Namea nebo, Rix & Wilson & Harvey, 2020

Rix, Michael G., Wilson, Jeremy D. & Harvey, Mark S., 2020, The open-holed trapdoor spiders (Mygalomorphae: Anamidae: Namea) of Australia’s D’Aguilar Range: revealing an unexpected subtropical hotspot of rainforest diversity, Zootaxa 4861 (1), pp. 71-91 : 88-90

Namea nebo sp. nov.

( Figs 13 , 16a, b , 68–80 )

http://zoobank.org/?lsid= urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:4213049D-94A4-41B9-8014-8335C2C77F6F

Namea sp . ‘Nebo’ Rix et al., 2020: 683 , 686, figs 2, 3.

Type material. AUSTRALIA: Queensland: male holotype, Mount Nebo, D’Aguilar National Park, Boombana section, site 1, 27°24’06”S, 152°47’24”E, pitfall trap, rainforest, 440 m, 1–30 August 2004, QM Party ( QMB S65274 DNA) . Paratypes: 3 males, same data as holotype except 30 June–1 August 2004 ( QMB S67171) .

Diagnosis. Males of Namea nebo can be distinguished from those of all other described congeners except N. bunya and N. nigritarsus by the following combination of four characters: embolus long, reflexed and whip like ( Figs 78–80 ); retroventral margin of palpal tibia with single, isolated, proximal macroseta ( Figs 71, 72 ); tibia I with prolateral (p) macrosetae ( Figs 75, 77 ); and macroseta v1 on tibia I short, not reaching beyond ventro-distal margin of tibia I ( Fig. 77 ). Males can be further distinguished from those of N. bunya by the longer macroseta v1 on tibia I ( Fig. 77 ; cf. Rix et al. 2020, fig. 121); and from those of N. nigritarsus by the heart-shaped palpal bulb ( Figs 78–80 ; cf. Figs 65–67 ), the more strongly concave ventro-distal excavation anterior to macroseta v1 ( Fig. 77 ; cf. Fig. 64 ), and the covering of downy, reflective setae on the carapace ( Figs 68, 70 ; cf. Figs 55, 57 ).

Females are unknown.

Description (male holotype): Total length 14.3. Carapace 5.7 long, 4.4 wide. Abdomen 5.9 long, 3.3 wide. Carapace ( Fig. 68 ) dark chocolate-brown, covered with reflective downy setae ( Fig. 70 ); lateral margins with fringe of anteriorly curved, porrect black setae, longest posteriorly; fovea straight. Eye group ( Fig. 71 ) rectangular, twice as wide as long, PLE–PLE/ALE–ALE ratio 1.0; AME separated by less than their own diameter; PME separated by 3.4 X their own diameter; PME and PLE almost contiguous. Maxillae each with field of ca. 40–50 cuspules confined to heel and inner proximal corner ( Fig. 72 ); labium without cuspules. Abdomen ( Figs 69, 74 ) elongate-oval, dark grey-brown with course pale beige-brown marbled pattern dorsally, and pale beige-brown ventrally with finer dark brown mottling, the latter concentrated slightly anterior to spinnerets; covered with short, fine setae. Legs ( Figs 68, 75–77 ) dark tan-brown, with light scopulae on tarsi I–II and distal half of metatarsi I–II; tibia I with 3 prodorsal, 3 prolateral, 4 proventral, 4 ventral, and 1 (small) retrolateral macrosetae; macroseta v1 not reaching beyond ventrodistal margin of tibia I ( Fig. 77 ). Leg I: femur 4.4, patella 2.7, tibia 3.4, metatarsus 3.9, tarsus 2.6, total length 17.0. Leg I femur–tarsus/carapace length ratio 3.0. Pedipalpal tibia ( Figs 78–80 ) 2.6 X longer than wide, with isolated, proximal retroventral macroseta, 1 retrodistal macroseta, 1 dorsal macroseta, 1 prodistal macroseta, 1 proventral macroseta, and 1 prolateral macroseta. Cymbium ( Figs 78–80 ) setose, distally cleft in retrolateral view, with distal scopula. Bulb ( Figs 78–80 ) heart-shaped, with long, whip-like, reflexed embolus arising from prolateral base of bulb.

Etymology. The specific epithet is a noun in apposition, in reference to the type locality of this species.

