Draculoides akashae Abrams and Harvey, 2020

Abrams, Kym M., Huey, Joel A., Hillyer, Mia J., Didham, Raphael K. & Harvey, Mark S., 2020, A systematic revision of Draculoides (Schizomida: Hubbardiidae) of the Pilbara, Western Australia, Part I: the Western Pilbara, Zootaxa 4864 (1), pp. 1-75 : 26-28

Draculoides akashae Abrams and Harvey , n. sp.

( Figs. 1–3 , 5–8 , 9–10 )

Zoobank Code: http://zoobank.org/NomenclaturalActs/ CE271767-E9F1-4713-9C1B-735CC5078E7E

Paradraculoides SCH 098: Abrams et al. (2019) MPE 106532: 8, fig. 2.

Material examined. Holotype female. AUSTRALIA: Western Australia: 1 ♀, Mesa J, ca. 14.9 km SW. of Panna- wonica, 21°44’26”S, 116°13’33”E, 1–2 December 2008, habitat trap, P. Hoffman and S. McCulloch (Biota Environmental Sciences, RC 08MEJ0076P2 T3-3 ) ( WAM T 96159).

Paratypes. AUSTRALIA: Western Australia: 1 ♀, Mesa J, ca. 13 km SW. of Pannawonica , 21°44’15”S, 116°13’33”E, 01–02 December 2008, habitat trap, P. Hoffman and S. McCulloch (Biota Environmental Sciences, J0928P2 T1-5 ) ( WAM T96166) ; 1 ♀, Mesa J, ca. 13.2 km SW. of Pannawonica , 21°44’18”S, 116°15’00”E, 01–02 December 2008, habitat trap, P. Hoffman and S. McCulloch (Biota Environmental Sciences, J 0867P2 T3-1 ) ( WAM T 96167) .

Other material. AUSTRALIA: Western Australia: 2 juveniles, Mesa J, ca. 18 km SW. of Pannawonica , site MEJ007P1 T1-2 , 21°44’26”S, 116°13’33”E, 10 July 2008, habitat trap, J. Alexander ( WAM T 92209) (DNA: ITS2 ) ; 1 juvenile, Mesa J, ca. 18 km SW. of Pannawonica , site MEJ0866P1 T2-1 , 21°44’15”S, 116°15’00”E, 9 July 2008, habitat trap, J. Alexander ( WAM T 92212) (DNA: 18S, ITS2 ) ; 1 juvenile, Mesa J, 14 km SW. of Pannawonica , 21°43’45”S, 116°13’36”E, 22 October 2009, troglofauna trap, J. Alexander, E. Harris ( WAM T 99567) (DNA: 18S, ITS2 ) ; 1 juvenile, Mesa J, 14.2 km SW. of Pannawonica , 21°43’50”S, 116°13’33”E, 22 October 2009, troglofauna trap, J. Alexander, E. Harris ( WAM T 99569) (DNA: 12S,18S, ITS2 ) ; 1 juvenile, Mesa J, 14.1 km SW. of Pannawonica , 21°43’48”S, 116°13’37”E, 22 October 2009, troglofauna trap, J. Alexander, E. Harris ( WAM T 99570) (DNA: 18S, ITS2 ) ; 1 juvenile, Mesa H, 18 km SW. of Pannawonica , 21°45’02”S, 116°11’48”E, 9 November 2010, troglofauna trap, J. Cairnes, V. Cartledge ( WAM T110840 ) ; 1 juvenile, Mesa H, 18 km SW. of Pannawonica , 21°45’02”S, 116°11’48”E, 9 November 2010, troglofauna trap, J. Cairnes, V. Cartledge ( WAM T110841 ) ; 1 juvenile, Mesa H, 18 km SW. of Pannawonica , 21°45’02”S, 116°11’48”E, 9 November 2010, troglofauna trap, J. Cairnes, V. Cartledge ( WAM T144197 ) .

