Austrarchaea wallacei Rix & Harvey 2012

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

Holotype male: Total length 3.28; leg I femur 3.01; F1/CL ratio 2.58. Cephalothorax dark reddish-brown; legs tan-brown with darker annulations; abdomen mottled grey-brown and beige, with darker brown dorsal scute and sclerites (Fig. 8A). Carapace tall (CH/CL ratio 2.14); 1.17 long, 2.49 high, 1.10 wide, ‘neck’ 0.62 wide; bearing two pairs of rudimentary horns; highest point of pars cephalica (HPC) approaching posterior quarter of ‘head’ (ratio of HPC to post-ocular length 0.72), carapace gently sloping posterior to HPC; ‘head’ moderately elevated dorsally (post-ocular ratio 0.33). Chelicerae with short brush of accessory setae on anterior face of paturon (Fig. 8B). Abdomen 1.59 long, 1.28 wide; with two pairs of dorsal hump-like tubercles (HT 1-4); dorsal scute fused anteriorly to epigastric sclerites, extending posteriorly to first pair of hump-like tubercles; HT 3-4 each covered by separate dorsal sclerites. Expanded pedipalp (Figs 8C–D) of Type A morphology (Fig. 6), with large, retrolaterally directed, arched conductor; embolus sinuous, with short triangular spur; tegular sclerite 3 (TS 3) short, spur-like, with flattened proximal portion and bluntly pointed, triangular apex; TS 2-2a flexed dorsally (due to haematodochal expansion), TS 2 with pointed apex; TS 1 triangular, with tapered, slightly curved tooth-like apex. Female: Unknown.

Austrarchaea wallacei is known only from the summit of Mount Misery, 34 km north-west of Cape Tribulation (Figs 17, 25). The single known specimen was collected in a pitfall trap in tropical rainforest at 850 m elevation.