Australian Goblin Spiders of the GenusIschnothyreus(Araneae, Oonopidae)

A dated molecular phylogeny of mite harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones: Cyphophthalmi) elucidates ancient diversification dynamics in the Australian Wet Tropics

“…Previous researchers have highlighted the potential of the Wet Tropics as a system in which to study not only the evolutionary effects of changing climate during the Quaternary, but also much more ancient diversification processes; for example, Moreau et al (2015) found evidence for deep divergences among species of Terrisswalkeris, a group of endemic earthworms with species ranges comparable in scale to those seen in Austropurcellia. Other dispersal-limited animals such as microhylid frogs (Hoskin, 2004), velvet worms (Oliveira and Mayer, 2017), assassin spiders (Rix and Harvey, 2012), and goblin spiders (Edward, 2011) have high diversity within the Wet Tropics. While molecular phylogenetic work has been performed in some of these groups, in no case have the Wet Tropics lineages been the subject of phylogenetic analyses and molecular dating with dense taxon sampling.…”

Historical refugia have shaped biogeographical patterns of species richness and phylogenetic diversity in mite harvestmen (Arachnida, Opiliones, Cyphophthalmi) endemic to the Australian Wet Tropics

“…For example, such short‐range endemics ( sensu Harvey, ) have been used to test the Gondwanan vicariance hypothesis (Boyer & Giribet, ), the New Zealand Oligocene drowning hypothesis (Boyer & Giribet, ), the museum model of biodiversity preservation in African tropical forests (Murienne et al ., ) and the role of aridification in diversification of forest‐restricted animals across Queensland (Rix & Harvey, ). Arachnologists have recently published authoritative accounts of the diversity of Wet Tropics goblin spiders (Edward & Harvey, ) and assassin spiders (Rix & Harvey, ), laying groundwork that could support comparative studies of animals that are co‐distributed with and ecologically similar to Austropurcellia . We hope that our study will encourage such future work on the evolutionary history of the arachnid fauna of the Wet Tropics.…”

Three new species of the genus Ischnothyreus Simon, 1893 and the discovery of the male of I. linzhiensis Hu, 2001 from Tibet, China (Araneae, Oonopidae)

“… comicus Edward & Harvey, 2014 in the size of the abdominal scuta, but can be distinguished by the semicircle-shaped depression of the endogyne (Fig. 5H ) vs. a smile-shaped depression (see Edward and Harvey 2014 : figs 13I, 14F).…”