Rainforest pelican spiders (Archaeidae: Austrarchaea) of south-eastern Queensland, Australia: two new species and a distributional reassessment of regional endemic clades

Two new species of pelican spiders (family Archaeidae) are described from rainforest habitats in south-eastern Queensland, Australia – Austrarchaea davidi Rix, sp. nov. and A. laidlawae Rix, sp. nov. – and the female of A. clyneaeRix & Harvey, 2011 is described for the first time. Phylogenetic a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of arachnology 2022-09, Vol.50 (2), p.231-249
Main Authors: Rix, Michael G., Wilmer, Jessica Worthington, Harvey, Mark S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Assassin spider
Australia
biogeography
conservation
Cytochrome oxidase
Discovery and exploration
FEATURED ARTICLES
Identification and classification
Palpimanoidea
Phylogeny
Rain forests
taxonomy
Zoology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Two new species of pelican spiders (family Archaeidae) are described from rainforest habitats in south-eastern Queensland, Australia – Austrarchaea davidi Rix, sp. nov. and A. laidlawae Rix, sp. nov. – and the female of A. clyneaeRix & Harvey, 2011 is described for the first time. Phylogenetic analysis of a mitochondrial molecular dataset for the genes cytochrome c oxidase subunits I and II reveals that these two new species are the closest relatives of A. judyaeRix & Harvey, 2011 and A. clyneae, respectively, with mitochondrial sequencing also used to identify newly-collected specimens of Austrarchaea from populations throughout south-eastern Queensland. These recent collections were largely made during dedicated survey work conducted after the devastating 2019–20 summer bushfires in eastern Australia. We further provide a synopsis of the archaeid fauna of south-eastern Queensland, which is comprised of 11 species in two monophyletic regional-endemic clades. A revised key to species is presented for both clades, along with updated distributional information, and live habitus images for nine of the 11 species.
ISSN:0161-8202
1937-2396
DOI:10.1636/JoA-S-21-071