Tricellina gertschi
Creators: name: Rix, Michael
name: Harvey, Mark
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Micropholcommatidae
Tricellina
Tricellina gertschi

description: <i>Tricellina gertschi</i> (Forster &amp; Platnick, 1981) Figs 7D, 23 G–H, 33D, 40–45, 212 <i>Tricella gertschi</i> Forster &amp; Platnick, 1981: 266, figs 1–2, 4–10, 14–15, 20–22 (holotype male from west of Cherquenco, Cautín province, Chile, in AMNH, not examined). Brignoli, 1983: 696. <i>Tricellina gertschi</i> (Forster &amp; Platnick): Forster &amp; Platnick, 1989 <i>in</i> Platnick, 1989: 166. Platnick et al., 1991: 5, figs 240–244. Platnick, 2009. <b>Material examined.</b> <b>CHILE: Región IX (de la Araucanía): Cautín:</b> 4 km W. of Cherquenco, near Temuco, 28.IV.1961, L. Smith, 1♁, 6&amp;female; (AMNH). <b>Malleco:</b> Monumento Natural Contulmo, 31.I.1986, N. Platnick, T. Schuh, 1&amp;female; (AMNH); same data except 23.I.1985, N. Platnick, O. Francke, 1&amp;female; (AMNH). <b>Región X (Los Lagos): Chiloé:</b> Chiloé Island, 5 km N. of Quellon, 1.XII.1981, N. Platnick, T. Schuh, 1♁ (AMNH); same data, 1♁, 5&amp;female; (AMNH). <b>Llanquihue:</b> 35 km NW. of Río Negro, 24.I.1986, N. Platnick, T. Schuh, 3&amp;female; (AMNH). <b>Osorno:</b> Termas de Puyehue, 25.XI.1981, N. Platnick, T. Schuh, 1&amp;female; (AMNH); same data except 24.XI.1981, 6♁, 15&amp;female; (AMNH); Volcán Osorno, 12.II.1985, N. Platnick, O. Francke, 1&amp;female; (AMNH). <b>Palena:</b> 25–27 km N. of Chaitén, 17.I.1986, N. Platnick, P. Goloboff, T. Schuh, 2♁, 6&amp;female; (AMNH); 70 km S. of Chaitén, 16.I.1986, N. Platnick, P. Goloboff, T. Schuh, 5♁, 35&amp;female; (AMNH); vicinity of Chaitén, 5–7.XII.1981, N. Platnick, T. Schuh, 1&amp;female; (AMNH); same data except 7.XII.1981, 12♁, 29&amp;female; (AM- NHSEM♁ &amp;female;). <b>Remarks.</b> <i>Tricellina gertschi</i> is the only species in the tribe Micropholcommatini known to occur in Chile, where it is relatively widespread (Fig. 212). Forster and Platnick (1981) discussed the similarities of <i>T. gertschi</i> to a number of Australasian micropholcommatid taxa, suggesting a possible close relationship to <i>Raveniella hickmani</i>, <i>R. luteola</i> and <i>Guiniella tropica</i> (then all placed in <i>Textricella</i>). The original naming of ‘ <i>Tricella</i> ’ (a contraction of ‘ <i>Textricella</i> ’) and the associated discussion on relationships were based on the assumption that <i>T. gertschi</i> was closely related to <i>Textricella parva</i> Hickman (= <i>Eterosonycha alpina</i> Butler) and other taxa now in the Textricellini; an erroneous interpretation based largely on a homoplastic morphology of the abdominal respiratory system. <i>Tricellina gertschi</i> was also described by Forster and Platnick (1981: 266) as a likely haplogyne spider, with “paired spherical receptacula, of which one is membranous”; an interpretation which resulted in the inclusion of <i>T. gertschi</i> in a cladistic analysis of haplogyne taxa by Platnick et al. (1991). The second “membranous” receptaculum identified by Forster and Platnick (1981) is actually a distal series of coiled, membranous insemination ducts surrounding a central, posteriorly-directed fertilisation duct – a morphology shared with species of <i>Austropholcomma</i> (Fig. 33). <i>Tricellina</i> is now known to be a typical, entelegyne micropholcommatine taxon, closely related to <i>Austropholcomma</i> from Australia. <b>Tribe Textricellini Hickman, 1945, new rank</b> Textricellidae Hickman, 1945: 136. Type genus <i>Textricella</i> Hickman, 1945 (= <i>Eterosonycha</i> Butler, 1932). <b>Diagnosis.