Austrarchaea monteithi Rix & Harvey 2011

Austrarchaea monteithi is a species of spider in the family Archaeidae. It is endemic to Australia.

Holotype male: Total length 3.13; leg I femur 2.91; F1/CL ratio 2.58. Cephalothorax dark reddish-brown; legs tan-brown with darker annulations; abdomen mottled grey-brown and beige, with darker reddish-brown dorsal scute and sclerites (Fig. 19B). Carapace tall (CH/CL ratio 2.07); 1.13 long, 2.33 high, 1.05 wide; ‘neck’ 0.53 wide; bearing two pairs of rudimentary horns; highest point of pars cephalica (HPC) near middle of ‘head’ (ratio of HPC to post-ocular length 0.54), carapace with concave depression posterior to HPC; ‘head’ not strongly elevated dorsally (post-ocular ratio 0.25) (Fig. 9A). Chelicerae with short brush of accessory setae on anterior face of paturon (Fig. 19C). Abdomen 1.69 long, 1.10 wide; with five dorsal hump-like tubercles (HT 1–5), HT1–4 arranged in two pairs; dorsal scute fused anteriorly to epigastric sclerites, extending posteriorly to first pair of hump-like tubercles; HT 3–5 each covered by separate dorsal sclerites. Unexpanded pedipalp (Figs 19D-F) with stout, almost spherical bulb and thin, strongly hooked conductor; embolic sclerite with broad, looped proximal portion extending for entire length of conductor; tegular sclerite 1 (TS 1) relatively short, filiform, obscured by conductor in retrolateral view; TS 2 spur-like, longer than TS 1; TS 2a sinuous, largely obscured by TS 2; TS 3 embedded proximally within distal haematodocha, with sharply-pointed apex projecting ventrally beyond retro-distal rim of tegulum. Allotype female: Total length 3.38; leg I femur 3.08; F1/CL ratio 2.31. Cephalothorax dark reddish-brown; legs tan-brown with darker annulations; abdomen mottled grey-brown and beige (Fig. 19A). Carapace tall (CH/CL ratio 2.12); 1.33 long, 2.82 high, 1.21 wide; ‘neck’ 0.66 wide; bearing two pairs of rudimentary horns; highest point of pars cephalica (HPC) near middle of ‘head’ (ratio of HPC to post-ocular length 0.55), carapace with concave depression posterior to HPC; ‘head’ not strongly elevated dorsally (post-ocular ratio 0.23) (Fig. 7F). Chelicerae without accessory setae on anterior face of paturon. Abdomen 1.85 long, 1.44 wide; with five dorsal hump-like tubercles (HT 1–5), HT1–4 arranged in two pairs (Fig. 5F). Internal genitalia with cluster of ≤ 12 variably shaped spermathecae on either side of gonopore, clusters widely separated along midline of genital plate (Fig. 19G); innermost (anterior) spermathecae longest; other spermathecae variably pyriform, straight, directed antero-laterally.

Austrarchaea monteithi is known only from subtropical rainforest habitats in the Gibraltar Range National Park of north-eastern New South Wales (Fig. 37).