Arachnology
The Arachnology section contains some 600,000 specimens, covering all arachnid and myriapod orders, as well as other miscellaneous groups such as pycnogonids, xiphosurans and tardigrades. Primary types of over 700 species are maintained, including part of the syntype material of the spiders described by Eugene Simon collected during the the Michaelsen-Hartmeyer Expedition to South-Western Australia. Requests for the loan of specimens by bona fide researchers are welcomed.
Current projects include systematic revisions of several arachnid groups, and investigations into the phylogeny of some taxa, using morphological and molecular techniques.
Pseudoscorpions
of the World, version
1.1.
A website is designed to provide some basic information on the wonderful
world of pseudoscorpions and, in particular, provide lists of valid names
and a comprehensive list of the scientific literature that deal with pseudoscorpions.
Chelicerata
- Pycnogonida - Western Australia
- Xiphosura - Asia and North America (limited material)
Arachnida
- Scorpiones - extensive collection of Australian species; limited representatives of non-Australian fauna.
- Araneae - excellent collections of Western Australian fauna; representative collections of eastern Australian and overseas material
- Amblypygi - limited collection of Australian and Asian fauna.
- Uropygi - small collection of non-Australian species.
- Schizomida - excellent collection of Australian fauna.
- Acari - good collection of ticks (Ixodidae); average collection of mites, mostly unsorted.
- Opiliones - very good collection of Western Australian species; limited material from eastern Australia and overseas.
- Ricinulei - small collection of one South American species.
- Pseudoscorpiones - extensive collections of Australian fauna; with much overseas material.
- Solifugae - small collection of non-Australian species.
Myriapoda
- Chilopoda - Extensive collection of Australian species.
- Diplopoda - Extensive collection of Western Australian species, with some interstate and overseas species.
- Symphyla - Good collection of Western Australian species.
- Pauropoda - Very little material.
- Tardigrada - extremely small collection, including one holotype.
- Onychophora - excellent collection of Western Australian fauna, with some eastern Australian material.
Types
List of Primary Types (holotypes, syntypes, lectotypes, neotypes) held in the Western Australian Museum.
• Araneae
• Acari
Staff
Dr Mark Harvey
Senior Curator
Current research projects:
- Systematics of Australasian pseudoscorpions.
- Systematics of Australasian schizomids.
- Systematics of troglobitic arachnids and myriapods.
- The evolution of short-range endemism in the Australian biota (in collaboration with Melinda Moir).
- Systematics of the Australasian Golden Orb-Weaving Spiders (Nephila) (in collaboration with Andrew Austin and Mark Adams).
- Systematics of the spiders of the family Oonopidae (in collaboration with Ricardo Ott and Karen Edward; funded by the US National Science Foundation; see http://research.amnh.org/oonopidae/).
- Systematics of the Australian scorpion family Urodacidae (in collaboration with Erich Volschenk and Lorenzo Prendini; funded by the Australian Biological Resources Study).
- Systematics of the spider family Micropholcommatidae (in collaboration with Michael Rix)
- Systematics of the Australian crevice spiders (Selenopidae) (in collaboration with Volker Framenau).
- Distribution of the millipede family Paradoxosomatidae in Australia (in collaboration with Bob Mesibov and Cathy Car)
Dr Volker Framenau
Research Fellow
Current projects:
- The systematics of Australian Wolf Spiders.
- The systematics of Australian orb-web spiders of the subfamily Araneinae.
- The systematics of Australian Selenopidae (in collaboration with M.Harvery, Western Australian Museum).
- The systematics of the wolf spider genus Venonia (in collaboration with J.-S. Yoo, Western Australian Museum).
- The systematics of the wolf spider genus Hoggicosa (in collaboration with P. Langlands, Ph.D. candidate, University of Western Australia).
- Sexual selection: leg length dimorphism in terrestrial arthropods.
- Web site of the Australasian Arachnological Society (http://www.australasian-arachnology.org Australasian Arachnological Society: Arachnology - Ecology, behaviour and taxonomy of arachnids in Australia, South-east Asia, Oceania and the Pacific Islands).
Julianne Waldock
Technical Officer
Current research projects:
- Revision of the jumping spider genus Maratus
Publications for Sale
BIOGEOGRAPHY OF CAPE RANGE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA
edited by W.F. Humphreys (1993), pp. i-x, 1-248.
Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement no. 45
$AUS20 plus postage ($AUS2.80 within Australia; $AUS15 outside Australia)
Available from Bookshop Manager, Western Australian Museum, Francis Street, Perth, W.A. 6000, Australia