Eperiella hastings Rix &amp; Harvey 2010, sp. n.
Creators: name: Rix, Michael
name: Harvey, Mark
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Micropholcommatidae
Eperiella
Eperiella hastings

description: <i>Eperiella hastings</i> Rix &amp; Harvey, sp. n. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: AB7104B0-40F3-4EE5-BB1D- 012296 F3CB55 Figs 112C–D, 113–114, 213 <b>Type material.</b> Holotype male: <i>Bug Hole</i> (H-X3), Hastings karst, Tasmania, Australia, from cave wall, 43°23'S, 146°51'E, 21.iv.1988, S. Eberhard (QVM 13: 13533). Paratypes: Allotype female, same data as holotype (QVM 13: 44521); 2 females, same data as holotype (QVM 13: 44522). <b>Etymology.</b> The specific epithet is a noun in apposition, taken from the type locality. <b>Diagnosis.</b> Males and females of <i>Eperiella hastings</i> can be distinguished from <i>E. alsophila</i> by the presence of only six vestigial eye spots (Fig. 113C). Both sexes can also be recognised by the Tasmanian cave distribution (Fig. 213). <b>Description.</b> <i>Holotype male</i>: Total length 0.77. Carapace 0.41 long, 0.34 wide. Abdomen 0.44 long, 0.28 wide. Leg I femur 0.29. Body colour pale cream. Carapace raised anteriorly, not fused to sternum except around petiole; dorsal surface of pars ce- phalica slightly convex in lateral view. Eyes reduced to six vestigial eye spots on anterior margin of pars cephalica. Chelicerae each with bulging anterior projection; promargin with two peg teeth. Legs relatively short (leg I femur-carapace ratio 0.71); macrosetae absent. Abdomen oval, covered with hair-like setae; dorsal scute and lateral sclerotic strips absent. Pedipalpal patella with retrolaterally-directed, hooked lRPA and ornate, ridged cuticular microstructure; tegulum smooth, with curved, marginal ETR; embolus very long (length &gt;&gt; 5× width), coiling 3× around margin of tegulum (Fig. 114). <i>Allotype female</i>: Total length 0.94. Carapace 0.45 long, 0.32 wide. Abdomen 0.57 long, 0.36 wide. Leg I femur 0.27. Cephalothorax, legs pale tan-yellow; abdomen pale cream. Carapace raised anteriorly, not fused to sternum except around petiole; dorsal surface of pars cephalica slightly convex in lateral view. Eyes reduced to six vestigial eye spots on anterior margin of carapace. Chelicerae without bulging anterior projections; promargin without peg teeth. Legs relatively short (leg I femur-carapace ratio 0.60); macrosetae absent. Abdomen oval, covered with hair-like setae; dorsal scute and lateral sclerotic strips absent. Pedipalp entire, five-segmented. Epigyne with distinctive, ‘drumstick-shaped’ external morphology (Fig. 113D); receptacula with globular posterior spermathecae; insemination ducts coiled around receptacula; fertilisation ducts ventrally-looped (Figs 112C–D). <b>Distribution.</b> Known only from the cave <i>Bug Hole</i> in the Hastings karst of southern Tasmania (Fig. 213). <b>Remarks.</b> <i>Eperiella hastings</i> is an extremely rare and enigmatic spider from the Hastings karst of southern Tasmania (Fig. 213). The species has no known close relatives in Australasia, and seems clearly congeneric only with <i>E. alsophila</i> from southern Chile. The Hastings Caves are home to a significant diversity of troglobitic arthropods (Eberhard et al. 1991), and the presence here of this extraordinary species is of the greatest biogeographic interest and conservation concern.
description: Published as part of <i>Rix, Michael &amp; Harvey, Mark, 2010, The spider family Micropholcommatidae (Arachnida: Araneae: Araneoidea): a relimitation and revision at the generic level, pp. 1-321 in ZooKeys 36 (36)</i> on pages 69-70, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.36.306, http://zenodo.org/record/576620
description: {"references": ["Eberhard SM, Richardson A, Swain R (1991) The Invertebrate Cave Fauna of Tasmania. Zoology Department, University of Tasmania, Hobart, 174 pp."]}