Abstract
The open-holed trapdoor spider genus Aname L. Koch is widely distributed across mainland Australia and Tasmania, and currently includes 34 named species. Many species are poorly known, and their descriptions based on female type material only render their identification difficult, as the best taxonomic characters are usually found on the adult male pedipalp and first leg. To better understand the diversity of Aname in Western Australia, we present descriptions of 11 new species primarily distributed in arid ecosystems: A. baileyorum sp. nov., A. frostorum sp. nov., A. grothi sp. nov., A. lorica sp. nov., A. mcalpinei sp. nov., A. munyardae sp. nov., A. nitidimarina sp. nov., A. sinuata sp. nov., A. vernonorum sp. nov., A. watsoni sp. nov. and A. whitei sp. nov. All species are described from adult males but we were only able to confidently associate females of A. lorica, A. sinuata, A. watsoni and A. whitei. DNA sequence data were obtained for six species and were used to test morphological species hypotheses and where possible to match females and juveniles with males. Haplotype networks for A. lorica, A. sinuata and A. whitei, demonstrate that there is significant genetic structure within these species, corresponding to geographically isolated populations. We also provide the first sequence data for specimens of Aname mainaeRaven, 2000 collected from near the type locality in South Australia.
