''Zephyrarchaea austini'' or the Kangaroo Island assassin spider is a species of Australian

assassin spiders Archaeidae, also known as assassin spiders and pelican spiders, is a spider family with about ninety described species in five genera. It contains small spiders, ranging from long, that prey exclusively on other spiders. They are unusual in that ...

that is endemic to the north west of

Kangaroo Island Kangaroo Island, also known as Karta Pintingga (literally 'Island of the Dead' in the language of the Kaurna people), is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. It was discovered in 2010, and described 2012 by Michael G. Rix and

Mark Harvey Mark Harvey (born 11 June 1965) is a former Australian rules football player and coach. He played over 200 games during fourteen seasons with the Essendon Football Club, winning three premierships, and was senior coach of Fremantle from 2007 t ...

, and named for Andy Austin.

Description

The Kangaroo Island assassin spider is in size and lives in

leaf litter Plant litter (also leaf litter, tree litter, soil litter, litterfall or duff) is dead plant material (such as leaves, bark, needles, twigs, and cladodes) that have fallen to the ground. This detritus or dead organic material and its constituent ...

of wet

eucalypt Eucalypt is a descriptive name for woody plants with capsule fruiting bodies belonging to seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australasia: ''Eucalyptus'', '' Corymbia'', '' Angophora'', ''Stockwellia'', ''Allosyn ...

woodland near Billy Goat Falls in the Western River Wilderness Protection Area on the island. The females are distinguished from other members of the ''

Zephyrarchaea ''Zephyrarchaea'' is a genus of Australian Archaeidae, assassin spiders first described by Michael Gordon Rix & Mark Harvey (arachnologist), Mark Harvey in 2012 for nine new species and two that were formerly placed in the genus ''Austrarchaea''. ...

'' genus by a small body size, a carapace length of less than 1.10mm a height/length ratio of less than 1.70mm. Additionally they have no tubercles on the abdomen, and a "strongly concave post-ocular depression in the lateral view". The males are unknown. Versioned wiki page: 2012-05-07, version 24292, https://species-id.net/w/index.php?title=Zephyrarchaea_austini&oldid=24292 , contributors (alphabetical order): Pensoft Publishers.

Conservation status

They were thought to be possibly extinct following the 2019–2020 Australian bushfires, after their only known habitat was burnt. The scientists who originally discovered it describe its survival is "unlikely at best". However, a female and a juvenile spider were found in September 2021 by researchers from the

South Australian Museum The South Australian Museum is a natural history museum and research institution in Adelaide, South Australia, founded in 1856 and owned by the Government of South Australia. It occupies a complex of buildings on North Terrace in the cultu ...

, and DNA analysis confirmed that they were of the same species. The facts that they were found outside the species' formerly known range in the Western River Protection Area, and that one is a juvenile, has given hope that there may be more populations. However the low dispersal remaining after the fires has likely led to less genetic diversity and therefore greater vulnerability, so intervention may be considered in the future to assist survival.

References

Archaeidae Endemic fauna of Australia Spiders described in 2012 Spiders of Australia {{Archaeidae-stub