A redescription of the Pacific Bounty hunter, Pacificana cockayni Hogg, 1904 and an attempt to reunite with its family

Abstract

The male of the Bounty Island endemic Pacificana cockayni Hogg, 1904 is described for the first time and the female is redescribed. We attempted to place the monotypic genus Pacificana in an appropriate family based on cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 DNA sequence data, however, our phylogenetic analysis was inconclusive. Morphologically, P. cockayni shares characters with the New Zealand genera Pakeha Forster & Wilton, 1973 (Cycloctenidae) and Otira Forster & Wilton, 1973 (Amaurobiidae) plus two Australian amaurobiid genera, Storenosoma Hogg, 1900 and Oztira Milledge, 2011. We note that while other spider species recorded from the Bounty Islands are found on other sub-Antarctic islands, Pacificana is not. We have not suggested a family placement until the placement of Otira, Oztira, Pakeha, and Storenosoma has been resolved by further, more extensive phylogenetic analysis.