The Australian Hersiliidae (Arachnida : Araneae): Taxonomy, phylogeny, zoogeography

1987 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 351 ◽  
Author(s):  
B Baehr ◽  
M Baehr

The Australian species of the spider family Hersiliidae are revised and compared in a key. Hersilia australiensis, sp. nov., is newly described, the first record of the genus Hersilia from Australia. For all other Australian species a new genus, Tamopsis, is erected and the species formerly included in the genus Tama Simon are transferred to it. Of the species so far recorded from Australia, only T. eucalypti (Rainbow) and T. fickerti (L. Koch) are recognised; Tama novaehollandiae (L. Koch) and Tama brachyura Simon are regarded as doubtful species, because the types are either juveniles or lost and the species are not recognisable from descriptions. For T. eucalypti (Rainbow) a lectotype and a paralectotype are designated; for T. fickerti (L. Koch) a neotype is designated from the material at hand. The following new species of Tamopsis are described: T. platycephala, sp. nov.; T. amplithorax, sp. nov.; T. brachycauda, sp. nov.; T. tweedensis, sp. nov.; T. brisbanensis, sp. nov.; T. daviesi, sp. nov.; T. kochi, sp. nov.; T. centralis, sp. nov.; T. reevesbyana, sp. nov.; T. grayi, sp. nov.; T. darlingtoniana, sp. nov.; T. queenslandica, sp. nov.; T. raveni, sp. nov.; T. cooloolensis, sp. nov.; T. brevipes, sp. nov.; T. arnhemensis, sp. nov.; T. circumvidens, sp. nov.; T. tropica, sp. nov.; T. trionyx, sp. nov.; T. pseudocircumvidens, sp. nov.; T. leichhardtiana, sp. nov.; T. rossi, sp. nov.; T. perthensis, sp. nov.; T. occidentalis, sp. nov.; T. fitzroyensis, sp. nov. The species of the genus Tamopsis are arranged in nine species-groups. A character-state analysis of several characters is provided for all species, and the phylogenetic status of species-groups and of included species is derived. It is concluded that four main lineages exist in Tamopsis: a high-eyed lineage (arnhemensis – circumvidens – tropica groups, 11 species), and three low-eyes lineages, namely the platycephala group (two species), the eucalypti group (two species), and the daviesi – queenslandica groups (10 species). In addition, the brachycauda and tweedensis groups are very primitive, each consisting of one species of obscure relationships. The origin of the genus Tamopsis is obscure, because no reliable information is available on the hersiliid fauna of neighbouring areas (New Guinea, south-eastern Asia). Phylogenetic and zoogeographical evidence, however, suggests that both high-eyed and low-eyed lineages originated in northern Australia. Perhaps the high-eyed lineage originated in or immigrated into northernmost Northern Territory, and the low-eyed lineages in northern Queensland. Within the arnhemensis – circumvidens – tropica lineage, as well as in the daviesi – queenslandica and the platycephala lineages, migration proceeded in a clockwise direction from the Northern Territory and northern Queensland respectively, through eastern Australia to south-western Australia and, in the tropica group, eventually to north-western Australia, where today the most derived Tamopsis species lives. The independent migration of species of different lineages probably explains the rich and diverse Tamopsis faunas in south-eastern Queensland and eastern New South Wales, as well as in south-western Australia. Both regions can be regarded as major centres for evolution of Tamopsis.

