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

Michael G. Rix, Jessica Worthington Wilmer, Mark S. Harvey

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

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. clyneae Rix & 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. judyae Rix & 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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)231-249
Number of pages19
JournalJournal of Arachnology
Volume50
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10 Aug 2022

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