Molecular and morphological characterisation of new species in the trapdoor spider genus Aname (Araneae: Mygalomorphae: Nemesiidae) from the Pilbara bioregion of Western Australia

Abstract

A study of selected species in the nemesiid spider genus Aname L. Koch, 1873 from the Pilbara bioregion of Western Australia was undertaken using molecular and morphological techniques. Bayesian and parsimony analyses of mitochondrial sequence data from the Cytochrome c Oxidase subunit I (COI) gene found evidence for four species, confirming our initial morphological examination of adult male specimens. These four species are here described as A. mellosa n. sp., A. aragog n. sp., A. ellenae n. sp. and A. marae n. sp. Only the female of A. mellosa n. sp. is described.