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 296 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. Harvey ◽  
Wm J. Woelkerling ◽  
A. J. K. Millar

The genus Lithophyllum (Lithophylloideae, Corallinaceae, Rhodophyta) is represented by six species in south-eastern Australia L. chamberlainianum Woelkerling & Campbell, L. corallinae (Crouan & Crouan) Heydrich, L. cuneatum Keats, L. pustulatum (Lamouroux) Foslie, L. riosmenae, sp. nov., and L. stictaeforme (Areschoug in Agardh) Hauck. Four of these taxa are commonly found in Australia, whereas L. cuneatum was previously known only from Fiji and L. riosmenae is newly described. Morphological and anatomical accounts are provided, including keys, information on distribution, nomenclature and habitat in south-eastern Australia. South-eastern Australian species are primarily delimited on characters relating to tetrasporangial conceptacles and the presence/absence of a semi-endophytic habit. Ten species of Lithophyllum are now confirmed to occur in Australia and their diagnostic characters are detailed. Confirmed Australian species of Lithophyllum are primarily delimited on characters relating to tetrasporangial conceptacles, the presence/absence of a semi-endophytic habit and the growth-form. Biogeographic comparisons between south-eastern Australia and other Australian biogeographic regions are also made. Eight species of Lithophyllum are known to occur in southern Australia, three in tropical eastern Australia and three in subtropical western Australia. Southern and south-eastern Australia show major overlap, with five species occurring in both regions. L. pustulatum and L. stictaeformae are widely distributed, having been confirmed to occur in eastern tropical, western subtropical, warm temperate and cold temperate waters within Australia.


Zootaxa ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 1489 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
PHILIP D. PERKINS

The Australian species of the water beetle genus Hydraena Kugelann, 1794, are revised, based on the study of 7,654 specimens. The 29 previously named species are redescribed, and 56 new species are described. The species are placed in 24 species groups. High resolution digital images of all primary types are presented (online version in color), and geographic distributions are mapped. Male genitalia, representative female terminal abdominal segments and representative spermathecae are illustrated. Australian Hydraena are typically found in sandy/gravelly stream margins, often in association with streamside litter; some species are primarily pond dwelling, a few species are humicolous, and one species may be subterranean. The areas of endemicity and species richness coincide quite closely with the Bassian, Torresian, and Timorian biogeographic subregions. Eleven species are shared between the Bassian and Torresian subregions, and twelve are shared between the Torresian and Timorian subregions. Only one species, H. impercepta Zwick, is known to be found in both Australia and Papua New Guinea. One Australian species, H. ambiflagellata, is also known from New Zealand. New species of Hydraena are: H. affirmata (Queensland, Palmerston National Park, Learmouth Creek), H. ambiosina (Queensland, 7 km NE of Tolga), H. antaria (New South Wales, Bruxner Flora Reserve), H. appetita (New South Wales, 14 km W Delagate), H. arcta (Western Australia, Synnot Creek), H. ascensa (Queensland, Rocky Creek, Kennedy Hwy.), H. athertonica (Queensland, Davies Creek), H. australula (Western Australia, Synnot Creek), H. bidefensa (New South Wales, Bruxner Flora Reserve), H. biimpressa (Queensland, 19.5 km ESE Mareeba), H. capacis (New South Wales, Unumgar State Forest, near Grevillia), H. capetribensis (Queensland, Cape Tribulation area), H. converga (Northern Territory, Roderick Creek, Gregory National Park), H. cubista (Western Australia, Mining Camp, Mitchell Plateau), H. cultrata (New South Wales, Bruxner Flora Reserve), H. cunninghamensis (Queensland, Main Range National Park, Cunningham's Gap, Gap Creek), H. darwini (Northern Territory, Darwin), H. deliquesca (Queensland, 5 km E Wallaman Falls), H. disparamera (Queensland, Cape Hillsborough), H. dorrigoensis (New South Wales, Dorrigo National Park, Rosewood Creek, upstream from Coachwood Falls), H. ferethula (Northern Territory, Cooper Creek, 19 km E by S of Mt. Borradaile), H. finniganensis (Queensland, Gap Creek, 5 km ESE Mt. Finnigan), H. forticollis (Western Australia, 4 km W of King Cascade), H. fundaequalis (Victoria, Simpson Creek, 12 km SW Orbost), H. fundata (Queensland, Hann Tableland, 13 km WNW Mareeba), H. hypipamee (Queensland, Mt. Hypipamee National Park, 14 km SW Malanda), H. inancala (Queensland, Girraween National Park, Bald Rock Creek at "Under-ground Creek"), H. innuda (Western Australia, Mitchell Plateau, 16 mi. N Amax Camp), H. intraangulata (Queensland, Leo Creek Mine, McIlwrath Range, E of Coen), H. invicta (New South Wales, Sydney), H. kakadu (Northern Territory, Kakadu National Park, Gubara), H. larsoni (Queensland, Windsor Tablelands), H. latisoror (Queensland, Lamington National Park, stream at head of Moran's Falls), H. luminicollis (Queensland, Lamington National Park, stream at head of Moran's Falls), H. metzeni (Queensland, 15 km NE Mareeba), H. millerorum (Victoria, Traralgon Creek, 0.2 km N 'Hogg Bridge', 5.0 km NNW Balook), H. miniretia (Queensland, Mt. Hypipamee National Park, 14 km SW Malanda), H. mitchellensis (Western Australia, 4 km SbyW Mining Camp, Mitchell Plateau), H. monteithi (Queensland, Thornton Peak, 11 km NE Daintree), H. parciplumea (Northern Territory, McArthur River, 80 km SW of Borroloola), H. porchi (Victoria, Kangaroo Creek on Springhill Rd., 5.8 km E Glenlyon), H. pugillista (Queensland, 7 km N Mt. Spurgeon), H. queenslandica (Queensland, Laceys Creek, 10 km SE El Arish), H. reticuloides (Queensland, 3 km ENE of Mt. Tozer), H. reticulositis (Western Australia, Mining Camp, Mitchell Plateau), H. revelovela (Northern Territory, Kakadu National Park, GungurulLookout), H. spinissima (Queensland, Main Range National Park, Cunningham's Gap, Gap Creek), H. storeyi (Queensland, Cow Bay, N of Daintree River), H. tenuisella (Queensland, 3 km W of Batavia Downs), H. tenuisoror (Australian Capital Territory, Wombat Creek, 6 km NE of Piccadilly Circus), H. textila (Queensland, Laceys Creek, 10 km SE El Arish), H. tridisca (Queensland, Mt. Hemmant), H. triloba (Queensland, Mulgrave River, Goldsborough Road Crossing), H. wattsi (Northern Territory, Holmes Jungle, 11 km NE by E of Darwin), H. weiri (Western Australia, 14 km SbyE Kalumburu Mission), H. zwicki (Queensland, Clacherty Road, via Julatten).


