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AAususttrraalaassiianan AArracachhnnoollogyogy Price$3 Number7375 ISSN0811-3696 September2006 Newsletterof NewsletteroftheAustralasianArachnologicalSociety Australasian Arachnology Issue 75 September 2006 Contents Editorial………………………………………………………. 3 Membership Updates………………………………………. 3 Feature Article: Spiders of the Pilbara, Western Australia by Brad Durrant………….……………………...………… 4 Postgraduate Progress Report: Systematics of the Western Australian Pirate Spiders (Araneae, Mimetidae) by Danilo Harms……….……………………...……...…… 5 Predation of Nephila sp. by Megadolomedes australianus (Araneae, Pisauridae) by Matthew Shaw……………………………………....... 10 Feature Article: The Huntsman Spiders (Sparassidae) of New Zealand by David Hirst, Julianne M. Waldock, Shaun J. Bennett and Grace Hall……...………………………....... 11 Recent Australasian Arachnological Publications………. 13 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 elsewher $12 $14 $16 not have access to a scientific library. e Professional members are encouraged to There is no agency discount. send in their arachnological reprints. All postage is by airmail. *Discount rates apply to unemployed, pensioners Contact our librarian: and students (please provide proof of status). Jean-Claude Herremans Cheques are payable in Australian PO Box 291 dollars to “Australasian Arachnological Manly, New South Wales 1655. Society”. Any number of issues can be Australia paid for in advance. Receipts issued on email: [email protected] request. Status box on the envelope indicates the last issue paid for. PDF-recipients will COVER ILLUSTRATION: A mimetid spider feeding on theridiid prey. be notified by email and mail when their By Danilo Harms subscription expires. Previous issues of the newsletter are available at www.australasian- arachnology.org/newsletter/issues. Australasian Arachnology No. 74 Page 3 EDITORIAL MEMBERSHIP UPDATES Again, this issue is a bit late (September instead of August) but I hope New Members the diverse and exciting contents will make up for the delay. As per usual, the Allen Rix Australian Arachnological Society is 114 Arnold St grateful to all who contributed to this Holland Park, Qld 4121 issue! More excitingly, I already have [email protected] articles for the December issue. Stay Lauren Keim tuned for an update on the taxonomy of School of Botany Australian jumping spiders by Marek University of Melbourne Zabka. Parkville, Vic 3010 The date for the 17th International [email protected] Congress of Arachnology in São Pedro, Peter Lillywhite São Paulo, Brazil was announced Entomology/Arachnology recently. The meeting takes place from 5 Museum Victoria – 10 August 2007. Don’t miss out on early GPO Box 666E registration for this exciting event Melbourne, Vic 3001 (http://www.ib.usp.br/~ricrocha/ISA17/ISA [email protected] 17.htm). I have already bought a travel guide for Brazil and am taking Salsa Nick Drayson lessons in preparation! 9 Lailor St Ainslie, ACT 2602 Congratulations to Erik Volschenk and [email protected] Mark Harvey who snatched up a 3-year grant from the Australian Biological Wes Bancroft Resources Study (ABRS) for a project PO Box 1144 called ‘Systematic revision of the endemic Kalamunda, WA 6926 Australian scorpion genus Urodacus [email protected] (Scorpiones: Urodacidae)’. Erik will return to the Western Australian Museum Karen Edward towards the end of this year after a stint Department of Terrestrial Invertebrates at the American Museum of Natural Western Australian Museum History. Owen Seeman, Queensland Locked Bag 49 Museum, also pulled some money from Welshpool DC, WA 6986 ABRS for his project ‘Systematics of [email protected] Australian native and exotic Tetranychus Danilo Harms spider mites (Acari: Tetranychidae)’. Fakultät für Biologie, Chemie und Congratulations! Pharmazie Keep the contributions rolling in Freie Universität Berlin (deadline for the next issue: 30 November Königin-Luise-Str. 1-3 14195 Berlin 2006). Cheers for now Volker Germany [email protected] Australasian Arachnology No. 74 Page 4 Spiders of the Pilbara, Western a twelve month period. The samples were Australia then sorted to major groups and the various components identified to species