Artoria

Description (after Framenau 2002). Small to medium-sized wolf spiders (total length ca. 2.5 - 10 mm); males slightly smaller than females; carapace brown to black with darker radial pattern; light median and lateral bands sometimes present; abdomen brown to dark grey, often with mottled pattern and mostly with a light lanceolate heart mark; carapace longer than wide, dorsal profile straight in lateral view; head flanks in frontal view steep in most males but may be a gentle slope in females. Chelicerae with three (rarely one or two) promarginal and three (rarely one or two) retromarginal teeth; labium as long as or slightly longer than wide; leg formula IV> I> I> III; tegular apophysis located apically at tegulum and of variable shape; basoembolic apophysis broad, heavily sclerotised and bent ventrally; embolus of varying shape (slim to very thick); terminal apophysis functioning as conductor, sometimes forming a groove for the resting embolus; most species with varying number of macrosetae at tip of male cymbium; a scopulate patch of setae occasionally present dorsally on cymbium. Epigyne variable, a simple opening of varying shape or covered by a sclerotised ovoid plate.

Diagnosis. In NSW and the ACT, five genera of the subfamily Artoriinae have been found: Artoria, Artoriopsis Framenau, 2007, Diahogna Roewer, 1960, Kangarosa Framenau, 2010 and Tetralycosa Roewer, 1960. The row of the anterior eyes in the latter three genera is generally wider than the row of the posterior median eyes and therefore these genera are thought to form a natural group (Framenau 2006, 2010; Framenau and Hudson 2017). In contrast, species in Artoria (Fig. 2 A-E) and Artoriopsis generally have the anterior eye row narrower than the posterior median eye row. Artoriopsis differs from Artoria by a more elongated carapace that is adorned by distinct light lateral bands, and a distinct colouration of the abdomen with a central diamond-shaped black spot (with the exception of Artoriopsis whitehouseae Framenau, 2007, which has a black abdomen with irregular light central band (Framenau 2007 )). There are also genus-specific differences between the male pedipalps of all genera, specifically with respect to the basoembolic and tegular apophyses. For example, the tegular apophyses in Diahogna, Kangarosa and Tetralycosa are generally wider at the base than apically, whereas in Artoria they are narrow at the base and widen apically. The tegular apophysis of Artoriopsis is variable and in general most similar to that of Artoria, but the genera are easily distinguished by the somatic characters above.