Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 1956 No. 1: 5 Dec. 2008
Type: Article
Published: 2008-12-05
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.1956.1.2
Page range: 59–80
Abstract views: 59
PDF downloaded: 5

Telaprocera (Araneae: Araneidae), a new genus of Australian orb-web spiders with highly elongated webs

Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney 2109, Australia
Department of Terrestrial Zoology, Western Australian Museum, Welshpool DC, Western Australia 6986, Australia School of Animal Biology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia
Araneae ladder-web web modification cymbial keel T. maudae T. joanae

Abstract

A new genus of orb-web spider (Araneidae Simon), Telaprocera gen. nov., including two new species, T. maudae sp. nov. (type species) and T. joanae sp. nov., are described. Telaprocera gen. nov. differs from all other araneid genera by the presence of a dorsal keel on the male cymbium. The known range of Telaprocera maudae sp. nov. is limited to the east coast of Australia, from far northern Queensland to central New South Wales. The spiders are found in closed canopy rainforest and adults can be found year round. Telaprocera joanae sp. nov. has been found from central coastal Queensland to far eastern Victoria. They occur in similar habitats, with similar phenology, as T. maudae sp. nov. Both species build highly elongated orb-webs known as ladder-webs. A variety of phylogenetic analyses based on an updated morphological data matrix for orb-web spiders did not provide a conclusive placement of Telaprocera gen. nov. within the Araneidae. Equally weighted analysis placed the genus as sister to Kaira O. P.-Cambridge and Metepeira F. O. P.Cambridge combined. Strong downweighting of homoplasious characters placed the genus as sister taxon to the traditional Argiopinae Simon. The uncertain phylogenetic position of Telaprocera gen. nov. may reflect the insufficient knowledge of the morphology of Australian taxa—taxa that may possess characters previously not considered in phylogenetic analyses of the Araneidae.

References

  1. Álvarez-Padilla, F. (2007) Systematics of the spider genus Metabus O. P.-Cambridge, 1899 (Araneoidea: Tetragnathidae) with additions to the tetragnathid fauna of Chile and comments on the phylogeny of Tetragnathidae. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 151, 285–335.

    Eberhard, W.G. (1975) The ‘inverted ladder’ orb web of Scoloderus sp. and the intermediate orb of Eustala (?) sp. Araneae: Araneidae. Journal of Natural History, 9, 93–106.

    Eberhard, W.G. (1977) Aggressive chemical mimicry by a bolas spider. Science, 198, 1173–1175.

    Eberhard, W.G. (1990) Function and phylogeny of spider webs. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 21, 341–372.

    Forster, L.M. & Forster, R.R. (1985) A derivative of the orb web and its evolutionary significance. New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 12, 455–465.

    Framenau, V.W. (2008) The male of the orb-weaving spider Cyrtophora unicolor (Araneae, Araneidae). Journal of Arachnology, 26, 131-135.

    Goloboff, P.A. (1993) Estimating character weights during tree search. Cladistics, 9, 83–91.

    Goloboff, P. Farris, J. & Nixon, K. (2003) T.N.T.: Tree Analysis using New Technology. Program and documentation available from the authors, and at: www.zmuc.dk/public/phylogeny (verified 21 February 2008).

    Heiling, A.M. & Herberstein, M.E. (2000) Interpretations of orb-web variability: A review of past and current ideas. Ekologia-Bratislava, 19, 97–106.

    Kitching, I.J., Forey, P.L., Humphries, C.J. & Williams, D.M. (1998) Cladistics. The Theory and Practice of Parsimony Analysis. Second Edition. Oxford University Press, New York, 228 pp.

    Kuntner, M. (2005) A revision of Herennia (Araneae: Nephilidae: Nephilinae), the Australasian ‘coin spiders’. Invertebrate Systematics, 19, 391–436.

    Kuntner, M. (2006) Phylogenetic systematics of the Gondwanan nephilid spider lineage Clitaetrinae (Araneae, Nephilidae). Zoologica Scripta, 35, 19–62.

