Teyl heuretes, Huey & Rix & Wilson & Hillyer & Harvey, 2019

Huey, Joel A., Rix, Michael G., Wilson, Jeremy D., Hillyer, Mia J. & Harvey, Mark S., 2019, Open-holed trapdoor spiders of the genus Teyl (Mygalomorphae: Nemesiidae Anamini) from Western Australia’s Pilbara bioregion: a new species and expanded phylogenetic assessment, Zootaxa 4674 (3), pp. 349-362 : 358

Teyl heuretes sp. nov.

( Figs 2 , 4–16 )

http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:38CC7541-19AD-444F-A99D-0DC200A3E73C

Teyl ‘MYG027’ Castalanelli et al., 2014: 380.

Type material. AUSTRALIA: Western Australia: male holotype, Hamersley Range, Weeli Wolli Creek region , Area C, site 09-9E ( IBRA _ PIL), 22°55’31”S, 119°02’16”E, pitfall trap, 15 June 2008, P. Bolton, J. Puglisi (WAM T91918) .

Other material examined. Australia: Western Australia: 1 male, Angelo River ( IBRA _ PIL), 23°19’36”S, 118°43’51”E, pitfall trap, 20 June–1 July 2011 , C. Trainor (WAM T115978); 1 male, Wonmunna, ca. 73 km heading 291° NW. from Newman ( IBRA _ PIL), 23°07’16”S, 119°03’48”E, wide creek, wet pitfall trap, 20 May–22 June 2011 , P.R. Langlands (WAM T 112357) ; 1 juvenile, Southern Flank, 72 km NW. of Newman ( IBRA _ PIL), 23°00’10”S, 119°08’20”E, dug from burrow, 14 April 2011 , R. Teale, M. Greenham (WAM T113601).

Diagnosis. Males of Teyl heuretes can be distinguished from T. damsonoides by the presence of a reflexed embolus ( Figs 14–16 ; cf. Main 1983, fig. 51); from T. harveyi , T. vancouveri , and T. walkeri by the length of the embolus, which is much longer relative to the width of the bulb ( Figs 14–16 ; cf. Main 1985, fig. 24; Main 2004, figs 8, 19); and from T. luculentus and T. yeni by the absence of conspicuous macrosetae on metatarsus I ( Fig. 11 ; cf. Main 1975, fig. 2C; Main 2004, fig. 35). Females are unknown.

Description. Holotype male ( Figs 4–16 ): Total length 13.9. Carapace 5.2 long, 4.4 wide. Abdomen 6.9 long, 3.7 wide. Carapace ( Fig. 4 ) oval, tan-brown with darker brown markings along furrows, sparse downy setation and rows of darker scattered black setae on pars cephalica and pars thoracica; lateral margins with evenly-spaced fringe of anteriorly curved, porrect black setae, longest posteriorly; fovea straight. Eye group ( Fig. 7 ) rectangular, 0.5 × as long as wide, PLE–PLE/ALE–ALE ratio 1.0; AME separated by less than their own diameter; PME separated by 4.7 × their own diameter; PME and PLE almost contiguous. Maxillae each with field of ca. 50 cuspules confined to inner ‘heel’ and proximal corner ( Fig. 8 ); labium without cuspules. Abdomen ( Fig. 5 ) elongate-oval, dark grey-brown in dorsal view and paler beige-brown laterally and ventrally, with irregular beigebrown mottling on posterior dorsal half. Legs ( Figs 11–13 ) tan-brown, with light scopulae on tarsi I–II and distal half of metatarsi I–II; tibia I marginally excavate distally, with row of 3 large and 1 smaller ventral macrosetae (most obvious in retrolateral view; Fig. 13 ), plus 2 retrolateral and 6 prolateral macrosetae ( Figs 12, 13 ); metatarsus I ventrally excavate and slightly concave proximally, with pair of short distal macrosetae ( Fig. 11 ); tarsus I without macrosetae. Leg I: femur 4.8; patella 2.8; tibia 3.6; metatarsus 3.7; tarsus 2.3; total 17.1. Leg I femur–tarsus/carapace length ratio 3.3. Pedipalpal tibia ( Figs 14–16 ) 2.6 × longer than wide, with numerous porrect black macrosetae. Cymbium ( Figs 14–16 ) setose, with distal scopula. Bulb ( Figs 14–16 ) sub-spherical and unmodified, with reflexed embolus protruding pro-proximally. Embolus ( Figs 14–16 ) elongate, ca. 2.0 × length of bulb, strongly curved at base but otherwise relatively straight and posteriorly directed, with thinly tapering tip.

Etymology. The specific epithet is derived from the Greek heuretes (finder, inventor, discoverer; see Brown 1956), in reference to the species with the most northern distribution of the genus ( Fig. 1 ), and for Keiran John (Jack) Devery, the maternal grandfather of the first author, who spent his life improving himself and learning new skills to discover the world around him.

Distribution and remarks. Teyl heuretes (formerly known informally by WAM identification code ‘MYG027’; see Castalanelli et al. 2014) is an apparently rare species known only from the southern Pilbara bioregion, from the eastern end of the Hamersley Range, north-west of Newman ( Figs 1 , 2 ). A number of additional juvenile specimens have also been recorded from this general area (see below; Fig. 2 ); however, without sequence data it cannot be confirmed if they are conspecific (albeit likely, especially within the vicinity of Wonmunna and Mudlark). Little is known of the biology of this species, other than that adult males have been collected from pitfall traps in June and July.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Map showing collection records of Teyl from Western Australia, including specimens from the Pilbara bioregion (inset box; see Fig. 2). Black circles denote male specimens; open circles denote female or juvenile specimens.

FIGURE 2. Map showing collection records of Teyl from the Pilbara bioregion (PIL) of Western Australia (see Fig. 1 for details). Black circles denote identified specimens of Teyl heuretes sp. nov.; open circles denote unidentified juveniles. Other mapped IBRA 7.0 bioregions are as follows: CAR, Carnarvon; GAS, Gascoyne; GSD, Great Sandy Desert; LSD, Little Sandy Desert.

FIGURES 4–13. Teyl heuretes sp. nov., male holotype (WAM T91918) from Weeli Wolli Creek region, Hamersley Range (Western Australia; PIL), somatic morphology: 4–5, carapace and abdomen, dorsal view; 6, cephalothorax, lateral view; 7, eyes, dorsal view; 8, mouthparts, ventral view; 9–10, cephalothorax and abdomen, ventral view; 11, leg I, prolateral view; 12, leg I tibia, prolateral view; 13, leg I tibia, retrolateral view. Scale bars = 2.0 mm.

FIGURES 14–16. Teyl heuretes sp. nov., male holotype (WAM T91918) from Weeli Wolli Creek region, Hamersley Range (Western Australia; PIL), pedipalp: 14, retrolateral view; 15, retro-ventral view; 16, prolateral view. Scale bar = 2.0 mm.