Distribution. Namea nebo is endemic to the D’Aguilar Range, where it is known only from rainforest at Mount Nebo ( Fig. 2 ).

Remarks. This extremely rare species has only ever been collected at a single location within the Boombana section of D’Aguilar National Park. Nothing is known of its biology or life history, other than that males appear to be active in winter (July to August).

Figures

FIGURE 13. Phylogeny of the genus Namea modified from Rix et al. (2020; fig. 2), inferred from a partitioned Bayesian analysis of that study’s ‘FULL’ dataset (151 taxa, 5,261 bp, 50% majority-rule consensus tree). Clades corresponding to 30 morpho-species OTUs are collapsed for the genus Namea (square brackets denote the number of specimens included in each clade), and nodes have a posterior probability of ≥ 0.98 unless otherwise stated. Seven species recorded from the D’Aguilar Range (south-eastern Queensland) are highlighted in enlarged bold text; note that specimens of an eighth species, N. gloriosa sp. nov., were not sequenced for this study.

FIGURES 14–21. Comparative morphology of Namea from the D’Aguilar Range (south-eastern Queensland); each figure for each species depicts (a) the male tibia I in standardised prolateral view, (b) the male pedipalp in retrolateral view, +/- (c) the female cleared genitalia in dorsal view (if known): 14, N. gloriosa sp. nov. (QMB S10269); 15, N. nigritarsus sp. nov. (QMB S111534); 16, N. nebo sp. nov. (QMB S65274); 17, N. excavans Raven, 1984 (QMB S813); 18, N. brisbanensis Raven, 1984 (QMB S767 [male], S111397 [female]); 19, N.gowardae sp. nov.(QMB S774 [male], S111377 [female]); 20, N. salanitri Raven, 1984 (QMB S1166 [male], S111396 [female; with epigastric lobes highlighted*); 21, N. dahmsi Raven, 1984 (QMB S88018 [male tibia I], S800 [male pedipalp], S111481 [female; note bent right spermathecal fundus]). Tibial macrosetae are coloured and labelled according to their relative position (dark blue, prodorsal [pd]; red, prolateral [p] or proventral [pv]; dark grey, ventral [v]; light blue, retroventral [rv]).

FIGURES 68–77. Namea nebo sp. nov., male holotype (QMB S65274) from Boombana, Mount Nebo (south-eastern Queensland), somatic morphology: 68–69, carapace and abdomen, dorsal view; 70, cephalothorax, lateral view; 71, eyes, dorsal view; 72, mouthparts, ventral view; 73–74, cephalothorax and abdomen, ventral view; 75, leg I, prolateral view; 76, leg I tibia, retrolateral view; 77, leg I tibia, profile in standardised prolateral view, showing relative position of macrosetae (pd, prodorsal; pv, proventral; v, ventral). Scale bars = 3.0 mm.

FIGURES 78-80. Namea nebo sp. nov., male holotype (QMB S65274) from Mount Nebo (south-eastern Queensland), pedipalp: 78, retrolateral view; 79, retroventral view; 80, prolateral view. Scale bar = 3.0 mm.

FIGURES 65–67. Namea nigritarsus sp. nov., male holotype (QMB S111534) from MountGlorious (south-eastern Queensland), pedipalp: 65, retrolateral view; 66, retroventral view; 67, prolateral view. Scale bar = 3.0 mm.

FIGURES 55–64. Namea nigritarsus sp. nov., male holotype (QMB S111534) from MountGlorious (south-eastern Queensland), somatic morphology: 55–56, carapace and abdomen, dorsal view; 57, cephalothorax, lateral view; 58, eyes, dorsal view; 59, mouthparts, ventral view; 60–61, cephalothorax and abdomen, ventral view; 62, leg I, prolateral view; 63, leg I tibia, retrolateral view; 64, leg I tibia, profile in standardised prolateral view, showing relative position of macrosetae (p, prolateral; pd, prodorsal; pv, proventral; v, ventral). Scale bars = 3.0 mm.

FIGURES 1–3. The D’Aguilar Range of south-eastern Queensland: 1, elevational heat map showing upland areas surrounding Brisbane, and the relative position of the D’Aguilar Range; 2, topographic map of the D’Aguilar Range (in shaded relief), with major localities highlighted; 3, typical habitat for Namea on rainforest bank at Mount Glorious (Maiala section). Image 3 copyright Queensland Museum (used with permission).