Gigiella milledgei 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 : 98-100

Gigiella milledgei Rix & Harvey , sp. n.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:A81D66A4-7630-4A9F-A7C6-5122217FAE0C

Figs 7Q , 10D, 193C, 193E, 194, 195A, 196, 197A–B, 198–202, 211

Type material. Holotype male: Mount Sabine , Great Otway National Park, Victoria, Australia, 585 m, pyrethrum fogging, 38°38'S, 143°43'E, 6.XI.1997, G. Monteith ( QMB S88028 ).

Paratypes: Allotype female, same data as holotype ( QMB S88029 ); 5 males and 11 females, same data as holotype ( QMB S43059 SEM♁ ♀) .

Other material examined. AUSTRALIA: Victoria: Great Otway National Park, Young Creek Road, 0.4 km NW. of Triplet Falls, flight intercept trap, Eucalyptus forest, 38°40'S, 143°29'E, 11.IV.-14.VI.1995, G. Milledge, 1♀ ( NMV K6229); Great Otway National Park, Melba Gully, pyrethrum fogging in rainforest, 38°42'S, 143°23'E, 5.XI.1997, G. Monteith, 1♁, 1♀ ( QMB S43235 ); The Big Culvert, 2.5 km ENE. of Mount Observation, moss and litter, Nothofagus cunninghamii forest, 37°33'36"S, 145°52'15"E, 28.XII.1995, G. Milledge, 1♁, 1♀ ( NMV K6228); Yarra Ranges National Park, Donna Buang Road, 1 km SW. of Mount Donna Buang, litter and moss, Nothofagus cunninghamii forest, 37°43'00"S, 145°40'15"E, 16.II.1995, G. Milledge, 2♁, 1♀ ( NMV K6227); Yarra Ranges National Park, Mount Donna Buang, 1250 m, Nothofagus forest, moss from trees, 37°42'S, 145°40'E, 7.XI.1997, G. Monteith, 1♁ ( QMB S41820 ); Yarra Ranges National park, near summit of Mount Donna Buang, sieved litter, Eucalyptus forest, 27.V.1990, D. Black, 2♀ ( WAM T94535); same data except un- der log in Nothofagus forest, 37°42'36"S, 145°40'57"E, 19.IV.2006, M. Rix, 1♁ ( WAM T80035 DNA-MPE). Tasmania: Cradle Mountain-Lake St. Clair National Park, Overland Trail, 50.2 km (82°) ENE. of Queenstown, 760 m, eucalypt woodland and rainforest, sifting leaf litter, 42°06'S, 146°09'E, 11.III.2006, C. Griswold, D. Silva, 1♁, 1♀ ( CAS 9024501); same data, 1♁, 1♀ ( CAS 9024500); Cradle Mountain-Lake St. Clair National Park, W. side of Lake St. Clair, 750 m, Eucalyptus - Acacia litter under Banksia trees, 25–29.I.1980, A. Newton, M. Thayer, 4♁, 4♀ ( AMNH); Cuckoo Falls walk, near Scottsdale, 41°14'S, 147°36'E, 22.XI.2003, M. Rix ( WAM T94534); Florentine Valley, 22 km NW. of Maydena, moss on logs, 15.II.1977, J. Kethley, 1♁ ( FMC); Franklin River, 20 km W. of Derwent Bridge, 29.IV.1987, N. Platnick, R. Raven, T. Churchill, 1♁, 1♀ ( AMNH); Mount Field National Park, from moss, litter, rocks in beech forest, 42°40'59"S, 146°38'55"E, 25–26.XI.2003, L. Boutin, 2♀ ( QVM); Mount Wellington, Cascades Creek, below O’Grady’s Falls, top side of Strickland Avenue, from moss, 42°54'S, 147°14'E, 13.VII.1976, V. Hickman, 1♁ ( AMS KS66002); ‘National Park’, 28.II.1952, V. Hickman, 1♁, 4♀ ( AMS KS31280); 5 km S. of Renison Bell, 180 m, pyrethrum fogging of mossy overhang, 1.V.1987, N. Platnick, R. Raven, T. Churchill, 1♁ ( AMNH); south-western Tasmania, 42°43'S, 145°48'E II.1977, C. Howard et al., 1♀ ( AMS KS25840); same data except 16.II.1978, no collector, 1♁ ( AMS KS27292); 6 km E. of Strahan, pyrethrum fogging in King Fern rainforest, 30.IV.1987, N. Platnick, R. Raven, T. Churchill, 3♁, 3♀ ( AMNH); 6 km SE. of Strahan, Berlese, litter from King Fern rainforest, 30.IV.1987, N. Platnick, R. Raven, T. Churchill, 1♁, 1♀ ( AMNH); Tarraleah, 7.X.1957, 1♁ ( AMS KS51556); same data, 1♁, 1♀ ( AMS KS53551).

