Austrarchaea harmsi Bunya Mountains Assassin Spider Rix & Harvey

Rix, Michael G. & Harvey, Mark S., 2011, Australian Assassins, Part I: A review of the Assassin Spiders (Araneae, Archaeidae) of mid-eastern Australia, ZooKeys 123, pp. 1-100 : 22

Austrarchaea harmsi Bunya Mountains Assassin Spider Rix & Harvey sp. n. Figs 7E8E1634

Type material.

Holotype male, Bunya Mountains National Park, Dandabah, Scenic Circuit track, ~400 m from entrance, Queensland, Australia, 26°52'43"S, 151°35'53"E, sifting elevated leaf litter, subtropical araucarian rainforest, 959 m, 2.V.2010, M. Rix, D. Harms (QMB S90189).

Paratypes: Allotype female, Bunya Mountains National Park, Dandabah, off Bunya Mountains Road, Queensland, Australia, 26°53'07"S, 151°35'38"E, sifting elevated leaf litter, subtropical araucarian rainforest, 1030 m, 2.V.2010, M. Rix, D. Harms (QMB S90187); 1 male, same data as holotype (QMB S90188); 2 males and 3 juveniles, same data as holotype (WAM T112559DNA: Ar70-73-M/Ar70-74-J/Ar70-75-J).

Other material examined.

AUSTRALIA: Queensland: Bunya Mountains National Park: Dandabah, on tree trunk at night, 3.III.1976, 1♂ (QMB S1095); off Bunya Mountains Road, 26°53'00"S, 151°35'20"E, sifting elevated leaf litter, subtropical araucarian rainforest, 917 m, 2.V.2010, M. Rix, D. Harms, 3 juveniles (WAM T112560DNA: Ar71-71-J/Ar71-72-J); adjacent to Stirling Family's Property, ~1.5 km SE. of Dandabah, beating low-hanging Bunya Pine branch in rainforest, 7-10.XI.2005, M. Rix, 1 juvenile (WAM T94093); Marlaybrook, 1.III.1976, V. Davies, R. Raven, 1 juvenile (QMB S30826).

Additional material (not examined).

AUSTRALIA: Queensland: Bunya Mountains National Park: track starting from Paradise carpark going towards Westcliff lookout, 26°52'33"S, 151°34'24"E, shaking dense mats of grass, transition zone between araucarian rainforest and grasslands, 1040 m, 3.V.2009, H. Wood, 1♂ (CASENT 9028427); same data, 1♂ (CASENT 9034524); same data, 2♀ (CASENT 9028386).

Etymology.

The specific epithet is a patronym in honour of Danilo Harms, for his contributions to arachnology, and his invaluable assistance to the senior author during field work in south-eastern Australia.

Diagnosis.

Austrarchaea harmsi can be distinguished from all other Archaeidae from mid-eastern Australia by the dense, pick-like tuft of accessory setae on the male chelicerae (Fig. 16C) and by the unique shape of the conductor (Figs 16D-E), which is ‘shield-shaped’ and twisted proximally.

This species can also be distinguished from other genotyped taxa from mid-eastern Australia (see Fig. 3B) by the following eight unique nucleotide substitutions for COI and COII (n = 5): C(57), A(756), A(798), C(1061), C(1191), A(1294), T(1465), A(1467).

Description.

Holotype male: Total length 2.67; leg I femur 2.67; F1/CL ratio 2.57. Cephalothorax dark reddish-brown; legs tan-brown with darker annulations; abdomen mottled grey-brown brown and beige, with darker reddish-brown dorsal scute and sclerites (Fig. 16B). Carapace tall (CH/CL ratio 2.12); 1.04 long, 2.21 high, 0.97 wide; ‘neck’ 0.46 wide; bearing two pairs of rudimentary horns; highest point of pars cephalica (HPC) near posterior margin of ‘head’ (ratio of HPC to post-ocular length 0.88), carapace slightly concave anterior to HPC; ‘head’ strongly elevated postero-dorsally (post-ocular ratio 0.40) (Fig. 8E). Chelicerae with dense, pick-like tuft of accessory setae on anterior face of paturon (Fig. 16C). Abdomen 1.44 long, 1.05 wide; with three pairs of dorsal hump-like tubercles (HT 1-6); dorsal scute fused anteriorly to epigastric sclerites, extending posteriorly to first pair of hump-like tubercles; HT 3-6 each covered by separate dorsal sclerites. Unexpanded pedipalp (Figs 16D-F) with twisted, ‘shield-shaped’ conductor; tegular sclerite 1 (TS 1) relatively short, spiniform, obscured by conductor in retrolateral view; TS 2 spur-like, sinuous, longer than TS 1; TS 2a sinuous, largely obscured by TS 2; TS 3 porrect, spur-like, with sharply-pointed apex mostly obscured in retrolateral view by haematodochal membranes and retro-distal rim of tegulum.

Allotype female: Total length 3.28; leg I femur 2.72; F1/CL ratio 2.28. Cephalothorax dark reddish-brown; legs tan-brown with darker annulations; abdomen mottled grey-brown and beige (Fig. 16A). Carapace tall (CH/CL ratio 2.09); 1.19 long, 2.49 high, 1.08 wide; ‘neck’ 0.56 wide; bearing two pairs of rudimentary horns (lateral pair asymmetrically reduced); highest point of pars cephalica (HPC) near middle of ‘head’ (ratio of HPC to post-ocular length 0.60), carapace gently sloping posterior to HPC; ‘head’ moderately elevated postero-dorsally (post-ocular ratio 0.36) (Fig. 7E). Chelicerae without accessory setae on anterior face of paturon. Abdomen 1.90 long, 1.44 wide; with three pairs of dorsal hump-like tubercles (HT 1-6). Internal genitalia with dense cluster of ≤ 15 variably shaped spermathecae on either side of gonopore, clusters meeting near midline of genital plate (Fig. 16G); innermost (anterior) spermathecae longest, sausage-shaped, curved antero-laterally; other spermathecae variably pyriform, straight, directed antero-laterally.

Variation: Males (n=5): total length 2.64-3.05; carapace length 1.04-1.08; carapace height 2.15-2.24; CH/CL ratio 2.08-2.14.

Distribution and habitat.

Austrarchaea harmsi is known only from araucarian rainforest habitats in the Bunya Mountains National Park of south-eastern Queensland (Fig. 34).

Conservation status.

This species is a short-range endemic taxon ( Harvey 2002b), which although restricted in distribution, is abundant within the Bunya Mountains National Park (M. Rix, pers. obs.). It is not considered to be of conservation concern.