The spider family Micropholcommatidae (Arachnida: Araneae: Araneoidea): a relimitation and revision at the generic level
Author
Rix, Michael
Western Australian Museum, Welshpool DC, Perth, Australia
Author
Harvey, Mark
Western Australian Museum, Perth, Welshpool, Australia
text
ZooKeys
2010
2010-02-22
36
36
1
321
journal article
10.3897/zookeys.36.306
4db6b327-7482-432e-a5f6-36f91c79fef3
1313–2970
576620
ADCACC88-6C78-4386-8E33-3F98234ECE92
Olgania excavata
Hickman, 1979
Figs 7O
, 152D–E, 176–177, 178A, 188–192, 213, 223A–B
Olgania excavata
Hickman, 1979: 73
, figs 34–38.
Brignoli, 1983: 372
.
Davies, 1985: 55
.
Platnick, 2009
.
Type
material.
Holotype
male:
Gordon River Valley
,
Tasmania
,
Australia
, from moss,
42°35'30"S
,
145°44'00"E
,
29.I.1976
,
C. Howard
et al. (
AMS
KS2709
).
Paratypes
:
Allotype
female,
Gordon River Valley
,
1.5 km
W. of junction of
Gordon
and
Denison Rivers
,
Tasmania
,
Australia
, from moss,
42°43'12"S
,
145°49'00"E
,
16.II.1978
,
L. Hill
et al. (
AMS
KS2710
);
1 female
, same data as allotype except
42°43'S
,
145°50'E
,
8.II.1977
,
C. Howard
et al. (
AMS
KS97160
)
.
Other
material examined.
AUSTRALIA
:
Tasmania
:
Gordon River region
,
3.II.1978
,
L. Hill
et al.,
1♀
(
AMS
KS72967
)
;
Bubs Hill
, just W. of
Victoria
Pass
, in cave (
1935
Cave
, BH-4),
28.IV.1987
,
R. Raven
,
T. Churchill
,
N. Platnick
, 1♁,
6♀
(
AMNH
)
;
Bubs Hill
,
1935
Cave
(BH-4),
29.XII.1986
,
S. Eberhard
, 3♁,
1♀
(
AMNH
)
;
Bubs Hill
,
Thylacine Lair
(BH-203),
30.IV.2006
,
M. Rix
,
A. Clarke
, L.
Boutin
, 1♁,
4♀
(
WAM
T76938
SEM
♀
)
;
same data,
1♀
(
WAM
T80021
DNA-MPE
)
;
same data,
1♀
(
QVM 13
: 44520)
;
same data except
1.XI.1988
(written on label as
1.xi.1989
),
S. Eberhard
, 1♁,
1♀
(
AMS
KS29588
)
;
same data except
1.XI.1988
,
2♀
(
QVM 13
: 12727)
;
Cardia Cave
(
Acheron
1/2
Cave
) (AR-X2),
Acheron River
,
western World Heritage Area
,
24.III.1989
,
S. Eberhard
, 3♁,
6♀
(
AMS
KS21307
)
;
Kutikina Cave
(Fraser Cave)
(F-34),
Franklin River
,
western World Heritage Area
,
23.III.1989
,
S. Eberhard
, 3♁,
4♀
(AMS KS21297
SEM♁
♀
)
;
same data except
21.iii.1989
, 1♁,
2♀
(
AMS
KS29477
)
;
same data, 1♁,
1♀
(
QVM 13
: 12778)
.
Remarks
.
Olgania excavata
is known only from western and south-western
Tasmania
, where it has been collected from
Kutikina Cave
(Franklin River karst),
Cardia Cave
(Acheron River karst) and caves in the Bubs Hill karst (including
1935 Cave
and
Thylacine Lair
) (Figs 213, 219). Several specimens have also been collected from moss in temperate rainforest in the Gordon River Valley, and these are the only known epigean populations of
Olgania
.
At Bubs Hill (Fig. 219) the spiders build small, horizontal sheet-webs (
Fig. 223B
) on the walls or floor of limestone caves, usually in cracks or depressions, or under rocks or small ledges near seepages. The webs are held in position by vertical support-lines, and are often extended to effectively fill a particular crevice. The web is composed of an extremely fine mesh of silk, and some webs have two parallel layers of silk. The spiders hang upside-down in the centre of the webs, and walk very slowly towards the periphery if disturbed. Both adult males and females can be found sitting in their own webs, and the spiders seem to be at least loosely colonial, with several webs usually found in close proximity (first recorded by
Eberhard et al. 1991
). Egg sacs are hung above the sheet-webs singly or in pairs, and each circular egg sac contains only a single egg, which is surrounded by a thin, loosely-woven layer of fine elastic silk (
Fig. 223A
).