A revision of the textricellin spider genus Raveniella (Araneae : Araneoidea : Micropholcommatidae): exploring patterns of phylogeny and biogeography in an Australian biodiversity hotspot
Michael G. Rix A B C , Mark S. Harvey B A and J. Dale Roberts AA School of Animal Biology M092, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Perth, WA 6009, Australia.
B Department of Terrestrial Zoology, Western Australian Museum, Locked Bag 49, Welsphool D.C., Perth, WA 6986, Australia.
C Corresponding author. Email: michael.rix@museum.wa.gov.au
Invertebrate Systematics 24(3) 209-237 https://doi.org/10.1071/IS09048
Submitted: 4 December 2009 Accepted: 12 June 2010 Published: 30 August 2010
Abstract
South-western Western Australia is a biodiversity hotspot, with high levels of local endemism and a rich but largely undescribed terrestrial invertebrate fauna. Very few phylogeographic studies have been undertaken on south-western Australian invertebrate taxa, and almost nothing is known about historical biogeographic or cladogenic processes, particularly on the relatively young, speciose Quaternary sand dune habitats of the Swan Coastal Plain. Phylogeographic and taxonomic patterns were studied in textricellin micropholcommatid spiders belonging to the genus Raveniella Rix & Harvey. The Micropholcommatidae is a family of small spiders with a widespread distribution in southern Western Australia, and most species are spatially restricted to refugial microhabitats. In total, 340 specimens of Raveniella were collected from 36 surveyed localities on the Swan Coastal Plain and 17 non-Swan Coastal Plain reference localities in south-western Western Australia. Fragments from three nuclear rRNA genes (5.8S, 18S and ITS2), and one mitochondrial protein-coding gene (COI) were used to infer the phylogeny of the genus Raveniella, and to examine phylogeographic patterns on the Swan Coastal Plain. Five new species of Raveniella are described from Western Australia (R. arenacea, sp. nov., R. cirrata, sp. nov., R. janineae, sp. nov., R. mucronata, sp. nov. and R. subcirrata, sp. nov.), along with a single new species from south-eastern Australia (R. apopsis, sp. nov.). Four species of Raveniella were found on the Swan Coastal Plain: two with broader distributions in the High Rainfall and Transitional Rainfall Zones (R. peckorum Rix & Harvey, R. cirrata); and two endemic to the Swan Coastal Plain, found only on the western-most Quindalup dunes (R. arenacea, R. subcirrata). Two coastally restricted species (R. subcirrata, R. janineae) were found to be morphologically cryptic but genetically highly distinct, with female specimens morphologically indistinguishable from their respective sister-taxa (R. cirrata and R. peckorum). The greater Perth region is an important biogeographic overlap zone for all four Swan Coastal Plain species, where the ranges of two endemic coastal species join the northern and south-western limits of the ranges of R. peckorum and R. cirrata, respectively. Most species of Raveniella were found to occupy long, highly autapomorphic molecular branches exhibiting little intraspecific variation, and an analysis of ITS2 rRNA secondary structures among different species of Raveniella revealed the presence of an extraordinary hypervariable helix, ranging from 31 to over 400 nucleotides in length.
Acknowledgements
This research contributed to a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree by M. Rix, and was funded by the Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS) Ph.D. Research Scholarship (2006–2009), the School of Animal Biology at the University of Western Australia, and the Department of Terrestrial Zoology at the Western Australian Museum. Many colleagues generously provided specimens for study, but special thanks to Norman Platnick and Louis Sorkin (AMNH), and Petra Sierwald and James Boone (FMC) for the loan of large numbers of Australasian micropholcommatid specimens, and to Norman Platnick for authorising the transfer of AMNH specimens to the Australian and Western Australian Museums. Robert Raven and Owen Seeman (QMB), Graham Milledge (AMS) and Gonzalo Giribet (MCZ) are also thanked for the loan of additional taxa. Collections were made under permit in Western Australia, with licences issued by the Western Australian Department of Environment and Conservation (Licence Nos. SF005357, SF005814, SF006247). Gonzalo Giribet, Nikolaj Scharff, Gustavo Hormiga and four anonymous referees are thanked for making helpful comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript.
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