    Kuntner, M. (2007) A monograph of Nephilengys, the pantropical ‘hermit spiders’ (Araneae, Nephilidae, Nephilinae). Systematic Entomology, 32, 95–135.

    Kuntner, M., Coddington, J.A. & Hormiga G. (2008) Phylogeny of extant nephilid orb-weaving spiders (Araneae, Nephilidae): testing morphological and ethological homologies. Cladistics, 24, 147–217.

    Levi, H.W. (1976). The orb-weaver genera Verrucosa, Acanthepeira, Wagneriana, Acacesia, Wixia, Scoloderus and Alpaida north of Mexico. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 147, 351–391.

    Levi, H.W. (1977) The American orb-weaver genera Metepeira, Kaira, and Aculepeira north of Mexico (Araneae: Araneidae). Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 148, 185–238.

    Levi, H.W. (1983) The orb-weaver genera Argiope, Gea, and Neogea from the Western Pacific Region (Araneae: Araneidae, Argiopinae). Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 150, 247–338.

    Levi, H.W. (2002) Keys to the genera of araneid orbweavers (Araneae, Araneidae) of the Americas. Journal of Arachnology, 30, 527–562.

    Levi, H.W. (2005) Araneidae. In: Ubick, D., Paquin, P., Cushing, P.E. & Roth, V. (Eds),Spiders of North America: An Identification Manual. American Arachnological Society, pp. 68–74.

    Lubin, Y.D. (1973) Web structure and function: the non-adhesive orb-web of Cyrtophora moluccensis (Doleschall) (Araneae: Araneidae). Forma et Functio, 6, 337–358.

    Maddison, W. P. & Maddison D. (2007) Mesquite: a modular system for evolutionary analysis. Version 2.01, http://mesquiteproject.org (verified 21 February 2008).

    Murphy, N.P., Framenau, V.W., Donnellan, S.C., Harvey, M.S., Park, Y. & Austin, A.D. (2006) Phylogenetic reconstruction of the wolf spiders (Araneae: Lycosidae) using sequences from the 12S rRNA, 28S rRNA, and NADH1 genes: implications for classification, biogeography, and the evolution of web building behavior. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 38, 583–602.

    Nixon, K.C. (2002) WinClada vers. 1.00.08. Published by the author, Ithaca, NY. Available at http://www.cladistics.com/aboutWinc.htm (verified 21 February 2008).

    Platnick, N.I. (2008) The World Spider Catalog, version 8.5. American Museum of Natural History, online at http://research.amnh.org/entomology/spiders/catalog/index.html (verified 21 February 2008).

    Raven, R.J., Baehr, B.C & Harvey, M.S. (2002) Spiders of Australia. Interactive Identification to Subfamily. CD-ROM, CSIRO and Australian Biological Resource Study.

    Robinson, M.H. & Lubin, Y.D. (1979) Specialists and generalists: The ecology and behaviour of some web-building spiders from Papua New Guinea. 1. Herennia ornatissima, Argiope ocyaloides and Arachnura melanura (Araneae: Araneidae). Pacific Insects, 21, 97–132.

    Robinson, M.H. & Robinson, B. (1972) The structure, possible function and origin of the remarkable ladder-web built by a New Guinea orb-web spider (Araneae: Araneidae). Journal of Natural History, 6, 687–694.

    Scharff, N. & Coddington, J.A. (1997) A phylogenetic analysis of the orb-weaving spider family Araneidae (Arachnida, Araneae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 120, 355–434.

    Smith, H.M. (2006) A revision of the genus Poltys in Australasia (Araneae: Araneidae). Records of the Australian Museum, 58, 43–96.

    Stowe, M.K. (1978) Observations of two nocturnal orbweavers that build specialised webs: Scoloderus cordatus and Wixia ectypa (Araneae: Araneidae). Journal of Arachnology, 6, 141–146.

    Willey, M.B., Johnson, M.A. & Adler, P.H. (1992) Predatory behavior of the basilica spider, Mecynogea lemniscata (Araneae, Araneidae). Psyche, 99, 153–168.