Araneopedis bogong, Mesibov, 2025

Araneopedis bogong sp. nov.

Figs 3 View Figure 3 , 15 A View Figure 15

Type material.

Holotype. Male, Bogong High Plains (Vic), 0.37 km E by N of junction of Bogong High Plains Road and Big River Firetrail, site HS 03-C-L 2 , -36.8725, 147.3218 ± 25 m, 1645–1665 m, coll. Nicholas Porch, 2024-04 - 22, 1 m 2 litter sample from closed shrubby snow gum woodland, NMV K 16482 GoogleMaps . Paratypes. 3 F, details as for holotype, NMV K 16481 GoogleMaps ; 1 M in 95 % EtOH, same details but 0.2 km E by N of junction of Bogong High Plains Road and Big River Firetrail, site HS 03-C-L 1 , -36.8730, 147.3199 ± 25 m, 1620–1640 m, NMV K 16480 GoogleMaps ; 1 M, 8 F, same details, NMV K 16483 GoogleMaps ; 1 M, same details but Dinner Plain area, 0.51 km SSW of JB Plain carpark, site HS 07-C-L 3 , -37.0264, 147.2187 ± 25 m, 1650 m, 2024-04 - 14, closed grassy / shrubby snow gum woodland, NMV K 16484 GoogleMaps .

Additional material.

None.

Diagnosis.

Adult males distinguished from Araneopedis buffalo sp. nov. by the similar sizes of posterior rings vs enlarged rings; and from other species of Araneopedis gen. nov. by the solenomere flattened and with a wide distal-facing concavity.

Description.

As for the genus, with the following details. Male / female length ca 9.0 / 9.0 mm, maximum midbody width 0.8 / 0.8 mm, midbody metatergite width ca 1.4 × prozonite width.

Telopodite base with upturned basal margin (Fig. 3 A View Figure 3 ), sparsely setose. Division of telopodite into lateral and medial branches and solenomere at ca 1 / 2 telopodite height; telopodite bulging posteriorly below division. Lateral branch (Fig. 3 B View Figure 3 ) a little taller than medial branch, narrow, flattened mediolaterally, bowed medially, tip curving posteriorly and pointed, lateral margin with triangular extension at ca 3 / 4 branch height. Medial branch widening from base and broadly truncate, concave posteriorly. Solenomere mediolaterally flattened, extending distally, then curving anterodistally, creating wide distal-facing concavity in profile, then tapering and curving posteriorly and terminating in posteriorly directed point with the opening of the prostatic groove.

Name.

Noun in apposition, for the Bogong High Plains, from which most of the known specimens were collected.

Distribution.

Collected from two locality clusters near Dinner Plain and east of Falls Creek in the Victorian mountains (Fig. 15 A View Figure 15 ), a linear range of ca 19 km, in subalpine woodland from 1620 to 1665 m. Possibly parapatric with A. porchi sp. nov.