AUSTRALASIAN ARACHNOLOGY Number 61: January 2001 Price $2 ISSN 0811-3696 Australasian Arachnology No. 61 Page 1 THE AUSTRALASIAN ARTICLES ARACHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY The newsletter depends on your contributions ! We encourage articles on a We aim to promote interest in the ecology, range of topics including current research behaviour and taxonomy of arachnids of activities, student projects, upcoming the Australasian region. events or notable behavioural observations. MEMBERSHIP Please send articles to the editor as : Membership is open to amateurs, students i) email attachments, in text, or preferably and professionals, and is managed by our MS Word, format to: Administrator : tracey .churchill@ terc.csiro.au Richard J. Faulder Agricultural Institute ii) typed or legibly written articles on one Yanco, New South Wales 2703. Australia. side of A4 paper, or on disk (returned only upon request) to : email: [email protected] Dr Tracey Churchill Membership fees in Australian dollars CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems per 4 issues : PMB 44 Winnellie N.T. 0822. Australia. Discount* Normal Institutional Australian $8 $10 $12 LIBRARY NZ/ Asia $10 $12 $14 The AAS has a large number of reference Elsewhere $12 $14 $16 books, scientific journals and scientific papers available for loan or as All postage includes air mail. photocopies, for those members who do not have access to a scientific library. *Discount rates for pensioners, students Professional members are encouraged to and unemployed (provide proof of status send in their arachnological reprints. and students to include no. years enrolled). Contact our librarian : Cheques payable in Australian dollars to: Jean-Claude Herremans 'The Australasian Arachnological Society''. P.O. Box 291 More than 4 issues can be paid for in Manly, advance. Receipts issued only if requested. New South Wales 2095. Australia. The Status box on the envelope indicates or email : jcl@ eagles.bbs.net.au the last issue for which you have paid. Previous issues of the newsletter are COVER PHOTOGRAPH : Lychas sp. available at $2 per issue plus postage. by T. Churchill & G. Wanganeen Australasian Arachnology No. 61 Page 2 EDITORIAL ~ Another year has passed already! The celebrations seemed more subdued than 15th INTERNATIONAL last New Year's Eve but we are now CONGRESS OF definately part of the new millenium! ARACHNOLOGY Our triennial international meeting will be A._VA_V~A_VAft> held soon for those lucky enough to be able to go. Our hosts in South Africa offer 26-30 March 2001 an excellent location so be quick to book Badplaas Aventura Conference Centre your tickest if you haven't already! South Africa The next four issues require a new cover 11 11 Arachnology in the new millenium illustration and a harvestman is the preferred arachnid. So if any budding or established artists would like to contribute Get ready for the next arachnological a drawing, or if someone has one that congress about to be held at the luxurious can be used - it would be most Badplaas Aventura Holiday Resort. appreciated. Badplaas is a well-known resort in South I look forward to receiving more of your Africa, and offers a peaceful and relaxed interesting research updates and environment. It is situated in the 1500 ha arachnological news in 2001! Embuleni Private Nature Reserve, at the foot of the Hlumuhlumu Mountains . ... ..... Tracey Package accomodation deals are available to delegates, including cheaper options for students. MEMBERSHIP Topics for oral presentations will include CHANGES systematics, medically important arachnids, ecology, biodiversity, Change of Address behaviour, morphology and physiology. Dr. Daiqin Li Registration fees are R300 for ISA Department of Biolological Sciences members (approx. A$64) and R330 for The National University of Singapore non-members (approx. A$70). 10 Kent Ridge Crescent Registration deadline is 15 January 2001. Singapore 119260 Check out the website : http://www.arc.agric.za/lnr/institutes/ppri/ arachnology/conweb.htm Australasian Arachnology No. 61 Page 3 Sparassidae for Heteropodidae considered, as they were all available following the rules of ICZN (1999). - a family name change. In a superficial way, it seemed to be an Dr Peter Jager easy case: Sparassidae Bertkau 1872 was the earliest available name and Institute for Zoology, Johannes should therefore be the one to be used. Gutenberg-University, 55099 However, Platnick & Levi (1973) pointed Mainz, Germany out that the type genus Sparassus Walckenaer 1805 was Nomenclatural changes of the names of 'unrecognizable'and therefore higher taxa are rarely made due to the Heteropodidae should be used, until a principle of stability for frequently used revision of the family was completed. So I names (ICZN 1999). Indeed, since focussed my work on this genus, its type Roewer's catalogue was published in species and its taxonomical identity. 