Aname

Abstract: . The trapdoor spider family Nemesiidae comprises 14 genera in Australia, the majority of which are included in the subfamily Anaminae. Here we provide evidence from a multigene molecular analysis of most Australian genera of Anaminae for a previously unrecognised clade that also differs from its sister-genus, Aname L. Koch, by the lack of a prominent asetose ventral depression on the pedipalpal tibia and the medium-sized mating spur on tibia I of males. This depression is a characteristic of all species of Aname examined to date, and represents a newly recognised character system in the subfamily. The new genus, named Hesperonatalius, is represented by three new species – H. maxwelli, sp. nov., H. harrietae, sp. nov. and H. langlandsi, sp. nov. – all from arid Western Australia.

Abstract: A study of selected species in the nemesiid spider genus Aname L. Koch, 1873 from the Pilbara bioregion of Western Australia was undertaken using molecular and morphological techniques. Bayesian and parsimony analyses of mitochondrial sequence data from the Cytochrome c Oxidase subunit I (COI) gene found evidence for four species, confirming our initial morphological examination of adult male specimens. These four species are here described as A. mellosa n. sp., A. aragog n. sp., A. ellenae n. sp. and A. marae n. sp. Only the female of A. mellosa n. sp. is described.

Abstract: Eleven new species of the Aname pallida species-group - defined as having males with an elongate embolus and incrassate metatarsus I - are described; three previously described species are revised. Chenistonza giraulti Rainbow is newly synonymized with A, pallida Koch; A. atra (Strand) and A. distincta (Rainbow) are considered valid. The recent designation of a neotype of Dekana diversicolor Hogg is found to be invalid because of significant differences between the designated specimen and the original description, and the type locality is now considered to be in western Queensland. Biological and behavioural notes are given for some species. Species for which males have not been described are considered Aname species of unresolved infrageneric affinities. The following species of the A, pallida group are treated: A. pallida Koch, A. atra (Strand), A, barrema, sp. nov., A. blackdownensis, sp. nov., A. camara, sp. nov., A. carina, sp. nov., A. collinsorum, sp. nov., A. diversicolor (Hogg), A. distincta (Rainbow), A. humptjidoo, sp. nov., A. inimica, sp. nov., A. longitheca, sp. nov., A, robertsorum, sp. nov., A. tigrina, sp. nov., and A, warialda, sp. nov. A. kirrama Raven, 1984 is included only in the key.

Abstract: The open-holed trapdoor spider genus Aname L. Koch, 1873 is widely distributed throughout Australia, and currently contains 44 named species. Using a combination of morphological and molecular data, we describe five new species from the Wheatbelt, Mid-west and Goldfields regions of Western Australia: A. exulans sp. nov., A. lillianae sp. nov., A. mccleeryorum sp. nov., A. phillipae sp. nov. and A. simoneae sp. nov. The female holotype of Aname armigera Rainbow and Pulleine, 1918 from near Mullewa was examined and found to belong to the genus Proshermacha Simon forming the new combination P. armigera (Rainbow and Pulleine, 1918), comb. nov.