Patelliella adusta Rix & Harvey, sp. n. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 1AD1C743-0B7A-4F65-9AFB-CD6A34402E82 Figs 7N, 143–151, 216 Type material. Holotype male: Mount Gower summit, D Gully, Lord Howe Island, New South Wales, Australia, 850 m, moss on trees, 16.XI.1979, G. Monteith (QMB S88030). Paratypes: Allotype female, same data as holotype (QMB S88031); 2 males and 1 female, same data as holotype (QMB S88032 SEM♁ ♀); 2 females, east end of Mount Gower summit, leaf litter ex Dawsonia, moss off log, 31°35'07"S, 159°04'43"E, 15.V.2001, I. Hutton (AMS KS79112). Other material examined. AUSTRALIA: New South Wales: Lord Howe Island: Mount Gower: far eastern edge of Little Pocket, leaf litter, 31°35'23"S, 159°04'11"E, 23.V.2002, I. Hutton, 1♀ (AMS KS88975); midway down ridge N. of igloo, moss, 31°35'05"S, 159°04'35"E, 20.XI.2001, I. Hutton, 1♀ (AMS KS85197); ridge, leaf litter ex moss, 31°35'18"S, 159°04'20"E, 20.XI.2001, I. Hutton, P. Flemons, C. Reid, 1♀ (AMS KS85198); Station 45, north-eastern area of summit, in lichen on tree trunks, 31°35'12"S, 159°04'42"E, 15.II.1971, M. Gray, 1♁ (AMS KS86058); summit, litter, 31°35'23"S, 159°04'19"E, 1.II.1979, T. Kingston, B. Miller, 2♀ (AMS KS88977); top of gully N. of igloo, leaf litter ex moss, 31°35'07"S, 159°04'36"E, 20.XI.2001, I. Hutton, P. Flemons, C. Reid, 1♁ (AMS KS79111); top of large ridge, 31°35'16"S, 159°04'24"E, 20.XI.2001, I. Hutton, P. Flemons, C. Reid, 1♁, 1♀ (AMS KS79113). Mount Lidgbird: 31°33'S, 159°05'E, 1978, T. Kingston, 1♁ (AMS KS88976). Etymology. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin ‘adustus’, meaning ‘tanned’ or ‘brown’ (Brown 1956), and refers to the brown body colouration of this species. Diagnosis. As for the tribe Patelliellini (see above). Description. Holotype male: Total length 1.18. Carapace 0.57 long, 0.50 wide. Abdomen 0.78 long, 0.65 wide. Leg I femur 0.47. Cephalothorax, abdominal sclerites brown; legs tan-yellow; abdomen dark-olive. Carapace significantly raised anteriorly, not fused to sternum except around petiole; dorsal surface of pars cephalica slightly convex in lateral view; clypeus bulging anteriorly. Eight eyes present on anterior margin of pars cephalica; AME 0.6x diameter of ALE; PME separated by slightly less than their own diameter. Chelicerae each with bulging anterior projection; promargin with one peg tooth. Legs relatively short (leg I femur-carapace ratio 0.82); macrosetae absent. Abdomen oval, covered with hair-like setae; dorsal scute large, covering most of dorsal surface of abdomen; lateral sclerotic strips absent. Pedipalp as for the Tribe Patelliellini (see above). Allotype female: Total length 1.23. Carapace 0.57 long, 0.45 wide. Abdomen 0.88 long, 0.67 wide. Leg I femur 0.43. Cephalothorax, abdominal sclerites brown; legs tan-yellow; abdomen olive. Carapace raised anteriorly, not fused to sternum except around petiole; dorsal surface of pars cephalica slightly convex in lateral view; clypeus bulging anteriorly. Eight eyes present on anterior margin of pars cephalica; AME 0.6x diameter of ALE; PME separated by slightly less than their own diameter. Chelicerae without bulging anterior projections; promargin without peg teeth. Legs relatively short (leg I femur-carapace ratio 0.75); macrosetae absent. Abdomen oval, covered with hair-like setae, each seta projecting from small sclerotic spot; dorsal scute and lateral sclerotic strips absent. Pedipalp entire, five-segmented. Epigyne as for the Tribe Patelliellini (see above). Distribution. Known only from southern Lord Howe Island in the western Pacific Ocean, 780 km north-east of Sydney (Fig. 216). Remarks. Patelliella adusta has been collected only from the wet, montane cloud forest that occurs on the 27 hectare summit of Mount Gower, Lord Howe Island (Figs 220 B–E), with a single additional specimen collected from nearby Mount Lidgbird (Figs 216, 220). The species is remarkable among Micropholcommatinae in having no known close relatives, and as such its presence on Lord Howe Island is puzzling, given the recent Australasian affinities of most of the fauna and flora of the island (Hutton 1998; Savolainen et al. 2006; Austin and Jennings 2009). Unlike the sympatric micropholcommatid species Taphiassa magna and Rayforstia lordhowensis, P. adusta has never been collected in the lowland forests on the northern half of the island, and the main population is restricted to the small, 850 m high plateau-like summit of Mount Gower (Figs 216, 220). Clearly, given its unique phylogenetic position and extremely limited distribution, this enigmatic species is of the highest conservation significance. Subfamily Taphiassinae Rix & Harvey, subfam. n. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 69327955-5C5C-49FA-BA8E-71151812EABB

{"references": ["Brown RW (1956) Composition of Scientific Words: A Manual of Methods and a Lexicon of Materials for the Practice of Logotechnics. Smithsonian Books, Washington, DC, 882 pp.", "Hutton I (1998) The Australian Geographic Book of Lord Howe Island. Australian Geographic, Terrey Hills, 151 pp.", "Savolainen V, Anstett MC, Lexar C, Hutton I, Clarkson JJ, Norup MV, Powell MP, Springate D, Salamin N, Baker WJ (2006) Sympatric speciation in palms on an oceanic island. Nature 441: 210 - 213.", "Austin AD, Jennings JT (2009) A new highly aberrant doryctine wasp, Spathius lubomiri sp. n. (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Doryctinae), from Lord Howe Island. ZooKeys 20: 275 - 284."]}

Published as part of Rix, Michael & Harvey, Mark, 2010, The spider family Micropholcommatidae (Arachnida: Araneae: Araneoidea): a relimitation and revision at the generic level, pp. 1-321 in ZooKeys 36 (36) on pages 78-79, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.36.306, http://zenodo.org/record/576620