Revision of the Australian Gagrellinae (Arachnida: Opiliones

Australian Journal of Entomology (2009) 48, 217–222 Revision of the Australian Gagrellinae (Arachnida: Opiliones: Sclerosomatidae), with a description of a new speciesaen_707 217..222 Christopher K Taylor* Department of Environmental Biology, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia. Abstract A new species of the Indo-Australian Gagrellinae (Arachnida: Opiliones: Sclerosomatidae), Gagrella cauricrepa, is described from the Iron Range, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia. This represents the first definite indigenous Australian record of Sclerosomatidae, though the family has previously been known from Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The previous record of Zaleptus marmoratus Roewer 1910 from the Australian fauna is regarded as currently unconfirmable. Key words Gagrella, invertebrate biogeography, Opiliones, taxonomy. INTRODUCTION been further north than Moreton Bay in southern Queensland (Norris 1996), far south of the likely distribution of Gagrelli- The subfamily Gagrellinae represents the greater part of the nae in Australia (see comments on biogeography below). tropical and subtropical fauna of Eupnoi (long-legged harvest- Numerous cases have been recorded of Maison Verreaux men) for Indo-Malaya and the Neotropics (Giribet & Kury specimens bearing unreliable locality data (Banks 1998; Olson 2007). Over 800 species are currently recognised in 127 et al. 2005) and in at least one case the attribution of the wrong genera, though many remain poorly known. While Gagrellinae locality to specimens by Jules Verreaux may have been delib- have been well documented from New Guinea and the erately fraudulent (Olson et al. 2005). In the case of Z. mar- Solomon Islands (Forster 1949; Roewer 1954a,b, 1955a), their moratus, no other species of the genus Zaleptus has been presence in Australia has been more uncertain. The only recorded closer to Australia than Sumatra, while no other species previously attributed to Australia, Zaleptus marmora- member of the ‘Zalepteae’ group is known closer than Borneo tus Roewer 1910, is of doubtful provenance (Roewer 1955b). or Java (Roewer 1955b). Jules Verreaux did travel in eastern A new species described in this paper from northernmost Asia between 1832 and 1837, at least initially in the company Queensland confirms the presence of Gagrellinae in Australia. of his brother Édouard. The greater part, if not all, of the It is also the first definite indigenous Australian record for the material collected by Jules Verreaux at this time was lost with family Sclerosomatidae, as the supposed Australian leiobunine the wreck of the ship ‘Lucullus’ in 1838 (Anonymous 1874), Nelima dunni Forster 1947 has been synonymised with the but differing accounts exist of Édouard Verreaux’s movements introduced European species N. doriae (Canestrini 1871; at this time. Jules Verreaux’s obituary in The Ibis (Anonymous Gruber & Hunt 1973). 1874) indicates that Édouard returned to Europe in 1837 with Zaleptus marmoratus Roewer 1910 was described from a Jules, but Gunn and Codd (1981) stated that he returned to single damaged specimen collected or donated by ‘Verreaux’ Paris in 1834. If the latter is correct, then some specimens and attributed simply to ‘Australia’ in the Muséum national could have been carried to Europe by Édouard. As well as d’Histoire naturelle in Paris. Roewer (1910) placed a query material they collected themselves, Maison Verreaux were also against the locality in the original description, and later receiving and reselling material from other collectors else- (Roewer 1955b) suggested that the specimen could have just where in the world (Banks 1998; Olson et al. 2005). At least as easily come from elsewhere in Australasia, such as New some south-east Asian material was handled by Maison Ver- Guinea. Maison Verreaux was a family firm of commercial reaux (Bowdler Sharpe 1875). The attribution of Z. marmora- specimen collectors and taxidermists based in Paris. One tus to Australia or even to the Australian region must therefore member of the firm, Jules Verreaux, travelled to Australia be regarded as suspicious. between 1842 and 1847, and the Z. marmoratus specimen Gagrellinae was included by Crawford (1992) in Scleroso- could have been among the over 10 000 biological specimens matidae along with the subfamilies Sclerosomatinae, Gyinae he collected on that trip (Norris 1996). Unfortunately, Jules and Leiobuninae. Stare˛ga (1976a,b) suggested that Gagrelli- Verreaux left no personal account of the exact localities he had nae and Leiobuninae were closely related and separated them visited in Australia, but there is no evidence for his having as the family Gagrellidae, but this does not seem justified as the boundaries between all four subfamilies remain