Karaops raveni Crews & Harvey, 2011

Crews, Sarah C., 2023, But wait, there's more! Descriptions of new species and undescribed sexes of flattie spiders (Araneae, Selenopidae, Karaops) from Australia, ZooKeys 1150, pp. 1-189 : 1

Karaops raveni Crews & Harvey, 2011

Fig. 8B, C , Map 4

Karaops raveni Crews & Harvey, 2011: 42, figs 29-32, 91, 111 (♂, ♀, examined).

New records.

New South Wales • 1♂; Oxley Wild Rivers NP, East Kunderang Track "Raspberry Rd" Dam; -30.813417, 152.084026; ~ 800 m; 5 Nov. 2015; H.M. Smith leg.; night collecting, on tree trunk; (AM KS.124443) • 1♀; same data as previous, Oxley Wild Rivers National Park, East Kunderang, Smail’s Creek, Upper Kunderang Brook; -31.0439, 152.2215; ~ 333 m; 14 Nov. 2015; H.M. Smith leg.; (AM KS.124613) • 1♂ (collected as juvenile, matured Spring 2016); same data as previous, ‘Mudaridge’, Gloucester River Rd.; -32.0547, 151.745; 3 Mar. 2016; G.M. Milledge, H.M. Smith leg.; under bark; (AM KS.126578).

Diagnosis.

The female of Karaops raveni can be distinguished from K. marrayagong by the lateral lobes of the epigyne almost touching or touching posteriorly, and the accessory bulbs are separated by more than one accessory bulb in the latter ( Crews and Harvey 2011: figs 27, 28, 31, 32).

The male of Karaops raveni (Fig. 8B ) is similar to the males of K. marrayagong and K. jarrit by the body shape (flatter and wider than species in other Karaops species groups; Fig. 9B, D ), the horizontally oval sternum, and the long dRTA, curved ventrally and tapered to a point (Figs 8D, E , 9A, D , 10B ). Karaops raveni can be differentiated from K. marrayagong by lacking spinules on the median apophysis. It can also be differentiated from both K. jarrit and K. marrayagong by the dRTA, which is at least two times as long as the vRTA of K. raveni (Fig. 10B ; Crews and Harvey 2011: fig. 30).

Description.

The description of the male and female can be found in Crews and Harvey (2011).

Distribution.

Karaops raveni occurs in eastern Australia, in Queensland and New South Wales. It has primarily been collected to the east of the Great Dividing Range with some collections within the boundaries of the Great Dividing Range (Map 4 ).

Natural history.

This species occurs across many different subregions. The southernmost locality is in the Tinderry Range near the ACT, in the Kybeyan-Gourock subregion of the South Eastern Highlands bioregion, and the northernmost is the Burnett-Curtis Coastal Lowlands subregion of the South Eastern Queensland bioregion. The former has a temperate climate, and it does snow at the higher elevations; the northern bioregion is considered humid subtropical. The furthest inland that the species is known from is Warrumbungles National Park, of the Castlereach-Barwon subregion in the Darling Riverine Plains Bioregion. In Queensland, this species has been collected inside a house, by fogging trees with pyrethrum, and from under bark of Ficus and Eucalyptus . In New South Wales, Karaops raveni has been collected from under bark, on a water tank, on trees at sunset and at night, and in the Tinderry Range it has been collected under rocks of scree slope.

Discussion.

Karaops raveni (Fig. 8B, C ) appears to be the most widespread species of Karaops (Map 4 ). There is some variation in the species as discussed in Crews and Harvey (2011), which may be more noticeable in this species because significantly more individuals over a broader range have been collected than in any of the other species. The sister taxon of K. raveni , K. marrayagong , is known only from a very small area within the Sydney Basin, inside the range of K. raveni (Map 4 ). They have been collected at the same time at the same place. The sister taxon to these two species, K. jarrit , occurs in the southwest of the continent, a pattern that shows up in other taxa, including other species of Karaops . Another species that occurs within the range of K. raveni is K. manaayn , a member of the Central Desert species group. Penultimate males have been taken at the beginning of the year in Queensland and New South Wales, including the Tinderry Range. In Queensland, no adults have been collected from February to May, generally, a transition time from hot and wet to cool and dry; and in New South Wales, no adults have been collected from August to October, a transition time from cool to warm, with not much change in rainfall (Suppl. material 2: table S1).

Figures

Map 4. Species of the Karaops raveni species group; green = Karaops jarrit, red = Karaops raveni, pale blue = Karaops marrayagong.

Figure 8. Members from the Karaops raveni species group A Karaops jarrit, paratype female, conveyor # 2, Worsley Alumina Overland Conveyor Belt, SW of Boddington, Western Australia (WAM T 87168) B Karaops raveni, holotype male, Brooyar State Forest, Queensland (QM S 50593) C Karaops raveni, female paratype, Boat Mountain, Queensland (QM S 47057) D Karaops marrayagong, holotype female, Kitty's Creek near Sydney, New South Wales (AM KS 19743) E Karaops marrayagong, female, Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden, New South Wales (AM KS. 126520) F Karaops jarrit, holotype male, 11 km NW of Roe's Rock, Fitzgerald River National Park, Western Australia (WAM T 55003) G Karaops monteithi, adult female, under rock, outside of Coen, Queensland; arrows indicate tufts of white setae H Karaops monteithi, habitat of outside of Coen, Queensland. Scale bars: 1 mm.

Figure 9. Karaops marrayagong, Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden, New South Wales A adult female (sel _ 1089, AM KS. 126520) B male, face (sel _ 1091, AM KS. 126522) C epigyne, caudal (sel _ 1089 AM KS. 126520) D male (sel _ 1091, AM KS. 126522) E same, palp, ventral; green = vRTA, orange = dRTA, light gray-blue = tegulum, blue-violet = tegular lobe, blue = embolus, turquoise = spermophor, pink = conductor / conductor sheath, yellow = median apophysis, dark green = subtegulum, Sp = spinules F same. Scale bars: 0.2 mm (C); 1 mm (B, D-F).

Figure 10. Karaops marrayagong and Karaops nitmiluk sp. nov. A Karaops marrayagong on tree, Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden, New South Wales (Photo: Wendy Grimm) B Karaops marrayagong, male palp, retrolateral, same data as previous (sel _ 1091, AM KS. 126522) C Karaops marrayagong, epigyne, caudal same data as previous (sel _ 1089, AM KS. 126520) D Karaops nitmiluk sp. nov., holotype, epigyne, Baruwei Walk, Nitmiluk National Park, Northern Territory (sel _ 1333, MAGNT A 004906); pink = median field, blue-violet = epigynal windows, yellow = lateral lobes / epigynal plate E same, endogyne, yellow = accessory bulbs, blue = spermathecae, red = fertilization ducts, green = posterodorsal fold F same, epigyne G same, endogyne. Scale bars: 1 mm (B); 0.2 mm (D-G).