Coremiocnemis tropix, Raven, Robert J., 2005

Raven, Robert J., 2005, A new tarantula species from northern Australia (Araneae, Theraphosidae), Zootaxa 1004, pp. 15-28 : 18-27

Coremiocnemis tropix sp. nov.

(Figs 1-37)

Material examined.

Holotype: female, Atherton , 17 ° 16 ' S, 145 ° 29 ' E, north-eastern Queensland, Australia, 25 May 1988, M. Jeansson, QM S 6325 .

Paratypes: WAM 90 / 1959 , 1 male, Freshwater Creek, at Crystal Cascades , 10 km S. of Freshwater, 12 Jul 1986, M. Harvey ; WAM T 57516 , 1 male, 1 female, Atherton , June 1994, R. Elick. 1 female, Table Mt, 10 km S Cape Tribulation, 16 ° 09 ' S, 145 ° 26 ' E, rainforest, 24 Apr 1983, G. Monteith, D. Cook, QM S 10583 ; 1 female, Gordonvale, 27 km SW, 17 ° 01 ' S, 145 ° 45 ' E, rainforest, 17 Mar 1980, N. Clyde Coleman, QM S 10590 ; 1 female, Cape Tribulation, 16 ° 05 ' S, 145 ° 26 ' E, rainforest, 29 Dec 1982 - 8 Jan 1983, G. Monteith, QM S 10598 ; 1 female, Freshwater Creek, Cairns, 16 ° 58 ' S, 145 ° 43 ' E, rainforest, under stones, Aug 1977, M. T. Bishop, QM S 10633 ; 1 female, Mulgrave River, 27 km SW Gordonvale , 16 ° 23 ' S, 143 ° 59 ' E, 19 Mar 1980, N. Clyde Coleman, QM S 10793 ; 1 female, Crystal Cascades, 16 ° 58 ' S, 145 ° 42 ' E, rainforest, sheet web, 24 Aug 1980, M. Harvey, QM S 20889 ; 1 male, Cairns , 16 ° 55 ' S, 145 ° 46 ' E, house, 5 Sep 1995, Stella Jeffery, QM S 30136 ; 1 male, Kuranda , 16 ° 49 ' S, 145 ° 38 ' E, house, 1 Aug 1991, G. Monteith, QM S 25471 ; 1 female, Cairns , 16 ° 55 ' S, 145 ° 46 ' E, 24 Apr 2001, A. Hunt, QM S 55051 ; 1 female, Earlville , 16 ° 57 ' S, 145 ° 44 ' E, Nov 1986, Safeway Pest Control, QM S 6685 ; 1 male, 1 female, Mission Beach, 17 ° 56 ' S, 146 ° 05 ' E, May 1981, E. Long, QM S 10650 ; 1 male, Clifton beach, 16 ° 46 ' S, 145 ° 40 ' E, 28 May 1992, QM S 20388 ; 1 male, Smithfield, Cairns, 16 ° 51 ' S, 145 ° 43 ' E, spider bite, 2 May 1996, P. Hawkins, QM S 29732 ; 1 male, Kurrimine Beach, 30 km S Innisfail, 17 ° 47 ' S, 146 ° 06 ' E, spider bite, July 1997, via R. Piper, QM S 34638 . All in north-eastern Queensland, Australia .

Other material examined: 1 juvenile, Noah Creek, Cape Tribulation, 16 ° 08 ' S, 145 ° 26 ' E, rainforest, 16 Oct 1980, G. Monteith, QM S 10592 ; 1 penultimate male, Cape Tribulation, 2 km WNW (Site 2), 16 ° 05 ' S, 145 ° 28 ' E, rainforest, 23 Sep– 7 Oct 1982, G. Monteith, D. Yeates, G. Thompson, QM S 10593 ; 1 penultimate male, Babinda , 17 ° 21 ' S, 145 ° 56 ' E, hospital, QM S 10610 ; 1 penultimate male, Cape Tribulation, 16 ° 05 ' S, 145 ° 26 ' E, rainforest, 22 Sep– 7 Oct 1982, Qld Naturalists Club, QM S 10630 ; 1 juvenile, Mt Hartley, 15 ° 46 ' S, 145 ° 20 ' E, rainforest, 6 Nov 1974, V. Davies, J. Covacevich, D. Joffe, QM S 10632 ; 4 penultimate males, Cape Tribulation, 16 ° 05 ' S, 145 ° 26 ' E, rainforest, under logs and rocks, 15-19 Aug 1975, W. and J. Nash, QM S 10640 ; 3 penultimate males, Crystal Cascades, 16 ° 58 ' S, 145 ° 42 ' E, rainforest, Feb 1979, N. Clyde Coleman, QM S 10792 ; 1 penultimate male, Cape Tribulation, 16 ° 05 ' S, 145 ° 26 ' E, rainforest, 26 Aug 1988, T. B. Churchill, QM S 11216 ; 1 juvenile, Cairns, Brinsmead, 16 ° 55 ' S, 145 ° 46 ' E, 4 May 1989, P. Blackman, QM S 15278 . All in north-eastern Queensland, Australia .

