Abstract
We describe a new and unusual species of funnel-web spider from the far south coast of New South Wales. Hadronyche nadgee sp. nov. has only a single row of cheliceral teeth, a condition unique among known atracids. All Atrax, Illawarra, and Hadronyche species described to date have teeth on both sides of the cheliceral groove. Moreover, a retromarginal row of large teeth has been one of the diagnostic features of the Atracidae. Hadronyche nadgee sp. nov. has only a promarginal row. We therefore amend the diagnosis of the family to accommodate this new species, which in all other ways meets the criteria for Hadronyche (Atracidae).
Highlights
Funnel-web spiders are an iconic Australian taxon
1873; Illawarra Gray, 2010—across the 35 atracine species and defined diagnostic characters separating them from their sister group, the Hexathelinae
We describe here a new funnel-web spider from the far south coast of New South Wales
Summary
Funnel-web spiders are an iconic Australian taxon. Their fame and notoriety can be attributed to a single species, the Sydney funnel-web spider P.Cambridge, 1877), which has been responsible for many serious envenomations, including numerous deaths prior to the development of an antivenom in 1980 (Nicholson et al, 2006) In his major revision of funnel-web spiders, Gray (2010) placed this group in a subfamily Atracinae of the family Hexathelidae. The remaining hexathelids were split into several families—Hexathelidae, Porrhothelidae and Macrothelidae This molecular analysis placed the Actinopodidae, mouse spiders, as the sister group of the Atracidae. This habit, together with the relatively small size of the spider, may account for it remaining undiscovered until now.
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