Meeting Abstract

P2.216  Saturday, Jan. 5  New species of mite harvestmen from Southeast Queensland, Australia greatly extend the known distribution of the genus Austropurcellia (Arachnida, Opiliones, Cyphophthalmi) POPKIN-HALL, ZR*; BOYER, SL; Macalester College; Macalester College zpopkinh@macalester.edu

Cyphophthalmi, commonly known as mite harvestmen, are a globally-distributed lineage of small arachnids that inhabit leaf-litter habitats. Austropurcellia Juberthie 1988 is a genus of mite harvestmen known from numerous localities in the Wet Tropics and now a few localities in Southern Queensland, Australia. We describe three new species of Austropurcellia (A. acuta, A. barbata, A. superba) from museum lots; each new species is known from only a single collection and few specimens. We present a new distribution map of the genus, greatly expanding its known range to almost the entire east coast of Queensland and discuss the importance of the Burdekin Gap (Kikkawa & Pearse 1979) in its current distribution. We have begun to understand the biogeography and morphological variation of mite harvestmen in Queensland, but that understanding would be greatly augmented with the addition of genetic data and additional sampling in southeastern Australia, extending throughout Queensland but also into New South Wales.