Draculoides christopherleei 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 : 39-41

Draculoides christopherleei Abrams and Harvey , n. sp.

( Figs. 1–8 , 18–19 )

Zoobank Code: http://zoobank.org/NomenclaturalActs/ 5AADC536-FD7C-4792-B6B6-CB6BED0D9176

Paradraculoides SCH 080: Abrams et al. 2019 MPE 106532: 8, fig. 2.

Material examined. Holotype male. AUSTRALIA: Western Australia: West Pit, ca. 45 km S. of Pannawonica , 21°59’56.5”S, 116°30’35.7”E, 9 October 2012, scrape, 37 m, G.B. Pearson, J.W. Quartermaine ( WAM T129676 ) (DNA: COI from Harms et al., 2018: MH 620848 ).

Other material. AUSTRALIA: Western Australia: sex indeterminate, partial specimen, cephalothorax only, “West Pit”, ca. 40 km SSE. of Pannawonica , 21°59’30.5”S, 116°30’27.1”E, 20 July–11 September 2012, troglofauna trap, J.W. Quartermaine, G.B. Pearson (Bennelongia, BH045) ( WAM T142837 ) (DNA: COI from Harms et al., 2018: MH 620857 ) ; 1 sex indeterminate, partial specimen, cephalothorax only, “East Pit”, ca. 45 km S. of Pannawonica , 22°00’48.0”S, 116°31’52.5”E, 22 June 2012, Scrape, metres, G.B. Pearson, S. R. Bennett ( WAM T129677 ) (DNA: COI, 18S, ITS2 ) ; 1 ♂, “East Pit”, ca. 42 km SSE. of Pannawonica , 22°00’34”S, 116°31’10”E, 7 October 2012, troglofauna scrape, - 16m, J.W. Quartermaine, G.B. Pearson ( WAM T142838 ) (DNA: COI from Harms et al., 2018: MH 620858 ) ; 1 sex indeterminate, partial specimen, cephalothorax only, “ East Pit ”, ca. 42 km SSE. of Panna- wonica, 22°00’44.5”S, 116°31’23.8”E, 22 June 2012, troglofauna scrape, - 8m, S. R. Bennett, G.B. Pearson ( WAM T142839 ) (DNA: COI from Harms et al., 2018: MH 620859 ) .

Diagnosis. Females are unknown. The shape of the male flagellum of Draculoides christopherleei is distinctive due to its small lateral lobes, very broad stalk and the absence of dl1. Draculoides vinei is the only other Draculoides species lacking dl1 but clearly differs from Draculoides christopherleei in the shape of the male flagellum, which is dorsolaterally compressed in Draculoides vinei and dorsoventrally compressed in Draculoides christopherleei . Draculoides christopherleei can be diagnosed from all other Draculoides species that were sequenced at COI and ITS2 by the 50bp mini-barcodes shown in Figures 3 and 5 . Draculoides christopherleei 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. piscivultus and D. akashae , which are not distinguishable using the ITS2 mini-barcode.

Description (adults). Colour. Pale yellow-brown; propeltidium, pedipalps and flagellum somewhat darker.

Cephalothorax. Propeltidium with 2+1 apical setae in a triangular formation on anterior process and 2+2+2 setae; eye spots absent. Mesopeltidia separated. Metapeltidium divided. Anterior sternum with 12 (♂) setae (including 2 sternapophysial setae); posterior sternum triangular with 6 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 5 setae; G3 composed of 6 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 10 setae; G6 with one seta; G7 composed of 3 setae. movable finger serrula composed of ~16 long lamellae, blunt guard tooth present subdistally; 1 large 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 0.27 × length of tarsus.

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

Abdomen. Chaetotaxy of tergites 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: 3; segment XII with small dorsal process (♂ only).

Flagellum. Moderately dorsoventrally compressed ( Figs. 18 D–F, 19A–C), with small lateral lobes, very broad stalk; in lateral view, dorsal margin very slightly concave with very slight dorsal concavity above vl1 terminating in small distal triangular tip; ventral margin evenly convex with shallow concavity between vm3 and vl2; 2.13 × longer than broad; seta dm1 situated dorso-medially, slightly closer to anterior margin; seta dm4 anterior to dl3; dl1 absent; dl3 on posterior margin; vm2 situated slightly anterior to vm1; paired vm3 staggered, with right seta below left; vm5 situated slightly posterior to dl1, closer to vm3 than vl2; 6 pairs of microsetae near anterior end, and three pairs between vl1 and vl2.

Dimensions (mm). Holotype male (WAM T129676): Body length 3.13. Propeltidium 0.88/0.58. Chelicera 0.48. Flagellum 0.33/0.15. Pedipalp: trochanter 0.46, femur 0.44, patella 0.50, tibia 0.42, tarsus 0.25, claw 0.07, total excluding claw 2.14.

Remarks. Draculoides christopherleei is known from several locations within the Buckland Hills area, situated in the eastern Hamersley Range, Western Australia ( Fig. 1E ). The partial specimens listed above are associated with this species by locality and, in some cases, by sequence data ( Fig. 1E ).

Other names. WAM SCH080 ( Abrams et al., 2019), Bennelongia B40.

Etymology. This species is named for actor Christopher Lee (1922–2015) who played the role of Dracula in the 1958 movie “Horror of Dracula” and the 1970 movie “Count Dracula.”

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 4. Maximum Likelihood tree based on COI mini-barcodes (Fig. 3) 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 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 18. Draculoides christopherleei sp. nov., holotype male (WAM T129676): 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 1 mm and also applies to E and F.

FIGURE 19. Draculoides christopherleei sp. nov., holotype male (WAM T129676): A. Flagellum, dorsal; B. Flagellum, ventral; C. Flagellum, lateral. Scale bar: A–C: 0.1 mm.