</b> Species of Textricellini can be distinguished from all other Micropholcommatidae by the presence of a modified, enlarged and sinuous flagelliform gland spigot on the posterior lateral spinnerets (the ‘textricellin FL gland spigot’) (Fig. 46), usually visible only with a scanning electron microscope. With the exception of the basal species <i>Tinytrella pusilla</i> (Forster, 1959), species of Textricellini can also be distinguished from all other Micropholcommatidae by the presence of two or three peg teeth on the male cheliceral promargin (Figs 47 A–B), and the presence of ornate, ridged cuticular sculpturing on the male pedipalpal patella (Figs 47 C–D). The tribe can be further distinguished from all other Micropholcommatinae by the absence in all but a few taxa of a dorsal scute on both the male and female abdomen (Figs 76 A–B). The ‘textricellin somatic gestalt’ (see Remarks, below) is also extremely distinctive and useful for identification. <b>Distribution.</b> South-eastern and south-western mainland Australia, Tasmania, Lord Howe Island, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and southern Chile. This distribution is largely congruent with a vicariant, Gondwanan biogeography (Fig. 217) (see Biogeography, below). <b>Included genera.</b> <i>Eterosonycha</i> Butler (Fig. 7E) and the nine new genera <i>Algidiella</i> (Fig. 7K), <i>Eperiella</i> (Fig. 7J), <i>Epigastrina</i> (Fig. 7F), <i>Guiniella</i> (Fig. 72), <i>Normplatnicka</i> (Fig. 7I), <i>Raveniella</i> (Fig. 7G), <i>Rayforstia</i> (Fig. 7H), <i>Taliniella</i> (Fig. 7L) and <i>Tinytrella</i> (Fig. 7M). <b>Remarks.</b> While difficult to quantify empirically, species of Textricellini possess an extremely distinctive overall somatic morphology, or ‘gestalt’, unique among Micropholcommatidae (see Figs 7 E–M). This textricellin somatic gestalt was recognised in the traditional generic concept of ‘ <i>Textricella</i> ’ (see Forster 1959) and the old family concept of Textricellidae (Platnick and Forster 1986), and is often so obvious that an experienced arachnologist can identify a spider as a textricellin without the use of a microscope.
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 35-36, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.36.306, http://zenodo.org/record/576620
description: {"references": ["Forster RR, Platnick NI (1981) A textricellid spider from Chile (Araneae, Textricellidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 170: 263 - 270.", "Brignoli PM (1983) A Catalogue of the Araneae Described Between 1940 and 1981. Manchester University Press, Manchester, 755 pp.", "Platnick NI, Coddington JA, Forster RR, Griswold CE (1991) Spinneret morphology and the phylogeny of haplogyne spiders (Araneae, Araneomorphae). American Museum Novitates 3016: 1 - 73.", "Platnick NI (2009) The World Spider Catalog, Version 10.0. American Museum of Natural History, New York. http: // research. amnh. org / entomology / spiders / catalog / [accessed 20. X. 2009]", "Hickman VV (1945) A new group of apneumone spiders. Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences 36: 135 - 148.", "Butler LSG (1932) Studies in Australian spiders, No. 2. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 44: 103 - 117.", "Forster RR (1959) The spiders of the family Symphytognathidae. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand 86: 269 - 329.", "Platnick NI, Forster RR (1986) On Teutoniella, an American genus of the spider family Micropholcommatidae (Araneae, Palpimanoidea). American Museum Novitates 2854: 1 - 9."]}