Diagnosis. Males are unknown. Females are morphologically indistinguishable from other species of Draculoides . Draculoides akashae can be diagnosed from all other Draculoides species that were sequenced at 12S by the 50bp mini-barcode shown in Figure 5 . Draculoides akashae can be diagnosed from all other Draculoides species that were sequenced at ITS2 ( Fig. 7 ) except for D. anachoretus , D. bythius , D. eremius , D. gnophicola , D. kryptus , D. mckechnieorum , D. warramboo , D. immortalis , D. belalugosii , D. christopherleei and D. piscivultus , which are not distinguishable using the ITS2 mini-barcode.

Description (adults). Colour. Pale yellow-brown; propeltidium somewhat darker.

Cephalothorax. Propeltidium with 2+1 apical setae in a triangular formation on anterior process and 2+2 setae; eye spots absent. Mesopeltidia separated. Metapeltidium divided. Anterior sternum with 13 setae (including 2 sternapophysial setae); posterior sternum triangular with 7 setae.

Chelicera. Fixed finger with 2 large teeth plus 4 smaller teeth between these; membranous area between fixed and movable fingers with 3 large, lanceolate, terminally pilose setae (G1); G2 composed of 6 setae, G3 composed of 5 setae; internal face of chelicera with 5 short whip-like setae (G4); brush at base of fixed finger composed of 8 setae (G5A), each densely pilose in distal half and G5B composed of 8 setae; G6 with one seta, G7 composed of 4 setae. Movable finger serrula composed of 18 long lamellae, blunt guard tooth present subdistally; 1 large and 1 tiny accessory tooth present.

Pedipalp. Without apophyses; trochanter with sharply produced ventro-distal extension, ventral margin with ca. 7 stout setae, without mesal spur; tarsus and tibia without spines; tarsal spur present; claw 0.50 × length of tarsus.

Legs. Tarsus I with 6 segments; baso-dorsal margin of femur IV produced at about a 90° angle.

Abdomen. Chaetotaxy of tergite I: 2 macrosetae + 4 microsetae (microsetae diagonal), tergite II: 3 macrosetae + 6 microsetae (microsetae in column), tergites III–IX: 2: 2: 2: 2: 2: 2: 2; segment XII with tiny dorsal process.

Female genitalia. Two pairs of elongate spermathecae with outer lobes smaller and narrower than inner lobes, each pair connected basally before connection with bursa ( Fig. 10D ), distally round and smooth; sparsely covered with small pores; gonopod short, distally slightly bifurcate.

Flagellum. Male: unknown. Female: 4.25 × longer than broad; seta dm1 situated slightly more posterior to vm2; setae dl1 small, situated close to vl1, dm4 situated midway between vl1 and dl3; dl3 situated almost at posterior margin slightly more posterior than vl2, vm1 situated slightly more posterior than vm2, vm3 situated closer to vm1 than to vm5, vm5 halfway between vm3 and vl2, vl1 situated posterior to vm3 and anterior to dl1; 1 pair of microsetae baso-laterally on flagellomere III.

Dimensions (mm). Holotype female (WAM T96159): Body length 3.89. Propeltidium 1.00/0.63. Chelicera 0.73. Flagellum 0.4/0.19. Pedipalp: trochanter 0.52, femur 0.52, patella 0.58, tibia 0.50, tarsus 0.17, claw 0.09, total excluding claw 2.37.

Paratype female (WAM T96166): Body length 4.42. Propeltidium 1.27/0.79. Chelicera 0.69. Flagellum 0.17/0.05. Pedipalp: trochanter 0.48, femur 0.54, patella 0.58, tibia 0.54, tarsus 0.25, claw 0.13, total excluding claw 2.51.

Variation. Anterior sternum number of setae 13–15, including sternapophysial setae (n=3 incl. holotype). Body length (females) 3.89–4.09 (n = 3).

Remarks. Draculoides akashae is only known from Mesas H and J, situated in the Robe Valley, Western Australia ( Fig. 1B ). The juvenile specimens listed above are associated with this species by locality and, in many cases, by sequence data ( Fig. 1B ). Draculoides akashae co-occurs with D. piscivultus at Mesa H. Females of D. akashae and D. piscivultus have very similar genitalia and flagellums but D. akashae’s spermathecae are more plicate, more uniformly broad and have a smaller stalk than those of D. piscivultus , and the flagellum differs in ventral view with vl1 equidistant from vm3 and vm5 (vl1 is closer to vm3 than to vm 5 in D. piscivultus ). Additionally, while these species co-occur in the same landform (Mesa H) and the females have subtle morphological differences, they are distantly related phylogenetically, and were placed in two distinct clades ( D. akashae : Clade G, D. piscivultus : Clade L).