unclear (Martens 1973, 1982; Tourinho 2007). The phylogenetic *[email protected] analysis of Giribet et al. (2002) included representatives of © 2009 The Author Journal compilation © 2009 Australian Entomological Society doi:10.1111/j.1440-6055.2009.00707.x 218 C K Taylor Sclerosomatinae and Leiobuninae, and suggested paraphyly to Hexomma is probably not advisable. Martens (1987) side- with the former nested within the latter. Gagrellinae has been stepped the nomenclatural issues associated with Gagrella by separated from Leiobuninae by the presence of pseudoarticu- effectively treating Gagrella Stoliczka and G. sensu Roewer as lations in the femora and a heavily sclerotised opisthosomal synonyms. While not a particularly satisfying solution, this scute (Roewer 1910, 1923; Crawford 1992), but neither of compromise has been followed herein. these characters is universally reliable in distinguishing the subfamilies (Tourinho 2007). Crawford (1992) maintained their distinctiveness largely on biogeographical grounds. The taxonomy of the Old World Gagrellinae has not been BIOGEOGRAPHY significantly revised since its treatment by Roewer (1954a,b, 1955a,b) and remains in a dire state of disarray (Crawford While Gagrellinae have not previously been reliably recorded 1992; Klimeš 2006). As with other groups of Opiliones, from Australia, their discovery in northern Queensland should Roewer used an artificial classification for Gagrellinae, with not represent much of a surprise. Species of Gagrellinae have no consideration of genitalic characters. Foremost among the been described from New Guinea (Roewer 1954a,b, 1955a) series of characters used by Roewer (1954a) to distinguish and the Solomon Islands (Rainbow 1913; Forster 1949). A genera was the numbers of pseudoarticular nodules in the land connection between New Guinea and Queensland bridg- femora of the legs, particularly femur II. Subsequent authors ing the Torres Strait would have been present when sea levels have expressed doubts about the significance of this character were only 10 m lower than the present time, and they have (Martens 1987; Tourinho-Davis 2004; Klimeš 2006). Suzuki been at least that much lower for 91% of the past (1973) reported that the type specimen of the gagrelline 250 000 years (Voris 2000). Closely related or shared taxa are Psathyropus tenuipes Koch 1878 possessed one nodule (char- known from both New Guinea and Australia in freshwater fish acteristic of Gagrella sensu Roewer) in the left femur II and (McGuigan et al. 2000), flowering plants (Turner 1996; two nodules (Psathyropus) in the right femur II. Recent revi- Swenson & Bremer 1997; Hill 2001), reptiles (Georges et al. sions of some of the Neotropical Gagrellinae have revealed the 2002), spiders (Harvey & Waldock 2000) and insects (New need for significant changes to the Roewerian system 1990; Beebe & Cooper 2002), among others. Taylor (1972) (Tourinho-Davis 2004). Martens (1987) identified a number of concluded that Torres Strait had not been a significant barrier species groups on the basis of genitalic morphology among the to dispersal for most insect groups. The apparent absence of Nepalese ‘Gagrella’ that could warrant generic separation Gagrellinae from Australia to date has therefore been unusual, were the type species of the genus available for comparison. though not unique (species of Uropygi (Arachnida) have been Unfortunately, the majority of south-east Asian taxa have not described from New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, but the been re-examined, and Roewer’s (1954a) classification order is currently unknown in Australia – Rowland & Cooke remains the status quo. With about 700 species of Gagrellinae 1973). The identification of Gagrellinae from the northern end described from Asia (Tourinho-Davis 2004), most of them of Cape York Peninsula was not unexpected. It is notable that poorly described and all but unrecorded since their original the Iron Range, the origin of the current specimens, is one descriptions, a sufficient revision of the subfamily would rep- of the few areas of rainforest on Cape York Peninsula, and also resent a monumental task, and it is not surprising that later the only known location in Australia for the Triatominae (Het- authors have continued to use the Roewerian system without eroptera), another pantropical group of arthropods that had significant revision (e.g. Suzuki 1985). previously been known from New Guinea (Monteith 1974). Using the key to genera provided by Roewer (1954a), the The presence of Gagrellinae in northern Queensland also Australian specimens would be assigned to the genus corroborates another commonly seen pattern in Australian bio- ‘Gagrella’, which also includes the majority of the gagrelline geography – that of a Gondwana-related

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