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Systematics, phylogeny and biogeography
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Systematics of the Australian golden trapdoor spiders of the Euoplos variabilis-group (Mygalomorphae : Idiopidae : Euoplini): parapatry and sympatry between closely related species in subtropical Queensland

Jeremy D. Wilson https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5984-7674 A B C D and Michael G. Rix https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5086-3638 B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Avenida Ángel Gallardo 470, C1405DJR Buenos Aires, Argentina.

B Biodiversity and Geosciences Program, Queensland Museum, South Brisbane, Qld 4101, Australia.

C Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith School of Environment, Griffith University, Nathan, Qld 4111, Australia.

D Corresponding author. Email: jeremydwilson91@gmail.com

Invertebrate Systematics 35(5) 514-541 https://doi.org/10.1071/IS20055
Submitted: 23 July 2020  Accepted: 27 October 2020   Published: 28 June 2021

Abstract

The Australian golden trapdoor spiders of the tribe Euoplini (family Idiopidae) are among the most abundant and diverse of mygalomorph lineages in subtropical eastern Australia. Throughout this highly populated area, species in the monophyletic Euoplos variabilis-group are largely ubiquitous; however, species delimitation has long proven difficult in the group because species are morphologically very similar and have parapatric or even sympatric distributions. We address these challenges in the variabilis-group, and explore the phylogeny and taxonomy of species using an integrative systematic approach. In doing so, we apply a conservative, pragmatic methodology, naming only species for which adequate data are available (namely sequence data and unequivocally linked male specimens), and explicitly stating and mapping material that could not be linked to a species, to aid future research on the group. We describe five new species from south-eastern Queensland –E. booloumba sp. nov., E. jayneae sp. nov., E. raveni sp. nov., E. regalis sp. nov. and E. schmidti sp. nov.; we redescribe two previously named species – E. similaris (Rainbow & Pulleine, 1918) and E. variabilis (Rainbow & Pulleine, 1918); and we reillustrate the recently described E. grandis Wilson & Rix, 2019. The nominate species, E. variabilis, is shown to have a far smaller distribution than previously thought, and E. similaris is given a modern taxonomic description for the first time. A key to adult male specimens is also provided. This study further reveals a case of sympatry between two species within the variabilis-group; both E. raveni sp. nov. and E. schmidti sp. nov. occur in the Brisbane Valley, south of the Brisbane River – a notable result given that closely related mygalomorph species usually occur allopatrically. This work updates what is currently known of the phylogeny and diversity of one of the dominant mygalomorph lineages of subtropical eastern Australia, resolving a complex and highly endemic fauna.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:A4FB92F6-EFFF-4468-B1D8-000D69923996

Keywords: Arbanitinae, Arachnida, Avicularioidea, biogeography, Domiothelina, molecular phylogenetics, speciation.


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