Rayforstia raveni 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
Rayforstia
Rayforstia raveni

description: <i>Rayforstia raveni</i> Rix &amp; Harvey, sp. n. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: B43D3782-5F0C-4776-940B-E9C4B19C01ED Figs 90 –91 <b>Type material.</b> Holotype male: Boondall Wetlands, Queensland, Australia, <i>Melaleuca</i> woodland, 5–10 m, pitfall, 27°20'21"S, 153°04'27"E, 29.VII.-2.IX.2003, QM Party (QMB S83999). Paratypes: 14 males, same data as holotype (QMB S62272). <b>Other material examined.</b> <b>AUSTRALIA: Queensland:</b> Boondall Wetlands, <i>Melaleuca</i> woodland, 5–10 m, pitfall, 27°20'21"S, 153°04'27"E, 1–29. VII.2003, QM Party, 4♁ (QMB S62956); same data except 2.IX.-2.X.2003, 11♁ (QMB S62831); same data except 31.X.-2.XII.2003, 3♁ (QMB S65553); same data except 2.XII.2003 – 2.I.2004, 3♁ (QMB S65554); same data except 22.IV.-26.V.2003, 2♁ (QMB S65552); Gold Creek Reservoir, pitfall trap, 140 m, open forest, 27°27'53"S, 152°52'32"E, 31.III.-30.IV.2004, QM Party, 1♁ (QMB S65224); same data except spotted gum open forest, 1–30.X.2003, 1♁ (QMB S65160). <b>Etymology.</b> The specific epithet is a patronym in honour of Robert J. Raven of the Queensland Museum (Brisbane), for his enormous contribution to describing the spiders of south-eastern Queensland, and for managing the arachnological collections made during the Queensland Museum’s ‘Brisbane City Council Terrestrial Invertebrate Status Review’ (TISR). All of the known specimens of <i>R. raveni</i> were collected as part of the TISR in 2003/04. <b>Diagnosis.</b> Males of <i>Rayforstia raveni</i> can be distinguished from all other described congeners except <i>R. lordhowensis</i> by the absence of a dorsal scute (Fig. 90A); and from <i>R. lordhowensis</i> by the longer embolus and asymmetric, curved conductor (Fig. 91). Females are unknown. <b>Description.</b> <i>Holotype male</i>: Total length 0.84. Carapace 0.41 long, 0.31 wide. Abdomen 0.45 long, 0.30 wide. Leg I femur 0.31. Cephalothorax, legs tan-yellow; abdomen olive-cream. Carapace raised anteriorly, not fused to sternum except around petiole; dorsal surface of pars cephalica slightly convex in lateral view. Eight eyes present on anterior margin of pars cephalica; AME 0.5x diameter of ALE; PME separated by half their own diameter. Chelicerae each with bulging anterior projection; promargin with three peg teeth. Legs relatively short (leg I femur-carapace ratio 0.76); macrosetae absent. Abdomen oval, covered with hair-like setae; dorsal scute and lateral sclerotic strips absent. Pedipalpal patella with retrolaterally-directed, hooked lRPA and rounded, depressed distal region with ornate, ridged cuticular microstructure; tegulum smooth, with excavate ETR and curved, subtriangular distal conductor; embolus long (length&gt; 5× width), looping dorsal to conductor (Fig. 91). <b>Distribution.</b> Known only from south-eastern Queensland. <b>Remarks.</b> <i>Rayforstia raveni</i> is the only species of <i>Raveniella</i> currently described from the Australian mainland, although other undescribed species are known from eastern Australia, and <i>R. lordhowensis</i> from Lord Howe Island seems closely related.
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 59-60, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.36.306, http://zenodo.org/record/576620