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Pompilus australis Guérin–Méneville,1838 :260. Type data: syntypes MCG one male and one female. Type locality: NSW, Sydney (as Port Jackson, Nouvelle–Hollande); Froggatt, 1892:212 [cat.]; Guiglia, 1948:178; Guiglia & Pasteels, 1961:19 [notes on the type (in Italian)]. Cryptochilus (Prionocnemis) australis Schulz, 1906:166 [comb. nov., status as a senior secondary homonym of Cryptochilus (Prionocnemis) australis Holmberg, 1903; Schulz, 1911:115, 207 [note.].
Length 10-20mm; color black and orange; body not heavily covered with setae, almost bare; head of a female with face and vertex yellow-orange, except for a black band as wide as ocellar triangle passing through ocelli and reaching compound eyes; head of a male with vertex and the disc of frons black; propodeum without tubercles; second metasomal segment sometimes with a very narrow, apical black band.
Female
Colouration. Head orange yellow except for a narrow area between the eyes, the end of the mandible, and the occipital region, which are dark/black; mesosoma black except for tegula which is orange; tibiae and tarsi orange, femora black basally, orange apically; first metasomal segment black, second metasomal segment orange, sometimes with a narrow apical black band, remainder yellow-orange; wings yellow-orange, with a narrow apical darkening.
Head. Head wider than long, TFD/FD = 1.2; posterior ocelli closer to each other than to the compound eye, POL: OOL = 0.75; frons with the median line reaching median ocellus; apical margin of clypeus slightly concave; clypeus rather short, clypeus length: width = 2.27; labrum on same plain as clypeus, moderately exposed beneath; malar space very short, almost absent; first flagellar segment slightly longer than the second.
Mesosoma. Mesosoma polished with few setae, pronotum relatively short, with a very weak median line, its posterior margin strongly angulate; metanotum knobbed; metapostnotum suppressed; propodeum slightly wrinkled across with median line, without tubercules; the dorsal edge of the hind tibia with carina bearing spines; tarsal claws dentate.
Metasoma. Metasoma polished, pygidium covered by short, abundant setae, metasoma 1.21x length of mesosoma.
Male
Similar to females except for differences described here: vertex and most of the frons black; clypeus relatively long; hind tibiae without serration with short spines; body size smaller.
Mentions: Heterodontonyx australis Haupt, 1935a:309 [comb. nov., desc., fig.]. Cryptocheilus australis Harris, 1987:25 [comb. nov., descr., figs., biol., dist. (New Zealand), notes]; Forster, 1994:215 [note]; Harris, 1999:143–158, 223, 226, 229–232 [notes, list, biol., figs.]. Elliot, 2007:20 [cat.].
Prey records: Dolomedes minor Koch, 1872; Dolomedes aquaticus Goyen, 1888; Dolomedes spp. (Pisauridae) (Harris, 1999:157)
Adult food sources: Leptospermum scoparium Forst. & Forst. (Myrtaceae); Pastinaca sativa L. (Apiaceae) (Harris, 1987:28 and Harris, 1999:157); Gomphocarpus physocarpus E. Mey. (Asclepiadaceae) (Forster, 1994:215).
Distribution: NSW, New Zealand (North Island). Tas., WA, Qld. (Elliot, 2007) New records: NT, SA, New Caledonia.
Material examined
Holotype image
The male lectotype is from the Guérin collection and was determined by Raymond Wahis in 1995. The material is pinned on a paper card and in fair condition, some legs and antennal segments are missing from both sides. The female paralectotype is from the Guérin collection and was determined by Raymond Wahis in 1995. The material is pinned on a paper card and in fair condition, both eyes, distal segments from the left antenna and legs are missing, and wings also are slightly torn.