Diagnosis: Differs from both C. cunicularia ( Simon 1892) and C. valida Pocock 1895 in the absence of the very long brushes on metatarsi IV (Figs 1, 18) and in the less extensive maxillary lyra (Figs 14, 23).

Etymology: An arbitrary combination of letters phonetically like tropics, the origin of the spider.

Common Name: Tropix .

Holotype Female QM S 6325

Description (measurements in mm): Carapace 11.1 long, 8.7 wide, chelicerae 5.5. Legs (femur, patella, tibia, metatarsus, tarsus, total): I: 8.0, 5.0, 6.0, 4.3, 2.8, 26.1. II: 6.4, 4.2 4.5, 3.9, 2.6, 21.6. III: 5.8, 3.5, 3.5, 4.2, 2.5, 19.5. IV: 7.7, 4.0, 5.7, 6.6, 3.3, 27.0. Palp: 5.5, 3.3, 3.5, -, 3.5, 15.8. Midwidths: femora I, II, IV = 1.65, III = 1.90; tibia I–IV, 2.1, 1.75, 1.75, 1.65. Abdomen 12.7 long, 7.2 wide. Spinnerets: PMS, 3.50 long, 0.55 wide, 1.10 apart with sclerotised (but less hirsute than venter) cuticle to anal tubercle; PLS, 6.0 basal, 4.2 middle, 6.0, distal; midwidths 1.0, 1.0, 0.75, respectively.

Carapace: length to width 1.28; uniform red brown; uniform cover of long white wavy hairs, no setae or thorns.

Eyes: ratio of group width to length 2.11. PLE clearly smaller than ALE but clearly bigger than PME, AME = ALE (Figs 2, 4).

Maxillae (Fig. 14): posterior ventral edge gently rounded for length; retro-face mostly pallid, smooth, glabrous. Cuspules: ca. 200 in anterior corner in square region (Figs 11, 22). Posterior edge near heel straight or slightly concave.

Maxillary lyra (Fig. 14): overall shape, small, ovoid, ca. 0.6 of mid-maxilla length; ventral edge more or less smoothly and gently convex; outer point asymmetrically rounded point; inner point bluntly truncated; large outer paddles in smoothly uniform curving line, gaps evenly spaced; overall size, central, about half length. No brush ventral of lyra. Thick paddle setae in 3 lines centrally then thick pointed start; lyra dorsal edge line relative to midgroove line divergent, ca. 10 basally diverging to 15 distally.

Labium (Fig. 13): over 200 cuspules in band for two-fifths of length anteriorly; cuspules ca. similar in size and number to maxillary. Basal groove shallow, distinct. Labiosternal groove (Fig. 13) not concave, flat with slight (anterior) rise, two separate large sigilla.

Chelicerae: intercheliceral spines basodorsally, ca. 13 larger and 2-4 smaller basally (Figs 6, 37). Ectal lyrate area (Fig. 5), groove glabrous; lyra setae, not apically convergent but parallel, in 3 straight lines of long thick setae, 2 lines of short coniform ectally with irregular band of thorns 2-4 deep outside that (Fig. 5).

Sternum (Figs 10-11): profile saddle-like, high at back and front. Posterior angle sharp but not separating coxae IV. Posterior edge easily seen, sloping gradually. Marginal thorns absent. Prostrate hair mat strong, dense, or of grey hairs. Pedicel and sternum edges form clear boundary in elevation and setation, pedicel edge pallid.

Sigilla (Figs 10-11): 3 pairs, posterior ca. 2 (1.6 - 3 across paratypes) lengths apart and only ca. 1 length from margin; middle ca. half size of posterior, within ca. 1 length of margin; anterior clearly present.

