Austrarchaea wallacei Rix & Harvey

Rix, Michael G. & Harvey, Mark S., 2012, Australian Assassins, Part III: A review of the Assassin Spiders (Araneae, Archaeidae) of tropical north-eastern Queensland, ZooKeys 218, pp. 1-50 : 8-9

Austrarchaea wallacei Rix & Harvey sp. n. Figs 81725

Vernacular name.

Mount Misery Assassin Spider

Type material.

Holotype male: Mount Misery, summit, [Monkhouse Timber Reserve], Queensland, Australia, 15°52'S, 145°14'E, pitfall trap, 850 m, 6.XII.1990-17.I.1991, Queensland Museum & ANZSES (QMB S25964).

Etymology.

The specific epithet is a patronym in honour of the late Doug Wallace OAM (1923-2012), for his passion and enthusiasm for arachnology, for his contributions to the study of Australian (and especially Queensland) spiders, for his efforts in founding and fostering the Rockhampton Arachnological Society, and for his encouragement of MGR over many years.

Diagnosis.

Austrarchaea wallacei can be distinguished from all other Archaeidae from north-eastern Queensland except Austrarchaea karenae sp. n., Austrarchaea tealei sp. n. and Austrarchaea thompsoni sp. n. by the presence of a triangular spur on the embolus (Fig. 8D); from Austrarchaea thompsoni sp. n. by the presence of a prominent, triangular tegular sclerite 1 (TS 1) (Fig. 8D); and from Austrarchaea karenae sp. n.and Austrarchaea tealei sp. n. by the shape of tegular sclerite 3 (TS 3), which has a bluntly pointed, triangular apex (Figs 8 C–D).

Description.

Holotype male: Total length 3.28; leg I femur 3.01; F1/CL ratio 2.58. Cephalothorax dark reddish-brown; legs tan-brown with darker annulations; abdomen mottled grey-brown and beige, with darker brown dorsal scute and sclerites (Fig. 8A). Carapace tall (CH/CL ratio 2.14); 1.17 long, 2.49 high, 1.10 wide, ‘neck’ 0.62 wide; bearing two pairs of rudimentary horns; highest point of pars cephalica (HPC) approaching posterior quarter of ‘head’ (ratio of HPC to post-ocular length 0.72), carapace gently sloping posterior to HPC; ‘head’ moderately elevated dorsally (post-ocular ratio 0.33). Chelicerae with short brush of accessory setae on anterior face of paturon (Fig. 8B). Abdomen 1.59 long, 1.28 wide; with two pairs of dorsal hump-like tubercles (HT 1-4); dorsal scute fused anteriorly to epigastric sclerites, extending posteriorly to first pair of hump-like tubercles; HT 3-4 each covered by separate dorsal sclerites. Expanded pedipalp (Figs 8 C–D) of Type A morphology (Fig. 6), with large, retrolaterally directed, arched conductor; embolus sinuous, with short triangular spur; tegular sclerite 3 (TS 3) short, spur-like, with flattened proximal portion and bluntly pointed, triangular apex; TS 2-2a flexed dorsally (due to haematodochal expansion), TS 2 with pointed apex; TS 1 triangular, with tapered, slightly curved tooth-like apex.

Female: Unknown.

Distribution and habitat.

Austrarchaea wallacei is known only from the summit of Mount Misery, 34 km north-west of Cape Tribulation (Figs 17, 25). The single known specimen was collected in a pitfall trap in tropical rainforest at 850 m elevation.

Conservation status.

Unknown (data deficient).