Zootaxa ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 1645 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
LAURENCE A. MOUND ◽  
ALICE WELLS

Callococcithrips gen.n. is erected for the species Rhynchothrips fuscipennis Moulton that lives only among the protective waxy secretions of an eriococcid on Kunzea in south-eastern Australia. Larvae and adults of this thrips move rapidly amongst the sticky wax strands, and their maxillary stylets are unusually long and convoluted. Circumstantial evidence suggests that the thrips is predatory on immature stages of the eriococcid. Also transferred to this genus is Liothrips atratus Moulton, based on a single female from Western Australia.


1976 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 455 ◽  
Author(s):  
BGM Jamieson ◽  
GR Dyne

Diplotrema is redefined to include Australian species formerly assigned to the subgenus Microscolex (Notiodrilus) and thus now contains species with or without spermathecal genital setae, presence of which formerly was considered diagnostic of Diplotrema. The presence of similar spermathecal setae in the related North American genus Diplocardia is noted. Nine species of Diplotrema are described from the Northern Territory, of which eight are new, and a key to these species is provided. One of these, D. ridei, sp. nov., has a subspecies on Melville I. the first report of an insular subspecies of a mainland oligochaete species for Australia. Three species-groups are tentatively recognized for the species of the Northern Territory. New taxonomic notes are given for D. australis, D. dameli, D. fragilis, D, queenslandica and D. cornigravei, species occurring outside the Territory. It is suggested that Diplotrema is a relict of a Gondwanaland acanthodrile fauna.


