Austrarchaea mascordi Rix & Harvey 2011

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

Holotype male: Total length 2.83; leg I femur 2.67; F1/CL ratio 2.45. 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. 24B). Carapace tall (CH/CL ratio 2.14); 1.09 long, 2.33 high, 1.02 wide; ‘neck’ 0.54 wide; bearing two pairs of rudimentary horns; highest point of pars cephalica (HPC) approaching posterior third of ‘head’ (ratio of HPC to post-ocular length 0.62), carapace gently sloping posterior to HPC; ‘head’ not strongly elevated dorsally (post-ocular ratio 0.28) (Fig. 9F). Chelicerae with brush of accessory setae on anterior face of paturon (Fig. 24C). Abdomen 1.44 long, 1.08 wide; with three pairs of dorsal hump-like tubercles (HT 1–6); dorsal scute fused anteriorly to epigastric sclerites, extending posteriorly to first pair of hump-like tubercles; HT 3–6 each covered by separate dorsal sclerites. Unexpanded pedipalp (Figs 24D-F) with thin, sharply-tapered, slightly twisted conductor; tegular sclerite 1 (TS 1) filiform, obscured by conductor in retrolateral view; TS 2 spur-like, longer than TS 1; TS 2a sinuous, filiform, exposed distally; TS 3 embedded proximally within distal haematodocha, with arched dorsal margin and sharply-pointed apex projecting ventrally beyond retro-distal rim of tegulum. Allotype female: Total length 3.28; leg I femur 2.87; F1/CL ratio 2.29. Cephalothorax dark reddish-brown; legs tan-brown with darker annulations; abdomen mottled grey-brown and beige (Fig. 24A). Carapace tall (CH/CL ratio 2.11); 1.26 long, 2.65 high, 1.13 wide; ‘neck’ 0.62 wide; bearing two pairs of rudimentary horns; highest point of pars cephalica (HPC) near middle of ‘head’ (ratio of HPC to post-ocular length 0.60), carapace gently sloping posterior to HPC; ‘head’ not strongly elevated dorsally (post-ocular ratio 0.26) (Fig. 7M). Chelicerae without accessory setae on anterior face of paturon. Abdomen 1.90 long, 1.54 wide; with three pairs of dorsal hump-like tubercles (HT 1–6). Internal genitalia with cluster of ≤ 10 variably shaped spermathecae on either side of gonopore, clusters meeting near midline of genital plate (Fig. 21G); innermost (anterior) spermathecae longest, bilobed, curved antero-laterally; other spermathecae variably pyriform, mostly straight, directed antero-laterally. Variation: Males (n=3): total length 2.83–2.92; carapace length 1.09–1.10; carapace height 2.33–2.37; CH/CL ratio 2.14–2.17. Females (n=5): total length 2.97–3.49; carapace length 1.21–1.26; carapace height 2.49–2.65; CH/CL ratio 2.05–2.11.

Austrarchaea mascordi is known only from snow gum and wet eucalypt forest habitats in the Coolah Tops National Park, west of Scone, New South Wales (Fig. 42).