Four new tri-forked species of the Australian genus Abantiades Herrich-Schäffer (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae) from the “dark obscura clade”

A distinct group of Abantiades Herrich-Schäffer species is here confirmed as a valid clade that we refer to as the “dark obscura clade” supported by morphological and mtDNA evidence. The clade is the sister group of A. obscura Simonsen of north-western Australia and comprises four new species: Abantiades centralia sp. nov., A. kayi sp. nov., A. zonatriticum sp. nov., and A. hutchinsoni sp. nov. These species together with A. obscura, are reciprocally allopatric and have a combined distribution spanning much of the western half of Australia and this distribution is consistent with their each differentiating locally from a widespread ancestor. The four new species raise the diversity of Abantiades to 42 species. [Zoobank urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:C05458D1-0D34-4432-8EC4-D031ED6B7BEF]

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A new species of Pseudophryne (Anura: Myobatrachidae) from the central Australian ranges

Zootaxa ◽

10.11646/zootaxa.3476.1.4 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 3476 (1) ◽

pp. 69 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

S. C. DONNELLAN ◽

M. J. MAHONY ◽

T. BERTOZZI

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

Western Australia ◽

South Australia ◽

Morphological Characters ◽

Color Pattern ◽

Nominal Species ◽

Separate Species ◽

Eastern Australia ◽

Western Half ◽

North Western

The myobatrachid frog genus Pseudophryne is highly variable in color pattern in eastern Australia where many species are distinguished by distinctive dorsal patterns. In contrast Pseudophryne from the western half of the continent are morphologically conservative. Two nominal species are widespread in south-western Australia and north-western South Australia, with one, P. occidentalis, being found in semi-arid and arid regions. Using mitochondrial DNA and morphological characters we establish that populations in the ranges of north-western South Australia assigned to P. occidentalis are a separate species. The new species comprises one of four major lineages of Pseudophryne while P. occidentalis falls within another lineage confined to south-western Australia.

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Second representative of the order Misophrioida (Crustacea, Copepoda) from Australia challenges the hypothesis of the Tethyan origin of some anchialine faunas

Zootaxa ◽

10.11646/zootaxa.2059.1.5 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 2059 (1) ◽

pp. 51-68 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

TOMISLAV KARANOVIC ◽

STEFAN M. EBERHARD

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

Western Australia ◽

Apical Seta ◽

Aquatic Fauna ◽

The North ◽

Ecological Implications ◽

Coastal Margin ◽

North Western ◽

A New Species ◽

Swimming Leg

A new species of the genus Speleophria is described from a cave in the Nullarbor region in southern Western Australia. Its congeners include species from the Balearics, Croatia, Bermuda, Yucatan peninsula and north-western Western Australia, all considered to be Tethyan relicts. However, the discovery of the new speleophriid in the Nullarbor region has important biogeographic and ecological implications. From the biogeographic perspective, it either suggests dispersal as the process determining the current distribution pattern of the aquatic fauna found on the Roe Plains or significantly extends the Tethyan track across Australia, from the north-western coastal margin of the continent to the southern coastal margin. From an ecologic perspective, the new speleophriid suggests the possible existence of anchialine habitats in southern Australia. Speleophria nullarborensis sp. nov. can be distinguished from its four congeners by its plesiomorphic 3-segmented endopod of the first swimming leg (2-segmented in other species) and unusually long innermost apical seta on the caudal ramus. Another character that easily distinguishes our new species, and seems to be an autapomorphic feature, is its constricted preanal somite.

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An overview of the genus Radiospongilla (Porifera, Spongillida) with description of a new species from Australia

Zootaxa ◽

10.11646/zootaxa.4834.1.4 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4834 (1) ◽

pp. 66-80

Author(s):

R. PRONZATO ◽

R. MANCONI

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

Western Australia ◽

Outer Layer ◽

Identification Key ◽

Freshwater Sponges ◽

Biogeographic Pattern ◽

Biogeographic Regions ◽

North Western ◽

A New Species

A new species of freshwater sponges is described from Australia. The new species Radiospongilla fungosa is characterized by the following traits ‘megascleres microspiny stout oxeas with scattered, small, simple spines except tips’, and by having ‘gemmuloscleres long, slim, spiny strongyles with scattered simple spines and hooked spines clustered at tips’, ‘gemmular theca with 2 layers of gemmuloscleres radially and tangentially arranged’, ‘pneumatic layer irregularly filamentous network (near inner layer) and thin laminae irregularly arranged (towards outer layer)’. We discuss the relationships of the new species to other members of the genus both from Australia, particularly North-Western Australia, and from other biogeographic regions on the basis of diagnostic morphotraits. An overview on the taxonomy, biogeographic pattern and phylogeny of the genus is supplied and updated to present, together with an updated identification key for Australia species. The diagnosis of the genus Radiospongilla is emended.

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Acacia valida (Fabaceae, Mimosoideae), a new species from Western Australia and the Northern Territory, as well as the typification and revision of A. Pachyphloia

Australian Systematic Botany ◽

10.1071/sb9960307 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

pp. 307

Author(s):

MD Tindale ◽

PG Kodela

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

Western Australia ◽

Northern Territory ◽

North Western ◽

A New Species

Acacia valida, a new species of Acacia subgenus Acacia from the northern parts of the Northern Territory and Western Australia is described and illustrated. A lectotype is selected for Acacia pachyphloia and two subspecies are recognised. Acacia pachyphloia subsp. pachyphloia occurs in the Northern Territory and north Western Australia, and A. pachyphloia subsp. brevipirznula subsp. nov. occurs in north Western Australia.

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Biology and Systematics of a New Limnodynastine Genus (Anura: Leptodactylidae) From North-Western Australia.

Australian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1071/zo9790135 ◽

1979 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

pp. 135 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

MJ Tyler ◽

AA Martin ◽

M Davies

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

Western Australia ◽

Northern Territory ◽

Temporary Pools ◽

Male Mating ◽

Mating Call ◽

Black Bodies ◽

North Western ◽

Foam Nest

The new leptodactylid genus Megistolotis and new species Megistolotis lignarius are described from localities in northern Western Australia and the Northern Territory. M. lignarius inhabits scree slopes and escarpments. The male mating call is a single note resembling the striking of timber. The spawn clump is a foam nest anchored to stones at the edge of small, temporary pools, and the tadpoles have intense black bodies and fins, and suctorial mouths. Megistolotis is most closely related to the limnodynastine genera Limnodynastes and Heleioporus.

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