Etymology. The specific epithet is a patronym in honour of Graham Milledge, of the Australian Museum (Sydney), for collecting many specimens of this species from Victoria, and for assistance in loaning micropholcommatid specimens during the course of this study.

Diagnosis. Males of Gigiella milledgei can be distinguished from G. platnicki by the shorter, sinuous embolus (Fig. 196). Females can be distinguished from G. plat- nicki by the looped insemination ducts (Figs 197A-B). Both sexes can also be recognised by the south-eastern Australian distribution (Fig. 211).

Description. Holotype male: Total length 1.51. Carapace 0.76 long, 0.61 wide. Abdomen 0.88 long, 0.71 wide. Leg I femur 0.62. Cephalothorax dark brown; legs dark tan-yellow; abdomen dark grey with paler, chequered pattern posteriorly and laterally. Carapace raised anteriorly, not fused to sternum except around petiole; dorsal surface of pars cephalica slightly convex in lateral view. Eight subequal eyes present on anterior margin of pars cephalica; PME separated by their own diameter. Chelicerae without bulging anterior projections; promargin without peg teeth. Legs relatively short (leg I femur-carapace ratio 0.82); macrosetae absent. Abdomen oval-globose, covered with hair-like setae, each seta projecting from small sclerotic spot; dorsal scute and lateral sclerotic strips absent. Pedipalpal patella with distally-directed, forked lRPA and strongly-recurved distal apophysis; tegulum smooth, with curved ETR; embolus long (length> 5× width), sinuous, curving distally (Fig. 196).

Allotype female: Total length 1.59. Carapace 0.78 long, 0.60 wide. Abdomen 1.00 long, 0.82 wide. Leg I femur 0.65. Cephalothorax dark brown; legs dark tan-yellow; abdomen dark grey with paler, chequered pattern posteriorly and laterally. Carapace raised anteriorly, not fused to sternum except around petiole; dorsal surface of pars cephalica slightly convex in lateral view. Eight subequal eyes present on anterior margin of pars cephalica; PME separated by their own diameter. Chelicerae without bulging anterior projections; promargin without peg teeth. Legs relatively short (leg I femurcarapace ratio 0.83); macrosetae absent. Abdomen oval-globose, covered with hair-like setae, each seta projecting from small sclerotic spot; dorsal scute and lateral sclerotic strips absent. Pedipalp entire, five-segmented. Epigyne with distinctive external morphology (Fig. 194D); receptacula globular, bilobate; insemination ducts looping dorsally; fertilisation ducts simple, curved (Figs 197A–B).

Distribution. Known from the Yarra Ranges and Otway Ranges of Victoria, and from Tasmania (Fig. 211).

Remarks. Gigiella milledgei is a relatively large, dark brown species from the Southern Beech ( Nothofagus cunninghamii ) and cool-temperate rainforests of Victoria and Tasmania (Fig. 211). It has been collected from ferns, moss and from under logs, but nothing else is known of its biology. This species was included in the molecular phylogenetic analysis of Rix et al. (2008) as “Gen. n. sp. VICBig” (see Fig. 1).

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.