Myrmarachne striatipes, (L. KOCH, 1879)

Tripathi, Rishikesh, Jose, Athira, Nafin, Karunnappilli Shamsudheen, Babu, Nishi & Sudhikumar, Ambalaparambil Vasu, 2017, Revision of eastern Australian ant-mimicking spiders of the genus Myrmarachne (Araneae, Salticidae) reveals a complex of species and forms, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 179 (3), pp. 642-676 : 665-666

MYRMARACHNE STRIATIPES (L. KOCH, 1879)

Leptorchestes striatipes L. Koch, 1879: 1059 ; pl. 93, fig. 4 (D ♀).

Type material

Australia. NSW, QLD: 1♀ holotype forma striatipes ( ZMH, 16508) (Daemel) Sydney and Rockhampton. TAS: 1♂ paratype forma urens ( AMS, KS.111025) (23 February 1987; J.L. Hickman) Rufus Canal Rd (42 ° 07 0 S, 146 ° 07 0 E). 2♀♀ paratypes forma urens ( QVM, 2014:13:125) (October 2013; S. Fear) Launceston, Riverside, 1 Denis Drive, Eucalyptus foliage (41 ° 25 0 18.18 ″ S, 147 ° 06 0 28.39 ″ E).

Material examined

Australia.

Forma striatipes : NSW: 1♀ ( AMS, KS.34768) (15 February 1987; E.A. Sugden) Nadgee Reserve , 3 km south of Newton’s Beach (37 ° 22 0 S, 149 ° 55 0 E) ; 1♀ ( AMS, KS.65516) (3 May 1998; L. Wilkie) Wyrrabalong National Park (33 ° 16 0 47 ″ S, 151 ° 32 0 40 ″ E); 1♀ ( AMS, KS.108226) (22 May 2009; G.A. Milledge, H.M. Smith) Gulaga NP, road to Mount Dromedary (36 ° 17 0 13 ″ S, 150 ° 02 0 24 ″ E); 1♀ ( AMS, KS.101326) (12 December 2000; C.A. Car) Wagga Wagga, edge of Murrumbidgee River (35 ° 15 0 S, 144 ° 04 0 E) . Forma urens : TAS: 2 juv. ( QVM, 2014:13:125) (October 2013; S. Fearn) Launceston , Riverside , 1 Denis Drive, Eucalyptus foliage (41 ° 25 0 18.18 ″ S, 147 ° 06 0 28.39 ″ E); 1♀ ( QVM, 2014:13:122) (3 December 2013; S. Fearn) Riverside, on gum trees (41 ° 25 0 13.50 ″ S, 147 ° 06 0 26.80 ″ E); 1♂ ( QVM, 2014:13:123) (3 December 2013; S. Fearn) same locality (41 ° 25 0 12.18 ″ S, 147 ° 06 0 28.39 ″ E); 1♀ ( AMS, KS.70275) (20 February 1976; J.A. Friend) at top of hill, west of Ropeway Creek (42 ° 41 0 S, 145 ° 48 0 E) ; 1♂ ( AMS, KS.31070) (February 1964; J.L. Hickman) Sandy Bay (42 ° 54 0 S, 47 ° 20 0 E) . VIC: 1♂ ( QMB, S100133 ) (6 February 2015; I. Macaulay) Halls Gap (37 ° 08 0 06.9 ″ S, 142 ° 31 0 11.3 ″ E) .

Etymology

The forma names are derived either from the species name or from an ant species it imitates (see Natural history).

Diagnosis

Most similar to M. luctuosa . Differs from M. luctuosa in brown body, golden patch at tip of abdomen. Males further differ in wide bulbus, sinusoid tip of embolus, and elongate RTA. Females differ in the distal position of the spermathecae. This species is not diagnosable using DNA data (see below).

