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Newsletter 74 AAustustrraalaassianian AAracrachhnnolologyogy Price$3 Numberr7734 ISSN0811-3696 April2006 Newsletterof NewsletteroftheAustralasianArachnologicalSociety Australasian Arachnology Issue 74 April 2006 Contents Editorial………………………………………………………. 3 Membership Updates………………………………………. 3 Feature Article: Right or wrong? Testing predictions of spider distributions by Barry J. Richardson………………………...………… 4 Book Review: Spiders of New Zealand and Their Worldwide Kin, by Ray and Lyn Forster by Mark S. Harvey…………………………………………. 8 Feature Article: A continuing 6-year-study of a long lived semi-arid zone Australian tarantula: 2. Mating behaviour and juvenile development in captivity by Steven C. Nunn……………………………………....... 10 In memoriam: Nicholas Adam Locket (Selected Bibliography……………….……………………………….... 13 Recent Australasian Arachnological Publications………. 15 Australasian Arachnology No. 74 Page 2 THE AUSTRALASIAN ARTICLES ARACHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY The newsletter depends on your contributions! We encourage articles on a We aim to promote interest in the range of topics including current research ecology, behaviour and taxonomy of activities, student projects, upcoming arachnids of the Australasian region. events or behavioural observations. MEMBERSHIP Please send articles to the editor: Membership is open to amateurs, Volker Framenau students and professionals, and is Department of Terrestrial Invertebrates managed by our Administrator: Western Australian Museum Locked Bag 49 Richard J. Faulder Welshpool, W.A. 6986, Australia. Agricultural Institute Yanco, New South Wales 2703. [email protected] Australia Format: i) typed or legibly printed on A4 email : [email protected] paper or ii) as text or MS Word file on CD, 3½ floppy disk, or via email. Membership fees in Australian dollars (per 4 issues): LIBRARY The AAS has a large number of *discount personal institutional reference books, scientific journals and Australia $8 $10 $12 papers available for loan or as NZ / Asia $10 $12 $14 photocopies, for those members who do elsewhere $12 $14 $16 not have access to a scientific library. There is no agency discount. Professional members are encouraged to All postage is by airmail. send in their arachnological reprints. *Discount rates apply to unemployed, pensioners Contact our librarian: and students (please provide proof of status). Cheques are payable in Australian Jean-Claude Herremans dollars to “Australasian Arachnological PO Box 291 Society”. Any number of issues can be paid Manly, New South Wales 1655. for in advance. Receipts issued on request. Australia Status line on the envelope indicates email: [email protected] the last issue paid for. PDF-recipients will be notified by email and mail when they COVER PHOTOGRAPH: subscription expires. Mopsus mormon ♂ (Queensland) Previous issues of the newsletter are Michael Rix available at www.australasian- arachnology.org/newsletter/issues. Australasian Arachnology No. 74 Page 3 EDITORIAL MEMBERSHIP UPDATES Easter 2006 is already over and with the arrival of the colder months the New Members peak in arachnid activity is decreasing, at least in the temperate zones of the southern hemisphere (Mind you, there are Sean Blamires a lot of purely winter-active arachnids out University of Sydney there....). In contrast, arachnologist activity Biological Sciences amongst members of our society appears Heydon-Laurence-Building A08 to peak as I could not complain about a Sydney, NSW 2006 lack of contributions to Australasian [email protected] Arachnology 74. This issue contains Sara Ceccarelli articles from Barry Richardson, Mark James Cook University Harvey, Matthew Shaw and Steve Nunn. School of Tropical Biology Thank you all very much for your interesting Townsville, Qld 4811 contributions! [email protected] Our website (www.australasian- M. Russell arachnology.org) continues to be ‘hit’ Edith Cowan University frequently. I have recently started to upload 100 Joondalup Drive pdf-files of old issues of Australasian Joondalup, WA 6027 Arachnology (issues 1 to 5 already online!). [email protected] Have a browse through these historical issues and find out what our seasoned G. Kragh members where up to nearly 20 years ago! PO Box 560 However, please remember that our Earlville, Qld 4870 website will only grow with contributions [email protected] from our members. We are still missing Clare D'Alberto webpages of many arachnological groups. Department of Zoology/CESAR Some direct advertisement University of Melbourne amongst the participants of the Parkville, Vic 3010 Arachnology Symposium at the [email protected] “Invertebrates 2005” conference in Patrick McCormick Canberra last year saw a nice increase in numbers in the AAS membership. We will 