Epigastrina fulva ( Hickman, 1945 ) Rix & Harvey, 2010

Rix, Michael & Harvey, Mark, 2010, The spider family Micropholcommatidae (Arachnida: Araneae: Araneoidea): a relimitation and revision at the generic level, ZooKeys 36 (36), pp. 1-321 : 44

Epigastrina fulva ( Hickman, 1945) , comb. n.

Figs 7F , 61–62, 63A–C, 67–70, 71B–D

Textricella fulva Hickman, 1945: 140 , figs 6–10. Forster, 1959: 275, fig. 2. Brignoli, 1983: 375. Davies, 1985: 113. Platnick, 2009.

Type material. Syntype male and female: Mount Wellington, Tasmania, Australia, near ‘The Springs’, from moss, 2000 ft, 19.XII.1944 (♁)/ 25.VIII.1943 (♀) ( AMS KS6692).

Selected material examined. AUSTRALIA: Tasmania: Mount Wellington, Woods Track to O’Grady’s Falls , 28.IV.2006, M. Rix, L. Boutin, 1♁, 6♀ ( WAM T77728 SEM ♀) ; same data, 1♁ ( WAM T80027 DNA-MPE) ; Hobart, Bett’s Gully , 3.IX.1978, P. McQuillan, 3♁ ( WAM T94145 SEM♁) .

Remarks. Epigastrina fulva is relatively common and widespread in Tasmania, where specimens can be found in moss and leaf litter. The species is immediately recognisable by the remarkable shape of the female epigyne ( Fig. 63A ) and male pedipalp ( Fig. 62 ), with similar species known only from caves.

Figures

Figure 7. The genera of Micropholcommatidae, illustrated with habitus photographs of representative male specimens. A–D tribe Micropholcommatini: A Micropholcomma caeligenum Crosby & Bishop B Pua novaezealandiae Forster C Austropholcomma florentine sp. n. D Tricellina gertschi (Forster & Platnick). E–M tribe Textricellini: E Eterosonycha aquilina sp. n. F Epigastrina fulva (Hickman) G Raveniella peckorum sp. n. H Rayforstia vulgaris (Forster) I Normplatnicka lamingtonensis (Forster)] Eperiella alsophila sp. n. K Algidiella aucklandica (Forster) L Taliniella nigra (Forster) M Tinytrella pusilla (Forster). N Patelliella adusta sp. n., tribe Patelliellini. O–P subfamily Taphiassinae: O Olgania excavata Hickman P Taphiassa robertsi sp. n. Q–R subfamily Gigiellinae: Q Gigiella milledgei sp. n. R Gigiella platnicki sp. n. Note that Guiniella tropica (Forster) is not illustrated.

Figure 62. Epigastrina fulva (Hickman) from Mount Wellington, Tasmania (WAM T77728): A male cephalothorax and pedipalps, antero-ventral view B male pedipalps, ventral view. Note the very large conductor.

Figure 63. Epigastrina species, female epigynes and receptacula. A–B E. fulva (Hickman) from Mount Wellington, Tasmania: A external epigyne, ventral view, showing the very large epigastric plate B cleared receptacula, dorsal view. C–E external epigynes, ventral view, at scale-identical size for comparison: C E. fulva from Mount Wellington, Tasmania D holotype E. loongana sp. n. from the Loongana karst, Tasmania; E, allotype E. typhlops sp. n. from the Mole Creek karst, Tasmania. Arrows indicate the trajectory of insemination and proximal fertilisation ducts. Scale bars = 0.065 mm (65 µm).