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Systematics, phylogeny and biogeography
RESEARCH ARTICLE

The first indigenous palpigrade from Australia: a new species of Eukoenenia (Palpigradi : Eukoeneniidae)

Pablo Barranco A and Mark S. Harvey B C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Dpto. Biología Aplicada, Cite II-B, Universidad de Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain.

B Department of Terrestrial Zoology, Western Australian Museum, Locked Bag 49, Welshpool DC, Western Australia 6986, Australia.

C Corresponding author. Email: mark.harvey@museum.wa.gov.au

Invertebrate Systematics 22(2) 227-233 https://doi.org/10.1071/IS07031
Submitted: 10 July 2007  Accepted: 30 January 2008   Published: 12 May 2008

Abstract

We present a description of the first indigenous member of the arachnid order Palpigradi from Australia. Eukoenenia guzikae, sp. nov. was collected from subterranean environments in the Yilgarn region of Western Australia. The sole male specimen differs from all other members of the genus in several small but significant ways, including by the combined presence of six blades in the prosomal lateral organs, nine pairs of setae on the propeltidium, the presence of a spur on coxa IV, the chaetotaxy of sternites IV–VIII, and the shape of the male genital lobes. It shows some similarities in the male genital region to a group of species found in Madagascar.


Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to Michelle Guzik and Tessa Bradford for their fine collecting efforts on Sturt Meadows Station, and especially to Michelle Guzik, who first recognised the specimen as worthy of further attention. We also wish to thank Bill Humphreys (Western Australian Museum, Perth) and David Hirst (South Australian Museum, Adelaide) for access to other Australian palpigrade specimens, and to two anonymous referees for their comments on the manuscript.


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