Trachyspina chillimookoo, PLATNICK, 2002

PLATNICK, NORMAN I., 2002, A Revision Of The Australasian Ground Spiders Of The Families Ammoxenidae, Cithaeronidae, Gallieniellidae, And Trochanteriidae (Araneae: Gnaphosoidea), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2002 (271), pp. 1-1 : 1-

Trachyspina chillimookoo , new species Figures 333, 334 ; Map 26

TYPE: Female holotype from Chillimookoo , 27 ° 24 ̍ S, 139 ° 58 ̍ E, South Australia (Sept. 1983; B. Guerin), deposited in SAM ( N1999 /92) .

ETYMOLOGY: The specific name is a noun in apposition taken from the type locality.

DIAGNOSIS: Females have a distinctively widened epigynal atrium (fig. 333) and laterally elongated ducts (fig. 334).

MALE: Unknown.

FEMALE: Total length 8.6. Coloration as in T. capensis except carapace reddish brown, legs orangish brown. Leg spination: tibiae: I v1p­1p­0; II v1p­0­0; IV v1p­1p­1p, r1­0­0; metatarsi: I v2­2­1p; II v2­0­0; III v1p­0­0; IV v2­0­0, r1­0­0. Epigynal atrium wide, semicircular (fig. 333); ducts narrow, extend­ ed laterally (fig. 334).

OTHER MATERIAL EXAMINED: None.

DISTRIBUTION: Known only from northeastern South Australia (map 26).

MOREBILINAE , NEW SUBFAMILY

TYPE GENUS: Morebilus , new genus.

DIAGNOSIS: Members of this exclusively Australasian subfamily can easily be recognized by the presence of a sub­basal (and usually also a distal) retrolateral tibial apophysis, as well as a characteristic male palpal conformation with a medially situated em­ bolus. Most of the described species have historically been placed in Rebilus , and recognized primarily by the relatively large number of cylindrical gland spigots, arranged in two long, parallel rows, on the posterior median spinnerets of females. Few of these taxa are actually congeneric with the type species of Rebilus , however, and eight genera are recognized below.

NOTE: Because the generic name Rebilus has been used in the literature and is familiar to arachnologists, it might seem to be an obvious choice for the type genus of this new subfamily. However, almost all uses of that generic name in the literature represent misidentifications, and the type species of that genus is rarely collected and still poorly known, with males and females only tentatively matched. It seems preferable, therefore, to base the subfamily name instead on the oldest and best known species, Morebilus plagusius (Walckenaer) . This large and commonly collected animal is well known, and its very old type specimen is still in existence; its only synonym was discovered to be such over a century ago.

Figures

Map 26. Records of Trachyspina mundaring, new species (squares), T. olary, new species (circles), and T. chillimookoo, new species (star).

Figs. 333–338. Epigyna, ventral (top row) and dorsal (bottom row) views. 333, 334. Trachyspina chillimookoo, new species. 335, 336. Morebilus swarbrecki (Dunn and Dunn). 337, 338. M. gramps, new species.