Legs: leg I clearly thicker than IV but II subequal to IV. Basifemoral thorns absent on all. Femora I–II prolaterally with long bushy fine hairs; III distinctly incrassate. Metatarsus I hardly longer than tarsus, less than twice.

Leg pilosity (number of long hairs extending well above base layer): tibia I p = 10-15, d = 5-10, r = 10-15; metatarsus I p = d = 5-10, r = 1-3, v = 1-3; tibia IV p = 30-40, d = 20-30, r = v = 40 - 50; metatarsus IV p = 30-40, d = 30-40, r = v = 50-60; tarsus IV ca. 20-40 dorsolaterally on each side. Tuft of blunt-tipped hairs, distoventral metatarsi present at least on IV (Fig. 34). Paired long sensory hairs pointing distad, long gently curved dorsolateral pair basally (0.2 from base) on metatarsi I–IV, long bent (at 0.5) pair at distal 0.8 on metatarsi I–IV (Fig. 15; possibly widespread); long curving dorsolateral pair at 0.5 (end of very long filiform trichobothria) on tarsi I–IV (Fig. 15). Long, downwardly curved hairs (Figs 15, 30) below claw tufts basally with transverse ribbing but apically with discontinuous partially spiralled ribbing (presumably thermosensory in function; viz., Den Otter, 1974). Upper tarsi IV (and presumably I–III) with two other hairs types: closed longitudinal fimbriae (Fig. 35) and differentially dorsoventrally fimbriated hairs (Fig. 36).

Trichobothria (Fig. 33): on tarsi basal filiform field hardly wider than clavate field and merges smoothly; clavates on tarsi I only in distal 2 / 3; long filiforms only in basal half, shorter filiforms intermixed with clavates distally. Clavate extent on II–IV cf. I, only in distal 2 / 3; long filiforms only in basal half, shorter filforms for length. Short epitrichobothrial hair field (Figs 31-33) on I shorter than clavates and uniform height for length.

Leg coxae (Fig. 10): no thorns prolaterodorsally or retrodorsally. Coxal bases dorsally easily seen from above (Fig. 2). I clearly longest, about 1.8 times length of II; IV clearly widest and about as long as III and basally with anterior corner indistinct, edge curves dorsally, rounded at interface. III basally rectangular. Coxae ventrally with short, weak thorns only on prolateral faces of I–II (Fig. 19). I–IV ventrally with many long blunt setae but most short dark and fewer long pallid; ventral surface clearly curving or sloping forward. Retrolateral setation: I–III with median narrow light brush, IV glabrous; III–IV with setose mound up from inner corner low mound with few bristles. All retrolaterally lack ventral ledge and ventrally with uniform setation (Fig. 10).

Scopula: entire, dense on tarsi I and metatarsi I–II; on tarsi II entire but with long emergent hairs in central zone, not dividing scopula; on metatarsi III for ca. 0.8 - 9 of length, but with uniformly distributed (i. e., not a dividing line) long emergent hairs; on tarsi III entire but with long emergent hairs in central zone but not dividing scopula. For ca. 0.75 length of metatarsi IV, divided by setal band 3-4 wide; on tarsi IV divided by long fawn brown hairs in band 4-7 wide. Dividing hairs on tarsi composed of uniformly fimbriate brush with spine-like apex tipped with small sphere (Fig. 29, inset). No scopula on proventral tibiae I–II.

Spines, metatarsi: I, with 1 minute ventral or ventrolateral; II, with 3 distal ventral; III, with 3 distal ventral, and 2 distal dorsolateral; IV with 3 distoventral, and 2 distal dorsolateral. Elsewhere absent.

Tarsal weakness (Figs 9, 18): cracked tarsi dorsally evident as pale line, a distinct line laterally, only on tarsus IV.

Claws (Figs 15, 17): third claw only on IV, distinct hooked. 2-3 small distal teeth and few lower basally on paired claws on all legs, and also on palpal claw but teeth smaller.

Abdomen pilosity (Fig. 3): dorsally with fine layer of hair and bristles, cuticle not exposed; ventrally with fine layer of many long grey hairs and fewer brown bristles, cuticle obscured.

Genitalia: ventral lip ends anterior to dorsal lip, and with long parallel hairs (Fig. 12); internally consisting of a pair of weakly ribbed rectangular lobes and apically folded (Fig. 16).