Zootaxa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4701 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-295
Author(s):  
JEAN JUST

Galeatylinae, a new subfamily in the Atylidae, for Galeatylus coripes new genus and species, is reported from the Bass Strait in the south-east of Australia. This is the first record of the Atylidae from Australia. 


2009 ◽  
Vol 49 (10) ◽  
pp. 759 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew D. Moore

Dual-purpose cereals are employed in the high-rainfall zone of southern Australia to provide additional winter forage. Recently there has been interest in applying this technology in the drier environments of South and Western Australia. It would therefore be useful to gain an understanding of the trade-offs and risks associated with grazing wheat crops in different locations. In this study the APSIM (Agricultural Production Systems Simulator) crop and soil simulation models were linked to the GRAZPLAN pasture and livestock models and used to examine the benefits and costs of grazing cereal crops at 21 locations spanning seven of the regions participating in the Grain & Graze research, development and extension program. A self-contained part of a mixed farm (an annual pasture–wheat rotation plus permanent pastures) supporting a breeding ewe enterprise was simulated. At each location the consequences were examined of: (i) replacing a spring wheat cultivar with a dual-purpose cultivar (cv. Wedgetail or Tennant) in 1 year of the rotation; and (ii) either grazing that crop in winter, or leaving it ungrazed. The frequency of early sowing opportunities enabling the use of a dual-purpose cultivar was high. When left ungrazed the dual-purpose cultivars yielded less grain on average (by 0.1–0.9 t/ha) than spring cultivars in Western Australia and the Eyre Peninsula but more (by 0.25–0.8 t/ha) in south-eastern Australia. Stocking rate and hence animal production per ha could be increased proportionately more when a dual-purpose cultivar was used for grazing; because of the adjustments to stocking rates, grazing of the wheat had little effect on lamb sale weights. Across locations, the relative reduction in wheat yield caused by grazing the wheats was proportional to the grazing pressure upon them. Any economic advantage of moving to a dual-purpose system is likely to arise mainly from the benefit to livestock production in Western Australia, but primarily from grain production in south-eastern Australia (including the Mallee region). Between years, the relationship between increased livestock production and decreased grain yield from grazing crops shifts widely; it may therefore be possible to identify flexible grazing rules that optimise this trade-off.


1994 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 353 ◽  
Author(s):  
NL Bougher ◽  
BA Fuhrer ◽  
E Horak

Seven species of the putatively obligately ectomycorrhizal fungal genus Rozites are described from Australian Nothofagus and myrtaceaeous forests. Rozites metallica, R. armeniacovelata, R. foetens, and R. occulta are new species associated with Nothofagus in south eastern Australia. Rozites fusipes, previously known only from New Zealand, is reported from Tasmanian Nothofagus forests. Rozites roseolilacina and R. symea are new species associated with Eucalyptus in south eastern and south western Australia respectively. The significance of these Rozites species to mycorrhizal and biogeographical theories, such as the origin of ectomycorrhizal fungi associated with myrtaceous plants in Australia are discussed. The diversity of Rozites species in Australia, which equals or exceeds that of other southern regions, furthers the notion that many species of the genus co-evolved with Nothofagus in the Southern Hemisphere. Rozites symea in Western Australia occurs well outside the current geographic range of Nothofagus. It is considered to be a relict species that has survived the shift in dominant ectomycorrhizal forest tree type from Nothofagus to Myrtaceae (local extinction of Nothofagus 4–5 million years ago), and is most likely now confined to the high rainfall zone in the south west. Data on Rozites in Australia support the concept that at least some of the present set of ectomycorrhizal fungi associated with Myrtaceae in Australia are those which successfully completed a host change from Nothofagus, and adapted to changing climate, vegetation and soil conditions during and since the Tertiary. We suggest that the ancient stock of Rozites arose somewhere within the geographical range of a Cretaceous fagalean complex of plant taxa. By the end of the Cretaceous, Rozites and the fagalean complex may have spanned the Asian–Australian region including perhaps many Southern Hemisphere regions. A northern portion of the ancestral Rozites stock gave rise to extant Northern Hemisphere Rozites species and a southern portion speciated as Nothofagus itself speciated.


