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ISSN: 2653-4649 (Online)
Australian Journal of
Taxonomy
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A review of the Western Australian species of the keeled trapdoor spider genus Stanwellia (Araneae: Mygalomorphae: Pycnothelidae)
Mark S. Harvey, Peter U. Middelfart, Michael G. Rix & Jeremy D. Wilson
Author details ⏷
Mark S. Harvey[1,2,3], Peter U. Middelfart[1], Michael G. Rix[3,1] & Jeremy D. Wilson[2,1,3]
[1] Collections & Research, Western Australian Museum, 49 Kew Street, Welshpool, Western Australia 6106, Australia.
[2] School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia.
[3] Biodiversity and Geosciences Program, Queensland Museum Collections & Research Centre, Hendra, Queensland 4011, Australia.
Abstract
Keeled trapdoor spiders of the genus Stanwellia (Pycnothelidae) are found in the mesic forest ecosystems of southern Australia and New Zealand, but they are rarely encountered in south-western Australia. After examining all Stanwellia specimens in the Western Australian Museum collection, we provide descriptions of four new species from the high rainfall zone of temperate Western Australia, each of which occupies a narrow distribution: S. longinqua, sp. nov., S. mainae, sp. nov., S. oraria, sp. nov. and S. pauxilla, sp. nov. We include three of these species in a multi-gene molecular phylogeny, along with other species of Stanwellia from eastern Australia and New Zealand. The phylogeny failed to recover the Western Australian species in a monophyletic clade, with S. oraria, sp. nov. and S. pauxilla, sp. nov. as sister-taxa, and S. longinqua, sp. nov. as sister to all other Stanwellia species.
Cite this paper as: Harvey MS, Middelfart PU, Rix MG & Wilson JD (2025). A review of the Western Australian species of the keeled trapdoor spider genus Stanwellia (Araneae: Mygalomorphae: Pycnothelidae). Australian Journal of Taxonomy 99: 1–20. doi: https://doi.org/10.54102/ajt.fsupm
This paper was published on: 9/9/2025
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