Salticidae (Arachnida: Araneae) from the Oriental, Australian and Pacific regions, XV. New species of Astieae from Australia

Abstract

Eight new species of Astieae spiders are described: Arasia mullion, Helpis abnormis, H. kenilworthi, H. risdonica, H. tasmanica, Sondra bickeli, S. brindlei and S. samambrayi. Arasia aurea (Koch) is transferred to the genus Sondra. Remarks on relationships of Astieae are provided and distributional maps of studied species are given. ZABKA, MAREK, 2002. Salticidae (Arachnida: Araneae) from the Oriental, Australian and Pacific regions, XV. New species of Astieae from Australia. Records of the Australian Museum 54(3): 257–268. Records of the Australian Museum (2002) Vol. 54: 257–268. ISSN 0067-1975 www.amonline.net.au/pdf/publications/1365_complete.pdf The group Astieae was proposed by Simon (1901) for nine Old and New World genera. The most comprehensive study of the group was provided by Wanless (1988). He described as new the genera Jacksonoides, Sondra and Tauala and excluded Charippus Thorell, Lagnus Koch, Aruana Strand, Agelista Simon, Anaurus Simon, Lapsias Koch and Titanattus Peckham & Peckham from Simon’s list. Wanless also suggested that Adoxotoma, described by Simon (1909) in Astieae, should be excluded. My studies indicate that the genus should be retained within the group (Żabka, 2001). More recently, two additional papers dealt with the Astieae (Żabka, 1995; Gardzinska, 1996), the former describing Megaloastia from Western Australia, and the latter dealing with new species of Arasia, Helpis and Tauala. Currently Astieae comprises the following genera: Astia, Arasia, Helpis, Adoxotoma, Jacksonoides, Megaloastia, Sondra and Tauala. The first three of which are found in Australia, on adjacent islands (Patoleta & Żabka, 1999), and in New Guinea; Helpis is found also in New Zealand (Żabka, in prep.). The other genera are recorded from Australia only. Whether the group, as it is now formed, is monophyletic or not is a matter for future study. At least Astia, Arasia, Helpis, Adoxotoma and Megaloastia seem closely related, sharing similar body form, cheliceral dentition and genitalic structure. Tauala and Sondra differ in cephalothorax proportions (EFL:CL, CL:CW) and carapace form (boxrather than pear-shaped) whereas Jacksonoides has some genitalic similarities to Aruana (see Wanless, 1988). Except for Adoxotoma, the cheliceral dentition is of the pluridentati pattern and is generally quite consistent within the Astieae. In Adoxotoma an intermediate pluri-fissidentati stage is present (Żabka, 2001). Material and methods The material is deposited in the Australian Museum, Sydney (AMS); specimens were collected during biological surveys conducted by the Museum. Specimens have been examined using methods described previosuly (Żabka, 1991a). Abbreviations used are: AEW, anterior eyes width; AL, abdomen length; AMS, Australian Museum, Sydney; BB, B. Baehr; CL, cephalothorax length; CW, cephalothorax width; EFL, eye field length; GC, G. Cassis; GM, G. Milledge; j, (or, when more than one, jj) unsexed juvenile specimens; MG, M. Gray; MŻ, M. Żabka; NSW, New South Wales; PEW, posterior eyes width. 258 Records of the Australian Museum (2002) Vol. 54 Genus Arasia Simon, 1901 Type species Astia mollicoma L. Koch, 1880, p. 1158. Arasia mullion n.sp.