8 Cedar St continue to grow if you, as a current Mentone, Vic 3194 member, will promote our society amongst [email protected] colleagues and friends! Svetlana Micic Keep the contributions rolling in Department of Agriculture (deadline for the next issue: 30 September 444 Albany Highway 2006). Cheers for now, Albany, WA 6330 [email protected] Volker Australasian Arachnology No. 74 Page 4 Right or wrong? Testing extract information from the limited site data available and use this to predict predictions of spider likely distributions. One approach is to distributions predict the distribution of the taxon of interest on the basis of its climate Barry J. Richardson envelope. The parameters for this Australian National Insect Collection envelope are developed using the climate CSIRO Entomology profiles of the localities where the species GPO Box 1700, ACT 2601, Australia is known to occur (e.g. Nix 1986; [email protected] Richardson and McMahon 1992; Neave et al. 1996; Godown and Peterson 2000; Providing information and giving effective Fischer et al. 2001; Beaumont and advise to those responsible for managing Hughes 2002; Meynecke 2004). The Australia’s biodiversity is difficult due to distributions of genera of Australian lack of knowledge of most arachnid jumping spiders have recently been species. A similar situation faces those reported using this approach (Richardson, responsible for treating individuals that et al. 2006). Limitations to this approach have been bitten by spiders. The question however have been identified (Peterson in each situation as to what species are and Cohoon 1999; Claridge 2002; likely to be found in the area of interest is Kadmon et al. 2003). It is of interest to often unanswerable. The situation with test the adequacy of such predictions on jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) is spider species. To this end it is proposed typical. In this group of common spiders, to develop predictions of distributions of 340 species out of an estimated several Australian salticid species and to Australian fauna in excess of 1000 provide these predictions to the species have been described (Richardson community of Australian arachnologists and Zabka 2003). Further, for those that for testing. have been described, distributions are often unknown because the number of specimens in collections is too few to give an accurate representation of range. In Europe, a large pool of professional and amateur naturalists is available who can be called upon to assist in mapping the distribution of species and groups. In Australia, naturalists have also been of great assistance in mapping the distributions of several insect groups, for example butterflies (Braby 2000). In groups like the spiders however the Fig. 1: Mopsus mormon having a meal number of knowledgeable individuals (Photo: Michael Rix) available to find and identify species is small and collections of most species very This paper describes the first of these limited. As a consequence, efforts need to predictions and readers are invited to be made to use modelling methods that Australasian Arachnology No. 74 Page 5 report specimens from locations that 2. hottest month mean maximum either support the prediction (by being temperature (°C), from predicted areas but for which no 3. coldest month mean minimum specimens were available) or refute the temperature (°C), prediction by reporting locations outside 4. annual temperature range (2 minus the predicted range where specimens 3) (°C), have been collected. 5. wettest quarter mean temperature The first species to be considered is (°C), Mopsus mormon Karsch, 1878 (Fig. 1). It 6. driest quarter mean temperature is one of the better studied Australian (°C), species and is widespread in northern 7. annual mean precipitation (mm), Australia (Jackson 1983, 1986, 1987; 8. wettest month mean precipitation Downer 1985; Brunet 1997; Harland et al. (mm), 1999; Patoleta and Zabka 1999). It is a 9. driest month mean precipitation significant species, as it is one of the few (mm), jumping spiders that is known to bite 10. annual precipitation range (8 minus humans, where it causes a painful 9) (mm), swelling at the bite-site lasting up to a 11. wettest quarter mean precipitation week (Musgrave 1949; Isbister et al. (mm), 2001). Locality records from the 12. driest quarter mean precipitation Australian Museum, the Australian (mm). National Insect Collection and the Western Australian Museum, were stored These variables provide estimates of total in BioLink (version 2.0; Shattuck and energy and water inputs, seasonal Fitzsimmon 2002) and a map showing the extremes and a measure of conditions known and predicted distributions was prevailing during potential active and made for the species. The
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