Meeting Abstract
A new armored harvestman species from the Wet Tropics of Queensland, Australia is identified using morphology and DNA. This new species from the genus Zalmoxis is described and illustrated using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Shape of the body, coloration of carapace, and ornamentation of the body and legs are used in preliminary assessment of the morphologically distinct characteristics in this species. Light microscopy and SEM images were taken of specimens and were used to compare with each other and images from morphological descriptions in published literature. We sequenced the mitochondrial gene cytochrome oxidase 1 (CO1) and nuclear gene histone-3 (H3) and used the data to generate a maximum likelihood phylogeny in RAxML. The resulting tree strongly supported the monophyly of Zalmoxis n. sp. nested within Zalmoxis, and the monophyly of all Australian Wet Tropics (AWT) Zalmoxis species. ArcGIS was used to map the known distribution of Zalmoxis n. sp., which is limited to the central Wet Tropics, south of the Black Mountain Corridor and slightly overlapping the range of Z. cardwellensis. The morphological, molecular, and geographical data support the discovery of this new species of Zalmoxis from the Wet Tropics although further work needs to be done to explore the diversity of this genus and address unresolved phylogenetic relationships within Zalmoxis.
