Namea brisbanensis 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 : 77-78

Namea brisbanensis Raven, 1984

( Figs 4 , 13 , 18 a–c)

Namea brisbanensis Raven, 1984: 12 , figs 4, 26, 36, 48, 71, 91, 104. Rix et al., 2020: 697 , figs 2–4, 10, 12, 16–28.

Namea flavomaculata (Rainbow & Pulleine) : Raven, 1984: 31, figs 12, 70, 49, 93 (in part, description and illustrations of male specimen QMB S1191 from Mount Tamborine; see Rix et al., 2020: 701).

Type material. AUSTRALIA: Queensland: male holotype, Brookfield , 100 m, 7 March 1979, T. Roe ( QMB S767 ) . Paratypes: 1 male, same data as holotype except 25 January 1979 ( QMB S769 ) ; 1 male, 1 female, same data except 27 March 1981, R. Roe, R. Raven ( QMB S770 ) ; 1 female (allotype), Mount Coot-tha , 18 April 1977, R. Raven ( QMB S768 ) .

Select material examined. Australia: Queensland: 1 female, Upper Brookfield, Gold Creek Reserve, Gold Creek , off Gold Creek Walking Trail, 27°27’37”S, 152°53’01”E, hand collected from burrow, dry rainforest gully, 101 m, 20 January 2019, M. Rix, J. Wilson ( QMB S S111355 DNA) ; 1 female, same data ( QMB S S111356 DNA) ; 1 female, D’Aguilar National Park, Mount Mee section, 27°05’10”S, 152°41’14”E, hand collected from burrow, rainforest, 532 m, 18 February 2019, M. Rix, J. Wilson ( QMB S111389 DNA) ; 1 female, same data except 27°05’00”S, 152°41’20”E, 528 m ( QMB S111391 DNA) ; 1 female, same data ( QMB S111392 DNA) ; 1 female, same data except 27°04’21”S, 152°41’07”E, mixed forest, 478 m ( QMB S111395 DNA) ; 1 female, same data except The Mill Rainforest Walk , 27°04’54”S, 152°42’36”E, rainforest, 293 m ( QMB S111397 DNA) ; 1 male, Enoggera Reservoir , site 2, 27°27’S, 152°55’E, pitfall trap, open forest, 125 m, 15 March–18 May 2000, G. Monteith ( QMB S63069 ) ; 1 male, Mount Mee , 14 February 1993, K. Cook ( QMB S25512 ) ; 1 male, same data except 7 March 1992 ( QMB S20324 ) ; 2 males, Mount Nebo , 500 m, March 1992, C. Carbine ( QMB S10207 ) .

Diagnosis. Males of Namea brisbanensis can be distinguished from those of all other described congeners except N. gowardae by the morphology of tibia I, which has the standard brisbanensis -complex prolateral/ventral spination pattern (2pd–2pv–3v), plus a short macroseta v1 and largely asetose proventral ‘tibial bald zone’ between macrosetae pv1 and pv2 ( Fig. 18a ; cf. Figs 42, 44 ). Males can be further distinguished from those of N. gowardae by the broadly pyriform shape of the palpal bulb ( Fig. 18b ; cf. Figs 45–47 ), the broader profile of tibia I ( Fig. 18a ; cf. Fig. 44 ; see also Rix et al. 2020, fig. 25), and the more strongly concave ventro-distal excavation anterior to macroseta v1 ( Fig. 18a ; cf. Fig. 44 ; see also Rix et al. 2020, fig. 25).

Females are very similar in general appearance to those of N. gowardae ( Fig. 4 ; cf. Fig. 5 ), but can be distinguished by the shape of the receptacula, which are longer, ‘sausage-shaped’ and are each without a clearly defined fundus ( Fig. 18c ; cf. Fig. 19c ; see also Raven 1984, fig. 104).

Distribution. Namea brisbanensis is an unusually widespread species, recorded from numerous low to mid-elevation rainforest sites in south-eastern Queensland, from the Conondale National Park south to near the Queensland / New South Wales border ( Rix et al. 2020). On the D’Aguilar Range it is a common species, known from Brookfield (the type locality), Gold Creek, Enoggera Reservoir, Mount Coot-tha, Mount Nebo and Mount Mee ( 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 usually the most abundant of Namea species on the range, where their open burrows can be found in rainforest, wet sclerophyll and riparian habitats. At some sites, N. brisbanensis is syntopic with N. nigritarsus and N. salanitri , and in the Maiala region of Mount Glorious it is seemingly replaced by populations of N. gowardae , the latter of which can only be properly (but nonetheless easily) distinguished upon close examination of the male or female genitalia, or by using molecular sequencing methods. Males, like most other members of the brisbanensis -complex, have densely setose gold abdomens and highly reflective gold setae on the leg femora (e.g. see Rix et al. 2020, fig. 10), and appear to be active during summer and autumn, presumably in response to seasonal rain events.

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 35–44. Namea gowardae sp. nov., male holotype (QMB S774) from Mount Glorious (south-eastern Queensland), somatic morphology: 35–36, carapace and abdomen, dorsal view; 37, cephalothorax, lateral view; 38, eyes, dorsal view; 39, mouthparts, ventral view; 40–41, cephalothorax and abdomen, ventral view; 42, leg I, prolateral view (inset shows detail of tibia, and the location of the ‘tibial bald zone’); 43, leg I tibia, retrolateral view; 44, leg I tibia, profile in standardised prolateral view, showing relative position of macrosetae (pd, prodorsal; pv, proventral; v, ventral); note the broken seta (*) at position pv1. Scale bars = 3.0 mm.

FIGURES 45–47. Namea gowardae sp. nov., male holotype (QMB S774) from Mount Glorious (south-eastern Queensland), pedipalp: 45, retrolateral view; 46, retroventral view; 47, prolateral view. Scale bar = 3.0 mm.

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).