Karaops dawara Crews & Harvey, 2011

Crews, Sarah C., 2023, But wait, there's more! Descriptions of new species and undescribed sexes of flattie spiders (Araneae, Selenopidae, Karaops) from Australia, ZooKeys 1150, pp. 1-189 : 1

Karaops dawara Crews & Harvey, 2011

Fig. 11C , Maps 1 , 5

Karaops dawara Crews & Harvey, 2011: 81, figs 79, 80 (♀, examined).

New record.

Northern Territory • 1 imm.; Kakadu National Park, Kapalga, north side of site E; 12°38.038'S, 132°23.122"E; 18 Jan. 2009; S. Crews, G. Brown leg.; (WAM T97230).

Diagnosis.

Karaops dawara (Fig. 11C ) can be differentiated from other members of the Karaops dawara species group by the endogyne. The distance between turns of the copulatory ducts is longer, the ducts in general are more horizontal and thinner, and the turns are much tighter. The accessory bulbs are also more easily seen in this species as they occur at the end of the ducts ( Crews and Harvey 2011: fig. 80).

Description.

The description of the female can be found in Crews and Harvey (2011).

Male. Unknown.

Distribution.

This species has been found at the northern part of the Top End, Northern Territory.

Natural history.

Females have been collected in November and January. In both months temperatures are at their highest, though they do not differ much throughout the year. The former is going into the wet season, and the latter is one of the wettest months of the year. Karaops dawara occurs in the Darwin Coastal region and subregion. The generally low area is drained by many large rivers and comprises forests of eucalypts with grasses ( Crews and Harvey 2011: fig. 102) (Suppl. material 2: table S1). This species has been collected beneath wood/logs on the ground and beneath rocks.

Discussion.

No collections of Karaops dawara (Fig. 11C ) have been made since 2009, thus the male remains unknown. In K. nitmiluk sp. nov., there is a lot of genitalic variation (see below). There are only two female specimens of K. dawara . When more specimens are found, there may be a lot of variation in this species, and diagnoses will need to be emended.

Figures

Map 1. Map of Australia showing areas that are expanded in subsequent figures. CD = Central Desert group, D = Karaops dawara group, F = Karaops francesae group, K = Kimberley group, UA = species that are not assigned to a group, PG = Pilbara-Gascoyne group.

Map 5. Species of the Karaops dawara species group; green = Karaops yumbu, pink = Karaops dawara, blue = Karaops nitmiluk sp. nov., purple = juvenile from Cutta Cutta Cave, orange = juvenile from Wongalara Wildlife Sanctuary, red = Karaops jawayway sp. nov. Juveniles are treated as distinct species based on molecular data.

Figure 11. Karaops nitmiluk sp. nov. and Karaops dawara from the Karaops dawara species group A Karaops nitmiluk sp. nov., holotype, Baruwei Walk, Nitmiluk National Park, Northern Territory (sel _ 1333, MAGNT A 004906) B Karaops nitmiluk sp. nov. C Karaops dawara, female holotype, Kakadu National Park, Kapalga, Northern Territory (WAM T 54998) D Karaops nitmiluk sp. nov., holotype, (sel _ 1333, MAGNT A 004906) E Karaops nitmiluk sp. nov., arrows indicate orange and black spines (sel _ 1334, MAGNT A 004890). Scale bars: 1 mm.