Salanitri , 23–29 July 1975, QM S28780 .

Description. Male, holotype TMAG J4528

Carapace 2.75 long, 2.01 wide. Opisthosoma 3.45 long, 1.52 wide. Total length, 6.7.

Colour. Carapace orange brown with black C-shaped patches of hair in striae. Opisthosoma dorsally with ostiate pattern, distally broad, flared. Legs mottled. Eyes. All of similar size. Palp. Tibia about twice as long as basally wide, with glabrous area ventrally at base of RTA and ridge almost for full length proventrally. RTA short, wide, of paired hook form: ventral face trianguloid, with small distal process and outer point rounded; dorsal face also trianguloid apically with recurved hook. Cymbium with narrow margins, apical cone short, dorsal setation only long bristles, retrobasally near RTA with small hook. Tegulum large, bipartite, basal; embolus in just basal of mid-length, curbed slowly around subtegular dome; median apophysis rectanguloid converging to hooked triangular tip.

Distribution. Known only from Fowlers Gap, Victoria and from southern Tasmania, but John Douglas (pers. comm.) photographed a presumably conspecific female from Launceston, northern Tasmania.

Figures

FIGURE 45. Miturgopelma paruwi sp. nov., male, habitus, Bruny Island.

FIGURE 46. Miturgopelma paruwi sp. nov., male holotype, TMAG J4528: a, habitus, dorsal view; b, c, palpal patella, tibia, cymbium and bulb, ventral view; d, cymbium base showing basal hook, tibia and RTA, retrolateral view; e, tibia and RTA, ventral view.