Portacosa, Framenau, Volker W., 2017

Framenau, Volker W., 2017, Portacosa, a new genus for the south-east Australian Grey Wolf Spider (Araneae, Lycosidae, Lycosinae), Evolutionary Systematics 1 (1), pp. 77-86 : 77

Portacosa gen. n.

Type species.

Portacosa cinerea sp. n., designated here.

Diagnosis.

Somatic morphology, in particular the lack of a distinct colour pattern on carapace and abdomen (in particular in live spiders, Fig. 1 A–D), places Portacosa gen. n. in close affinity with Hoggicosa Roewer; however, males of Portacosa gen. n. lack the apical, dorsally bent setae on the cymbium tip and the median septum of the female epigyne is narrower anteriorly than the with of the posterior transverse part (see Langlands and Framenau 2010).

A putative apomorphy of the genus is the shape of the tegular apophysis. Unlike any other member of the family Lycosinae in Australia, the ridge of the tegular apophysis (connecting its apical point and ventral process; see Fig. 3C, D) is very sharp and situated more towards the retrolateral edge of the tegular apophysis, whereas it reaches from the apical point to a more central ventral process in other Lycosinae in Australia. This corresponds to a continuous edge of the anterior hood of the epigyne with the median septum (Fig. 4A, C), whilst this edge is often interrupted in other Lycosinae in Australia.

Portacosa gen. n. lacks any of the proposed synapomorphies of other Australian members of the Lycosinae, i.e. the tegular apophysis is not retrolaterally incised as in Venator Hogg, 1900 ( Framenau 2015), the carapace lacks a Union-Jack pattern as in Tasmanicosa Roewer, 1959 ( Framenau and Baehr 2016), the pedipalp lacks a large patch of apical setae as in Knoelle Framenau, 2006 ( Framenau 2006a), the tegular apophysis is not elongated and spiders do not show turret-building behaviour as in Dingosa ( Framenau and Baehr 2007), the carapace and abdomen are not dorsoventrally flattened as in Tapetosa Framenau, Main, Waldock & Harvey, 2009 ( Framenau et al. 2009), the tegular apophysis lacks apical serrations as in Costacosa Framenau & Leung, 2013 ( Framenau and Leung 2013), the abdomen is not dark with transverse light bands and spiders do not display turret-building behaviour as in Mainosa Framenau, 2006 ( Framenau 2006b), and male pedipalp cymbia do not have a compound apical hook as in Venatrix Roewer, 1960 and Tuberculosa Framenau & Yoo, 2006 ( Framenau and Vink 2001; Framenau and Yoo 2006).

Etymology.

The genus-group name is a composite noun derived from the Latin word portus - door, referring to the trapdoor-building behaviour of the type species and -cosa, a generic ending used for genera in the family Lycosidae . The gender is feminine.

Description.

Large wolf spiders (TL 10.5-25.0 mm). Males slightly smaller than females. Carapace longer than wide, dorsal profile straight in lateral view. Carapace colouration brown with indistinct darker radial pattern, covered by grey pubescence that is denser between eyes, in particular in males. Abdomen dorsally with indistinct median chevron-pattern, which is less distinct in females and covered with dense grey pubescence, ventrally uniformly yellow-brown. AME larger than ALE, row of AE slightly procurved and narrower than row of PME. Chelicerae with three promarginal teeth with the median largest and three large, equally-sized retromarginal teeth. Leg formula IV> I> II> III. Cymbium tip with approximately 20 straight spines (Fig. 3A, B). Tegulum of male pedipalp undivided (Fig, 3F); tegular apophysis with distinct ventral spur situated towards the retrolateral edge of the tegular apophysis, connected to apical point of tegular apophysis by sharp ridge (Fig. 3C, D). Embolus originating prolaterally on palea and curving ventrally around it, long and slender. Terminal apophysis broad and apically straight, pars pendula sickle-shaped (Figs 3E). Female epigyne with inverted T-shaped median septum, slightly longer than wide, anterior hoods distinct, connected continuously to medium septum (Figs 4A, C); spermathecal heads oval; spermathecal stalks S-shaped (Fig. 4B).

Composition.

Portacosa gen. n. currently includes only a single species, P. cinerea gen. n. and sp. n.

Systematics. Portacosa gen. n. is a member of the subfamily Lycosinae Sundevall, 1833 based on the transverse orientation of the tegular apophysis that has a dorsal channel to guide the embolus ( Dondale 1986). However, sistergroup relationships remain unclear. Portacosa cinerea gen. n. and sp. n. was included in a world-wide multigene molecular analysis of the Lycosidae as 'New Genus 6 sp.' ( Murphy et al. 2006). Maximum parsimony analyses placed Portacosa gen. n. as sister to the South American Pavocosa gallopavo ( Mello-Leitão, 1941), both of which combined represented a sister taxon to a clade including Hoggicosa , Hogna and Tasmanicosa . In contrast, Bayesian analyses placed Portacosa gen. n. in a poorly resolved polytomy including the above Australian genera as sister to Pavocosa Roewer, 1960. Similarly, a morphological phylogenetic analysis of largely Australian Lycosinae did not resolve sistergroup relationships of Portacosa gen. n. (included in the analysis as 'Grey Wolf Spider’); however, that analysis was mainly focused on resolving relationships within Hoggicosa ( Langlands and Framenau 2010).