Zephyrarchaea grayi Rix & Harvey

Rix, Michael G. & Harvey, Mark S., 2012, Australian Assassins, Part II: A review of the new assassin spider genus Zephyrarchaea (Araneae, Archaeidae) from southern Australia, ZooKeys 191, pp. 1-62 : 21

Zephyrarchaea grayi Rix & Harvey sp. n. Figs 9C19 A–B 29

Grampians Assassin Spider

Type material.

Holotype female: Grampians National Park, Delley’s Dell, Silverband Road, Victoria, Australia, sweeping at night, 26.III.1974, M. Gray (AMS KS109448).

Etymology.

The specific epithet is a patronym in honour of Dr Mike Gray, for his contributions to arachnology and for first discovering this species in the Grampians National Park.

Diagnosis.

Females of Zephyrarchaea grayi can be distinguished from Zephyrarchaea janineae and Zephyrarchaea mainae by the absence of dorsal hump-like tubercles on the abdomen (Fig. 19A); from Zephyrarchaea barrettae , Zephyrarchaea melindae and Zephyrarchaea robinsi by the strongly concave post-ocular depression in lateral view (Fig. 9C); from Zephyrarchaea austini sp. n. by the larger body size (carapace length> 1.10) and taller carapace (CH/CL ratio ≥ 1.70) (Figs 7, 19A); and from Zephyrarchaea marae and Zephyrarchaea vichickmani by the shape of the ‘head’, which is less elevated dorsally (post-ocular ratio <0.25) and with the highest point of the pars cephalica (HPC) closer to the middle of the head (ratio of HPC to post-ocular length <0.60) (Fig. 9C).

Description.

Holotype female: Total length 3.36; leg I femur 1.95; F1/CL ratio 1.73. Cephalothorax dark reddish-brown; legs tan brown with darker annulations; abdomen mottled grey-brown and beige (Fig. 19A). Carapace relatively short (CH/CL ratio 1.72); 1.13 long, 1.94 high, 1.03 wide; ‘neck’ 0.63 wide; highest point of pars cephalica (HPC) approaching middle of ‘head’ (ratio of HPC to post-ocular length 0.57), carapace with pronounced concave depression anterior to HPC; ‘head’ not strongly elevated dorsally (post-ocular ratio 0.23) (Fig. 9C). Chelicerae without accessory setae on anterior face of paturon. Abdomen 1.85 long, 1.36 wide; spherical in lateral profile, without dorsal hump-like tubercles. Internal genitalia (Fig. 19B) with cluster of ≤ 15 sausage-shaped spermathecae fanning out either side of gonopore, clusters widely separated along midline of genital plate; outermost (posterior) spermathecae bulbous distally.

Male: Unknown.

Distribution and habitat.

Zephyrarchaea grayi is known only from wet eucalypt forest at Delley’s Dell, in the Grampians National Park of western Victoria (Fig. 29).

Conservation status.

This species appears to be a rare short-range endemic taxon ( Harvey 2002b), with the single known population in the Grampians National Park potentially threatened by fire and climate change. Targeted searching at the type locality in March 2010 failed to reveal new specimens of this species, and the site had been recently burnt.