Other names. WAM SCH098 ( Abrams et al., 2019), Helix code SCH011.

Etymology. The specific epithet refers to the fictional character Akasha, queen of the vampires in Anne Rice’s book “Queen of the damned.”

Figures

FIGURE 1. Map of an area of the Pilbara described as “West Pilbara” for the purposes of this study, showing the distribution of the named Draculoides species. Inset maps show species distributions in finer detail encompassing areas A: Warramboo, Mesas A, B and C and “BudgieBore”; B: Bungaroo, Mesas G, H, J, K and L; C: Cochrane and Jewell, Kens Bore, Cane and Upper Cane River, Trinity Bore and Catho Well, Mt. Stuart Station; D: Middle Robe, Robe Valley; E: Bungaroo South, West Pit, Buckland Hills and Dragon deposit.

FIGURE 2. Maximum Likelihood tree, based on the reduced dataset. See Methods for details. Each terminal represents a single species or OTU, with named species in bold. Clades are identified using dashed boxes and shaded boxes encompass the species discussed in this study. Nodes with bootstrap support <80 are not shown, except for the common ancestor of the Draculoides radiation.

FIGURE 3. COI mini-barcodes for all Draculoides species including the operational taxonomic units used in Abrams et al. (2019). This barcode is the maximally diagnostic 50 bp fragment of DNA. Genetic variation within species is shown using IUPAC Ambiguity Codes. See Methods for details. The position of the mini-barcode is reported relative to a specimen of Draculoides celatus (WAM T98698, GenBank number MG913085). The blue tree on the left groups minibarcodes which are most similar to each other but does not represent an accurate phylogeny. The coloured bases in the figure are those that differ from the consensus reference sequence.

FIGURE 5. 12S mini-barcodes for all Draculoides species including the operational taxonomic units used in Abrams et al. (2019). This barcode is the maximally diagnostic 50 bp fragment of DNA. Genetic variation within species is shown using IUPAC Ambiguity Codes. See Methods for details. The position of the mini-barcode is reported relative to a specimen of Draculoides celatus (WAM T98698, GenBank number MG913012). The blue tree on the left groups minibarcodes which are most similar to each other but does not represent an accurate phylogeny. The coloured bases in the figure are those that differ from the consensus reference sequence.

FIGURE 6. Maximum Likelihood tree based on COI mini-barcodes (Fig. 5) showing similarity of mini-barcode sequences relative to species identity. This phylogeny does not recover an accurate tree topology, and evolutionary relationships should not be inferred from this figure.

FIGURE 7. ITS2 mini-barcodes for all Draculoides species including the operational taxonomic units used in Abrams et al. (2019). This barcode is the maximally diagnostic 50 bp fragment of DNA. Genetic variation within species is shown using IUPAC Ambiguity Codes. See Methods for details. The position of the mini-barcode is reported relative to a specimen of Draculoides celatus (WAM T98698, GenBank number MG913105). The blue tree on the left groups minibarcodes which are most similar to each other but does not represent an accurate phylogeny. The coloured bases in the figure are those that differ from the consensus reference sequence.

FIGURE 8. Maximum Likelihood tree based on ITS2 mini-barcodes (Fig. 7) showing similarity of mini-barcode sequences, relative to species identity. This phylogeny does not recover an accurate tree topology, and evolutionary relationships should not be inferred from this figure.

FIGURE 9. Draculoides akashae sp. nov., holotype female (WAM T96159): A. Body, dorsal; B. Body, ventral; C. Body, lateral; D. Flagellum, dorsal; E. Flagellum, ventral; F. Flagellum, lateral. The scale bar shown in image A is 1 mm and also applies to B and C and the scale bar shown in image D is 200 µm and also applies to E and F.

FIGURE 10. Draculoides akashae sp. nov., holotype female (WAM T96159): A. Flagellum, dorsal; B. Flagellum, ventral; C. Flagellum, lateral; D. Spermathecae, ventral. Scale bars: A–C: 0.1 mm, D: 0.1mm.