Olgania weld Rix & Harvey, 2010

Rix, Michael & Harvey, Mark, 2010, The spider family Micropholcommatidae (Arachnida: Araneae: Araneoidea): a relimitation and revision at the generic level, ZooKeys 36 (36), pp. 1-321 : 96-97

Olgania weld Rix & Harvey , sp. n.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:76E0281C-AE7A-457A-9F0B-831D70868BA5

Figs 178B, 179B, 186–187, 213

Type material. Holotype male: Weld River Arch (UW-X9), Weld River Arch and Arch Caves karst, Upper Weld River, Tasmania, Australia, 42°50'S, 146°25'E, 11.V.1986, S. Eberhard ( AMS KS97170 ).

Paratypes: Allotype female, same data as holotype ( AMS KS97171 ) .

Etymology. The specific epithet is a noun in apposition, taken from the type locality.

Diagnosis. Males of Olgania weld can be distinguished from all other described congeners except O. eberhardi and O. excavata by the presence of two prolateral, thornlike macrosetae on the male pedipalpal tibia (Fig. 187A); and from O. eberhardi and O. excavata by the very large embolus (Fig. 187). Females can be distinguished from all other described congeners by the large epigyne (Fig. 186D), and by the distinctive shape of the receptacula (Fig. 178B).

Description. Holotype male: Total length 0.99. Carapace 0.49 long, 0.45 wide. Abdomen 0.74 long, 0.42 wide. Leg I femur 0.76. Cephalothorax, abdominal sclerites dark tan-yellow; legs, abdomen tan-yellow. Carapace raised anteriorly, fused to sternum via pleural sclerites; dorsal surface of pars cephalica strongly convex in lateral view; carapace and sternum heavily punctate. Six vestigial eye spots present on anterior margin of pars cephalica, in three separated diads. Chelicerae each with large, bulging anterior projection; promargin without peg teeth. Legs relatively long (leg I femur-carapace ratio 1.55); macrosetae absent. Abdomen subtriangular, covered with hair-like setae, each seta projecting from small sclerotic spot; dorsal scute and lateral sclerotic strips absent. Pedipalpal patella with retrolaterally-directed, hooked lRPA and pronounced, strongly recurved distal apophysis; tibia with two thorn-like prolateral macrosetae; tegulum smooth, with curved, marginal ETR; embolus long (length> 5× width), very large, coiling once around margin of bulb (Fig. 187).

Allotype female: Total length 1.03. Carapace 0.43 long, 0.41 wide. Abdomen 0.73 long, 0.46wide. Leg I femur 0.69. Cephalothorax, abdominal sclerites dark tan-yellow; legs, abdomen tan-yellow. Carapace raised anteriorly, fused to sternum via pleural sclerites; dorsal surface of pars cephalica strongly convex in lateral view; carapace and sternum heavily punctate. Six vestigial eye spots present on anterior margin of pars cephalica, in three separated diads. Chelicerae without bulging anterior projec- tions; promargin without peg teeth. Legs relatively long (leg I femur-carapace ratio 1.60); macrosetae absent. Abdomen subtriangular, covered with hair-like setae, each seta projecting from small sclerotic spot; dorsal scute and lateral sclerotic strips absent. Pedipalp entire, five-segmented. Epigyne heavily sclerotised with distinctive external morphology (Fig. 186D); receptacula globular, reniform, with internal ducts; insemination ducts broad, looped around receptacula; fertilisation ducts simple, curved (Fig. 178B).

Distribution. Known only from the cave Weld River Arch in the Weld River Arch and Arch Caves karst of south-central Tasmania (Fig. 213).

Remarks. Olgania weld is a relatively large, robust species known only from a single cave in southern Tasmania. It has reduced eyes, large, distinctive genitalia (Figs 186C–D, 187), and is most similar to O. eberhardi and O. excavata . Nothing is known of its biology.

Subfamily Gigiellinae Rix & Harvey , subfam. n. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:619C93BE-E34B-49C4-B704-B10250719B68