A revision of the Australian metaltellines (Araneae : Amaurobioidea : Amphinectidae : Metaltellinae)

Abstract

Seven new metaltelline genera (Quemusia, Magua, Keera, Jalkaraburra, Buyina, Cunnawarra and Penaoola) are described with the following new species:Q. aquilonia, Q. austrina, Q. raveni, Q. cordillera, M. wiangaree,K. longipalpis, J. alta, B. halifax, B. yeatesi,C. grayi, C. cassisi, P. algidaand P. madida. Patterns of the male palpal sclerites in eight Australian amaurobioids and Amaurobioides are illustrated and discussed. Cladistic analyses of the relationships between the Australian metaltelline species suggest that there are two clades, one of which includes the South American genera; it indicates thatCalacadia is more closely related to some of the Australian genera than it is to Metaltella. The metaltellines are transferred from the Amaurobiidae to the Amphinectidae on the basis that they appear to be more closely related to genera in this family than to Amaurobius fenestralis, the outgroup in the cladistic analyses.