Allotype male QM S 10557

Description (measurements in mm): Carapace 10.7 long, 8.6 wide, chelicerae 3.20. Legs (femur, patella, tibia, metatarsus, tarsus, total): I: 9.8, 5.5, 8.3, 6.4, 3.7, 33.7. II: 8.6, 4.7, 6.7, 5.7, 4.7, 30.4. III:. 7.3, 4.0, 5.1, 6.1, 3.2, 25.7. IV:. 9.5, 4.5, 8.0, 9.1, 4.2, 35.3. Palp: 6.6, 3.6, 4.9, -, 2.7, 17.8. Midwidths: femora I–II, IV = 1.85, III = 2.30; tibia I–IV, 2.3, 1.92, 1.60, 1.70. Abdomen 10.4 long, 6.0 wide. Spinnerets: PMS, 1.65 long, 0.40 wide, 0.6 apart; PLS, 2.6 basal, 2.7 middle, 3.3 distal; mid-widths 1.0, 1.5, 0.6 respectively.

Like female but:

Carapace (Figs 20-21): length to width 1.24, carapace uniform dark red brown, caput anteriorly dark, becoming lighter red posteriorly. Uniform cover of long white wavy hairs; no setae or thorns.

Eyes: PLE clearly smaller than ALE but clearly bigger than PME, AME = ALE.

Maxillae (Fig. 23): as for female.

Labium: cuspules over 200 in band for two-fifths length anteriorly. Basal groove distinct; labiosternal groove not concave, flat with slight (anterior) rise, two separate, large sigilla.

Chelicerae: ectal lyrate area large, semicircular; intercheliceral spines basodorsally 4 thick and ca. 15 smaller.

Sternum (Fig. 22): profile saddle-like, high at back and front; posterior angle sharp, separates coxae IV but posterior edge easily seen, sloping gradually. Marginal thorns absent. Prostrate hair mat between bristles strong, dense. Pedicel and sternum edges form clear boundary in elevation and setation, pedicel edge pallid.

Sigilla (Fig. 22): 3 pairs, posterior 1.6 - 3 lengths apart; ca. 0.7 - 0.8 of length from margin; middle pair about half size of posterior; within 1 length of margin; anterior pair distinct.

Legs (Fig. 20): leg I clearly thicker than IV but II subequal. Basifemoral thorns absent on all. Femora I, II prolaterally with long bushy fine hairs. Femur III distinctly incrassate.

Coxae: no thorns prolaterodorsally on IV, basally anterior corner indistinct, edge curves dorsally, or rounded at interface. III, basally rectangular. Ventrally with weak thorns on prolateral face of I–II. Ventral surface of I–IV clearly curving or sloping forward; retrolaterally I–III with median narrow light brush, IV glabrous. III–IV with setose mound up from inner corner low mound with few bristles on III–IV. All retrolaterally without ventral ledge; ventral pilosity uniform.

Scopula: entire, dense on tarsi I–II; on metatarsi III ca. 0.8 - 0.9 of length, but with uniformly distributed (i. e., not a dividing line) long emergent hairs, but thin with long hairs; on tarsi III entire without emergents; on metatarsi IV for about three-quarters of distal length, divided by setal band 3-4 wide; on tarsi IV divided by long fawn brown hairs in band 4-7 wide. No scopula on proventral tibiae I–II.

Spines, metatarsi: I, 1 minute ventral or ventrolateral; II, 3 ventral; III, 3 ventral and 2 dorsolateral; IV, 3 ventral and 2 dorsolateral. Elsewhere absent.

Tarsal weakness: cracked tarsi dorsally evident on III–IV, to venter only on III–IV, pallid zone also on II.

Claws: third claw only on IV, paired claws on I–IV with 3-4 small teeth.

Male palp (Figs 24-27): embolus tip widely flared, flare only one-sided; twisted through 90 ° at tip. Relative length of palpal tibia about double length of bulb.

Distribution and Habitat. Known only from lowland rainforests in the Cairns region, Wet Tropics, Queensland, Australia.

Remarks. The inclusion of this new species in the otherwise Malaysian genus only reflects the unrevised status of many theraphosids from Australasia. Correct recognition of C. tropix sp. nov. using live material is only possible by the examination of the chelicerae of its exuviae.