level. Brad Durrant Department of Environment and Conservation, Western Australia [email protected] Since 2003, the Pilbara region of Western Australia has been the focus of a major biological survey being carried out by the Western Australian Department of Environment and Conservation (formerly CALM) with assistance from the Western Australian Museum. The survey is aimed at providing detailed systematic information on the biodiversity of the Fig. 1: The Pilbara region with the 306 region. This knowledge can then be used terrestrial sites. to better understand biogeographic patterning and ultimately improve the The task of identifying is obviously a approach and handling of conservation in mammoth one. The Western Australian the region. There are five major Museum (Mark Harvey, Julianne Waldock components of the survey: and Volker Framenau) will be identifying Oonopidae, Salticidae, and Lycosidae - Terrestrial fauna: vertebrates and the Queensland Museum (Robert and invertebrates Raven) is providing taxonomic assistance - Terrestrial flora with Miturgoidea. The American Museum - Wetland fauna: invertebrates of Natural History will be helping out with and waterbirds the soon to be released (and much - Wetland flora anticipated) revision of the Australian - Stygofauna Gnaphosidae (Vladimir Ovtsharenko) and the recently published revision of the Focal groups of the terrestrial Australasian Prodidomidae (Platnick and invertebrate fauna are ground-dwelling Baehr 2006). spiders, scorpions, beetles, bugs, ants The ground-dwelling spider and isopods. component is currently represented by 20 Throughout the 19 million hectares of families, dominated by Gnaphosidae, the Pilbara (almost the size of Victoria) Zodariidae and Zoridae (Table 1). It is 306 sites were chosen representing a anticipated that the final number will be cross-section of soil, climate and around 450-500 species, with around 80- vegetation types (Fig. 1). Five ethylene 90% of these unknown to science. Each glycol pitfall traps were installed at each site is expected to yield around 25-40 site to sample the invertebrate fauna over species. Australasian Arachnology No. 74 Page 5 Table 1: Pilbara ground-dwelling spider POSTGRADUATE families and their current proportions PROJECTS of species. (Number of species in the Lycosidae and Salticidae still unknown.) Systematics of the Western Family Species Australian Pirate Spiders Gnaphosidae 64 (Arachnida, Mimetidae) Zodariidae 60 Zoridae 37 Prodidomidae 29 Danilo Harms, Systematik und Evolution Lamponidae 18 der Tiere, Freie Universität Berlin, Miturgidae 18 Fakultät für Biologie, Chemie und Barychelidae 12 Pharmazie, Königin-Luise-Str. 1-3, 14195 others 29 Berlin, Germany [email protected] We still have a long way to go but we The Mimetidae, often referred to as Pirate envisage all our identifications will be Spiders due to the araneophagic completed in the first half of 2007, behaviour of most species, are an followed by data analyses and lots of enigmatic spider group with about 150 writing. Any taxonomic information that described species in twelve genera and a anyone feels may be of help to us would worldwide distribution (Platnick 2006). be greatly welcomed and if anyone has The Australian fauna is rich in species but any questions please feel free to contact is poorly known, both taxonomically and me. ecologically. Aggressive mimicry is part of the prey-catching behaviour of some References Queensland Australomimetus Heimer, 1986. It is characterised by a diverse Platnick, N.I. and Baehr, B.C. 2006. A array of vibratory behaviours to invade revision of the Australasian ground the webs of other spiders (Jackson and spiders of the family Prodidomidae Whitehouse 1986). Like most Mimetidae, (Araneae: Gnaphosoidea). Bulletin of Australian species prey mainly on Comb- the American Museum of Natural footed (Theridiidae) and Orb-weaving History 298, 1-287. Spiders (Araneidae) (Figure on title page of this issue), although insects may occasionally form part of their prey. Check Mimetidae build a typical, drop-like http://www.naturebase.net/science/pilbara eggsac (Fig. 1) and a careful search _biosurvey.html nearby may lead to finding the
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