Diaprograpta abrahamsae, Raven, Robert J., 2009

Raven, Robert J., 2009, Revisions of Australian ground-hunting spiders: IV. The spider subfamily Diaprograptinae subfam. nov. (Araneomorphae: Miturgidae), Zootaxa 2035, pp. 1-40 : 8-10

Diaprograpta abrahamsae sp. nov.

( Figs 2 , 3 a, b, 25a, 26b)

Material examined. Holotype. Male, Chelsea Rd Bushlands Reserve, 27°29.0'S 153°11.3'E, Queensland, 21 March–29 April 2004, pitfall traps, QM party, coastal ironbark open forest, alt. 15m (QM S68839 ).

Diagnosis Male differs from those of all other species by the broad, hooked and trianguloid median apophysis ( Fig. 3 a); females unknown.

Etymology. The species epithet is in honour of Cr Helen Abrahams, Brisbane City Council, for her support of invertebrate studies in the Brisbane region.

Description. Male (holotype, QM S68839 )

Colour ( Fig 2 ). Carapace (separated from underlying muscle) fawn with faint grey shadows from each PLE down carapace, with black spots along carapace edge and 1 large irregular black area at posterior margins; legs not banded. Abdomen dorsally pallid with two long broken medial stripes of dark spots; ventrally fawn with few black spots forming no pattern. Eyes. PLE=ALE=PME>>AME. Chelicerae: 2R, 3P. Legs. I: 2.78, 1.53, 2.88, 2.69, 1.69, 11.57. II: 2.72, 1.19, 2.53, 2.25, 1.44, 10.13. III: 2.38, 1.03, 2.13, 2.00, 1.44, 8.98. IV: 3.41, 1.19, 3.09, 3.47, 1.44, 12.60. Palp: 1.13, 0.56, 0.25, –, 0.75, 2.69. Spines: none on patellae. I and II: fe p3d2r2 large; ti p2r 2v 2.2.2w; me v2.2 long weak. III: fe pv1p1d3r3; ti p2d2.1r 2v 2.2.2; me p2.1r1.1.1v2.2.1. IV: fe pv1p2d3r3; ti p2d2.1r 2v 2.2.2; me p1.1.2r2.1.1.2v2.2.1. Palp: fe p1d1.2; pa p1 weak d1 apical; ti p 3w. Scopula : absent on tibiae; long hairs thin but distinct for distal two-thirds of metatarsi I, half of metatarsi II, sparse and narrow on metatarsi III, IV; moderately dense, entire on tarsi I, II, divided on III, IV. Palp ( Figs 3 a, b). Tibia barrel-shaped, smaller than large RTA; RTA a deeply hollowed semicircular scoop, medially bisected by high sclerotised "blade" forming bifid apex with point of RTA. Cymbium lacks apical scopula , promargin with long hairs. Bulb: embolus origin basal, long, trilobate and recurves back from retrobasal corner. Median apophysis basally wide, long, twisted with unsclerotised retrodistal edge and apically scooped long thick accessory spine emerges from retrolateral base of median apophysis.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution and Habitat. Known only from red soils in an area of long dense grass in a coastal ironbark open forest in Chelsea ( Fig. 26 b), a bushland bayside suburb of Brisbane. The male was taken in one of 10 pitfall traps that were set effectively for 14 months. Subsequent pitfall trapping at that location for two years yielded no more material, not even juveniles. This failure may be result of a combination of their claw-tufted morphology and their rarity. (Presumably, the claw-tufts reduce, but do not eliminate, the possibility of the spiders falling into pitfall traps. Collector notes on field labels of similarly-sized Miturga of Valerie Davies, former QM curator, describe deep large burrows formed by water flowing through the ground. These spiders may also occupy such “burrows.

This is the most easterly species of the genus, an otherwise xeric-loving group, and the species most remote from its nearest congener and most divergent in its habitat.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Diaprograpta abrahamsae sp. nov., holotype male: habitus (illustration by B. Baehr).

FIGURE 3. Diaprograpta abrahamsae sp. nov., holotype male, palpal tibia, cymbium and bulb: a, ventral view; b, tibia and cymbium, retrolateral view. Scale line: 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 26. Habitats of miturgid species: a, Diaprograpta peterandrewsi sp. nov., Ayrshire Hills, near Winton, Western Queensland (Photo: Andrew Amey); b, Diaprograpta abrahamsae sp. nov. and Nuliodon fishburni sp. nov., Chelsea bushland, near Brisbane (Photo: R. Raven).