Review of the Australian wolf spider genus Venator (Araneae, Lycosidae)

Species of the Australian wolf spider genus Venator are reviewed including the type species, V. spenceri Hogg, 1900, from south-eastern Australia and V. immansuetus (Simon, 1909) comb. nov., a common species in south-west Western Australia. Venator marginatus Hogg, 1900 is only known from two female specimens and the genital morphology of this species does not conform to the diagnosis of genus as presented here. Therefore V. marginatus is considered incerta sedis. Venator includes medium-sized (9.0-22 mm body length) wolf spiders of overall brownish colouration, and with a black patch covering the anterior three quarters of the venter. They differ from all other wolf spiders in particular by genitalic characters, namely an elevated atrium of the female epigyne that forms a raised edged against the inverted T-shaped median septum. This edge often corresponds to a retrolateral incision on the tegular apophysis of the male pedipalp. The genus is mainly a representative of the Bassian fauna of the Australian continent where it occurs predominantly in dry sclerophyll forests.