2001 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 345 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. G. Rhind ◽  
J. S. Bradley ◽  
N. K. Cooper

This study details morphometric variation among the marsupial brush-tailed phascogale, Phascogale tapoatafa. The validity of phascogales from south-western and south-eastern Australia being classified as the single subspecies P. t. tapoatafa was questioned because of the substantial isolation of the south-west population; the northern Australian subspecies P. t. pirata was included in the inquiry. Discriminant function analysis performed on 18 skull characteristics (n = 50 skulls) produced separation between P. t. pirata, south-western P. t. tapoatafa, and south-eastern P. t. tapoatafa. Separation was also achieved between female phascogales from Victoria and those from New South Wales and southern Queensland, but not between the males of these two populations. Univariate tests identified significant size differences between the groups. Field data gathered on wild P. t. tapoatafa illustrate large size differences between phascogales of Victoria and south-western Australia. Phascogales from south-western Australia also exhibit a polymorphism in teat number (6, 7 or 8 teats; n = 72) that is not observed in other phascogales. This isolated population may represent a distinct taxon.


1993 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 1473 ◽  
Author(s):  
RV Southcott

Larval Leptus (Acarina : Erythraeidae) ectoparasitic on higher insects (Neuroptera. Coleoptera. Lepidoptera. Hymenoptera) are comprehensively reviewed (Diptera were considered previously) . The new species (all from Australia) comprise: L. spinalatus (from Neuroptera); L. belicolus. L. cerambycius. L. faini. L. halli. L. heleus. L. jenseni. L. orthrius. L. tarranus. L. titinius. L. truncatus. L. utheri (all from Coleoptera); L. agrotis, L. georgeae (from Lepidoptera); and L. monteithi (from Hymenoptera). A key is given to the larvae of Leptus from Australia and New Guinea . L. agrotis is an ectoparasite of Agrotis infusa (Boisduval), the bogong moth, whose larvae are an important pasture pest in south-eastern Australia; as well as the larva, the deutonymph and adult are described. Leptus boggohoranus Haitlinger is recorded from a further New Guinea species of Coleoptera. L. charon Southcott, originally described from an Australian dipteran, is recorded as ectoparasitic on an Australian larval lepidopteran (Anthela sp., Anthelidae), as well as from adult Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. Leptus trucidatus (Hull, 1923), comb. nov., is proposed for Achorolophus trucidatus Hull, 1923, an adult from Western Australia.


2011 ◽  
Vol 62 (11) ◽  
pp. 1303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Palmer ◽  
Stephen A. Murphy ◽  
Deborah Thiele ◽  
Guido J. Parra ◽  
Kelly M. Robertson ◽  
...  

Conservation management relies on being able to identify and describe species. Recent morphological and molecular analyses of the dolphin genus Orcaella show a species-level disjunction between eastern Australia and South-east Asia. However, because of restricted sampling, the taxonomic affinities of the geographically intermediate populations in the Northern Territory and Western Australia remained uncertain. We sequenced 403 base pairs of the mitochondrial control region from five free-ranging Orcaella individuals sampled from north-western Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Low net nucleotide divergence (0.11–0.67%) among the Australian Orcaella populations show that populations occurring in the Northern Territory and Western Australia belong to the Australian snubfin (O. heinsohni) rather than the Asian Irrawaddy dolphin (O. brevirostris). Clarifying the distribution of Orcaella is an important first step in the conservation and management for both species; however, an understanding of the metapopulation structure and patterns of dispersal among populations is now needed.


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