1954, the only change to the scientific name of a spider family has been to It became clear, that Sparassus is a Heteropodidae from Sparassidae synonym of Micrommata Latreille 1804. (Piatnick & Levi, 1973) for the Huntsman This genus includes three species, of or Giant Crab spiders. During recent which the type species, Micrommata times, the huntsman fauna has been well virescens, is distributed in the Palearctic studied in Australia (thanks to the work of region. From this and other facts Valerie Davies and David Hirst), and so discussed by Jager (1999), Sparassidae the name Heteropodidae has become Bertkau 1872 was recognized as the valid familiar to many. I expect it will be difficult, name. It is hoped that stability for the therefore, for those interested in spiders family name of the Huntsman spiders is to become familiar again with now facilitated. "Sparassidae" following a return to the original name (Jager 1999). Here I wish to References elucidate why this change has been made. ICZN, 1999. International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Fourth Edition. When I began to study spiders of the Internal. Trust Zool. Nomencl., La family Sparassidae in 1995, three Gradangola, Padova (Italy), 306 pp. scientific names was still in use: Sparassidae Bertkau 1872, Jager, P ., 1999. Sparassidae - the valid Heteropodidae Thorell 1873 and scientific name for the huntsman spider Eusparassidae Jaervi 1912. Some (Arachnida: Araneae). Arachnologische additional combinations were also used Mitteilungen 17: 1-10. as 'Sparassidae Simon 187 4' or 'Heteropodidae Bertkau 1872'. Despite Platnick, N. I. & H. W. Levi, 1973. On the stabilizing effect of Platnick's family name of spiders. Bulletin of the catalogues in favor of Heteropodidae, British Arachnologica/ Society 2 (8): 166- generally all three names must be 167. Australasian Arachnology No. 61 Poge4 BOOK REVIEWS &;::[:\ for each spider species recorded from China. by Dr Mark S. Harvey The book begins with a general account of spider morphology, internal structure, Department of Terrestrial Invertebrates biology, ecology, and systematics. Each Western Australian Museum family is diagnosed, and a short section Francis St, Perth, W.A. 6000 on the known diversity of the family, along with some biological notes, is provided. These diagnoses and notes are The spiders of China paraphrased from Dippenaar-Schoeman and Jacque (1997). by Song Daxiang, Zhu Mingsheng & Keys to suborders, infraorders, and Chen Jun families are provided, and colour photographs of several species are Hebei Science and Technology Publishing provided at the end of the volume. Data House, Shijiazhung, 1999, 640 pp. provided for each species includes the ISBN 7-5375-1892-0 original reference, any subsequent citations relevant to the Chinese fauna the known distribution, and illustrations of Our understanding of the spider fauna of the epigyne and male palp. China has undergone an enormous transformation during the past decade The volume treats all known 2361 with the publication of numerous papers species, 450 genera and 56 families, and and books devoted to the topic. Sadly, describes several new species, although these papers are often difficult to obtain there is no synopsis of these taxonomic as many are published in little-known acts. Chinese journals that are hard to access outside of China. However, help is at Somewhat controversially, the authors hand, with the publication of this book. have chosen to use numerous illustrations from the scientific literature which have The spider fauna of the region is of not been credited to the original source. fascination to all araneologists, as China Whilst this may be the norm in China spans an enormous area over many (where copyright regulations do not mirror different climatic zones - the deserts and those in most other parts of the world), it steppes of the east and north, the tropical is a lazy and discourteous use of other forests of the south, and the temperate people's work which any publisher in the regions of the north-east. This climatic 'West' would forbid. Jerzy Proszynski's diversity, along with great topographic impassioned cry (see American diversity, has produced an extremely rich Arachnology 61, p. 11) summarises the spider fauna. With this in mind 'The frustration felt by scientists whose work spiders of China' has been produced as a has been 'borrowed' for this volume in primary tool for specialists by the authors such a fashion. Incidentally, and who collated the relevant taxonomic data somewhat frustratingly, many of the plates Australasian Arachnology No. 61 Page5 lack captions and one must search The majority of the book comprises through the text to identify the species taxonomic descriptions of the fossils illustrated. recovered from the site, with photographs and black and white interpretive The volume is a very useful synopsis of illustrations of each species. The the Chinese fauna, and documents a rich descriptions are given in Cantonese, and and fascinating fauna from a remarkable unfortunately only the descriptions of the part of the world. new genera are translated into English. Introductory chapters on the composition Reference and characteristics of the fauna are also translated into English. Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S. and Jacque, R.