Description

Male: Measurements (N = 3): total body length 5.8 mm (4.6 – 7.9 mm), carapace length 2.4 mm (2.0 – 3.0 mm), carapace width 1.3 mm (1.1 – 1.8 mm), chelicera length 0.9 mm (0.7 – 1.4 mm), abdomen length 2.9 mm (2.5 – 3.6 mm), PTB = 0.61. Colour (forma urens ): chelicerae brown, carapace and sternum brown to black, carapace with whitish transverse stripe at the constriction; endites brown, palps brown to yellow; Cx I, Tr I, II, and IV, pale, Cx III, Tr III, brown, Fe I and II, yellow to brown, with longitudinal black bands on sides, Fe III and IV, brown, other leg segments yellow; abdomen brown, dorsally and laterally with three transverse whitish widely separated bands ( Fig. 13A ), the distal quarter of abdomen golden. Morphology: chelicera small, slightly protruding anteriorly with a lateral massive protuberance; fang semicircular, three teeth on prolateral margin, and four teeth on retrolateral margin of chelicerae ( Fig. 13F, G ); prosoma elongate ( Fig. 13A ), cephalic part of carapace dorsally flat, separated from thoracic part by a shallow constriction, cephalic part as high as thoracic part; leg spines: Ti I with three ventral pairs, Mt I, Mt II, Mt III, and Ti II each with two ventral pairs; abdomen elongate with a slight constriction; palpal bulbus wider than cymbium, embolus distally sinusoid ( Fig. 13H ); RTA almost straight, elongate, flange of RTA developed ( Fig. 13I ).

Female: Measurements (N = 8): total body length 6.3 mm (4.5 – 8.1 mm), carapace length 2.4 mm (1.7 – 3.1 mm), carapace width 1.2 mm (0.9 – 1.7 mm), chelicera length 0.7 mm (0.4 – 0.9 mm), abdomen length 3.4 mm (2.3 – 4.4 mm). Colour (forma striatipes ) ( Fig. S1J ): as in males, but legs are brown to yellow, abdomen brown, and laterally with white transverse stripes ( Fig. 13B, C, E ), dorsoposteriorly with a small yellow patch. Morphology: as in males, but chelicerae small ( Fig. 13B, C, E ), with five teeth each on prolateral and retrolateral margins; leg spines: Ti I and Ti III with three ventral pairs, Mt I and Mt II with two ventral pairs; epigyne with two large oval whitish atria separated with a septum, the atria placed at a rather diverging angle ( Fig. 13J ); median pocket situated below septum; spermathecae distantly separated from atria ( Fig. 13K ).

Variation

The two forms differ only in coloration. Males of forma striatipes are not known. Females of forma urens ( Fig. 13D ) lack the lateral white stripes on abdomen, but have golden distal part of abdomen.

Natural history

It is not known which ant species forma striatipes imitates. Forma urens was found on gum trees. It occurs in the vicinity of the ant Myrmecia urens Lowne, 1865 , which it imitates.

Distribution

Australia: NSW (forma striatipes ), VIC, TAS (forma urens ) ( Fig. 4E ).

Remarks

Although the type series includes only a single female, the label states two different places, far away from each other: one in NSW and the other in QLD. We suggest that the specimen comes from NSW.

Figures

Figure 1. Myrmarachne bicolor: A, right male chelicera, dorsal view; B, left male chelicera, ventral view; C, left male palp, ventral view; D, male palpal tibia, dorsal view; E, epigyne, ventral view; F, vulva. Scale barss: 0.2 mm.

Figure 4. Maps of distribution: A, Myrmarachne bicolor; B, Myrmarachne erythrocephala; C, Myrmarachne helensmithae sp. nov.; D, Myrmarachne luctuosa; E, Myrmarachne lupata; Myrmarachne milledgei sp. nov.; F, Myrmarachne macaulayi sp. nov.; G, Myrmarachne macleayana; H, Myrmarachne smaragdina; I, Myrmarachne striatipes; J, Myrmarachne zabkai sp. nov. The size of the points is scaled according to abundance: 1–3 individuals (small); 4–10 individuals (medium);> 10 individuals (large).

Figure 13. Myrmarachne striatipes: A, forma urens, male habitus, dorsal view; B, forma striatipes, female habitus, lateral view; C, forma striatipes, female habitus, dorsal view; D, forma urens, female habitus, dorsal view; E, forma striatipes, female abdomen, ventral view; F, forma urens, right male chelicera, dorsal view; G, left male chelicera, ventral view; H, forma urens, left male palp, ventral view; I, forma urens, male palpal tibia, dorsal view; J, forma striatipes, epigyne, ventral view; K, forma urens, vulva. Scale bars: A–E, 2 mm; F–K, 0.2 mm. Photo D by J. Douglass.