Namea salanitri Raven, 1984

Rix, Michael G., Wilson, Jeremy D. & Harvey, Mark S., 2020, The open-holed trapdoor spiders (Mygalomorphae: Anamidae: Namea) of Australia’s D’Aguilar Range: revealing an unexpected subtropical hotspot of rainforest diversity, Zootaxa 4861 (1), pp. 71-91 : 83-84

Namea salanitri Raven, 1984

( Figs 6 , 13 , 20 a–c)

Namea salanitri Raven, 1984: 42 , figs 3, 28, 33, 42, 66, 84, 97, 116, 129. Rix et al., 2020: 703 , figs 2, 3, 8, 15, 68–80.

Type material. AUSTRALIA: Queensland: male holotype, Mount Mee (GM89), pitfall trap, rainforest, 550 m, 28.x.1977 – 20.i.1978, G. & S. Monteith ( QMB S1166 ) . Paratypes: 1 female (allotype), same data as holotype ( QMB S1167 ) ; 2 males, same data ( QMB S1176 ) ; 1 female, same data except 26 June–30 October 1978 ( QMB S1177 ) ; 1 male, 1 female, same data except (GM14), 520 m, 17 August–9 November 1974 ( QMB S1175 ) .

Select material examined. Australia: Queensland: 1 female, D’Aguilar National Park, Mount Mee section, The Mill Rainforest Walk , 27°04’54”S, 152°42’36”E, hand collected from burrow, rainforest, 293 m, 18 February 2019, M. Rix, J. Wilson ( QMB S111396 DNA) ; 2 males, Mount Glorious , in earth trench, 15 June 1997, A. Hiller ( QMB S35331 ) .

Diagnosis. Males of Namea salanitri can be distinguished from those of all other described congeners by the morphology of the embolus, which is short, strongly curved and positioned sub-terminally on the palpal bulb ( Fig. 20b ; see also Rix et al. 2020, figs 78–80).

Females are similar in general appearance to those of other large species in the brisbanensis complex ( Fig. 6 ; cf. Figs 4, 5 ), but can be distinguished by the short receptacula ( Fig. 20c ; cf. Figs 18c, 19c ), the presence of unusual, ear-like epigastric lobes ( Fig. 20c ; see also Raven 1984, fig. 129), and lighter, honey-red leg femora in life ( Fig. 6 ; cf. Figs 4, 5 ).

Distribution. Namea salanitri is a widespread species in south-eastern Queensland, where it has been recorded from scattered mid- to high elevation rainforest sites to the north, west and south-west of Brisbane ( Rix et al. 2020). On the D’Aguilar Range it is known from Mount Mee (the type locality) and Mount Glorious ( Fig. 2 ).

Remarks. This species is one of three Namea on the D’Aguilar Range which have a broader distribution in south-eastern Queensland. The spiders are not abundant on the range, and are restricted to rainforest habitats. At some sites, N. salanitri is syntopic with N. brisbanensis and N. nigritarsus , although both males and females of N. salanitri are easy to distinguish from other congeners morphologically. Little is known of its biology or life history, other than that males appear to be active in winter and spring.

Figures

FIGURE 13. Phylogeny of the genus Namea modified from Rix et al. (2020; fig. 2), inferred from a partitioned Bayesian analysis of that study’s ‘FULL’ dataset (151 taxa, 5,261 bp, 50% majority-rule consensus tree). Clades corresponding to 30 morpho-species OTUs are collapsed for the genus Namea (square brackets denote the number of specimens included in each clade), and nodes have a posterior probability of ≥ 0.98 unless otherwise stated. Seven species recorded from the D’Aguilar Range (south-eastern Queensland) are highlighted in enlarged bold text; note that specimens of an eighth species, N. gloriosa sp. nov., were not sequenced for this study.

FIGURES 4–12. Live habitus images and burrows of Namea from the D’Aguilar Range (south-eastern Queensland). 4–8, Live habitus images: 4, female N. brisbanensis Raven, 1984 from Gold Creek Reserve (note left leg IV missing); 5, paratype female N. gowardae sp. nov. from Mount Glorious; 6, female N. salanitri Raven, 1984 from Mount Mee; 7, female N. dahmsi Raven, 1984 from Clear Mountain; 8, subadult juvenile N. nigritarsus sp. nov. from Mount Glorious. 9–12, Burrow images: 9, burrow of unidentified Namea (N. nigritarsus sp. nov. or N. nebo sp. nov.; not collected) from Mount Nebo, with spider at entrance; 10, burrow of N. gowardae sp. nov. from Mount Glorious, with spider at entrance; 11, burrow of N. dahmsi from Clear Mountain; 12, burrow of N. nigritarsus sp. nov. from Mount Mee. Images 4–8, 10, 11 by M. Rix; 9, 12 by J. Wilson.

FIGURES 14–21. Comparative morphology of Namea from the D’Aguilar Range (south-eastern Queensland); each figure for each species depicts (a) the male tibia I in standardised prolateral view, (b) the male pedipalp in retrolateral view, +/- (c) the female cleared genitalia in dorsal view (if known): 14, N. gloriosa sp. nov. (QMB S10269); 15, N. nigritarsus sp. nov. (QMB S111534); 16, N. nebo sp. nov. (QMB S65274); 17, N. excavans Raven, 1984 (QMB S813); 18, N. brisbanensis Raven, 1984 (QMB S767 [male], S111397 [female]); 19, N.gowardae sp. nov.(QMB S774 [male], S111377 [female]); 20, N. salanitri Raven, 1984 (QMB S1166 [male], S111396 [female; with epigastric lobes highlighted*); 21, N. dahmsi Raven, 1984 (QMB S88018 [male tibia I], S800 [male pedipalp], S111481 [female; note bent right spermathecal fundus]). Tibial macrosetae are coloured and labelled according to their relative position (dark blue, prodorsal [pd]; red, prolateral [p] or proventral [pv]; dark grey, ventral [v]; light blue, retroventral [rv]).

FIGURES 1–3. The D’Aguilar Range of south-eastern Queensland: 1, elevational heat map showing upland areas surrounding Brisbane, and the relative position of the D’Aguilar Range; 2, topographic map of the D’Aguilar Range (in shaded relief), with major localities highlighted; 3, typical habitat for Namea on rainforest bank at Mount Glorious (Maiala section). Image 3 copyright Queensland Museum (used with permission).