Micropholcomma longissimum ( Butler, 1932 )

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 : 27

Micropholcomma longissimum ( Butler, 1932)

Fig. 15E

Plectochetos longissimus Butler, 1932: 107 , pl. 1, figs 15–20. Roewer, 1942: 617. Bonnet, 1958: 3707.

Micropholcomma longissima (Butler) : Forster, 1959: 298, figs 64–69, 137. Forster & Platnick, 1984: 92, figs 360–361, 369–370, 375–376.

Micropholcomma longissimum (Butler) : Davies, 1985: 89. Platnick, 2009.

Type material. Holotype male: Mount Donna Buang , near Warburton, Yarra Ranges, Victoria, Australia, under logs and similar places, 4080 ft, II.1931, C. Oke ( NMV K103 ).

Selected material examined. AUSTRALIA: Victoria: Yarra Ranges, Toolangi State Forest, 3 km E. of Toolangi , 15.I.1990, D. Black, 1♀ ( WAM T94464) ; Yarra Ranges, White Hill Track No. 2, 15 km ENE. of Healesville, on Acheron Way , 4.III.1990, D. Black, 2♀ ( WAM T94465) ; same data, 2♀ ( WAM T94466) ; Double Creek Nature Walk, 7 km N. of Mallacoota , 26.X.1990, D. Black, 2♁, 1♀ ( WAM T94469) ; 10 km ENE. of Genoa, near Johnson’s Bridge , 26.X.1990, D. Black, 1♁, 1♀ ( WAM T94468) ; Great Otway National Park, track to Cora Lynn Cascades, near Lorne , 22.IV.2006, M. Rix, 1♁ ( WAM T94463) ; same data, 1♁ ( WAM T80018 DNA- MPE) ; Mount Buffalo National Park, walking tack to Eurobin Falls , 8.V.1990, D. Black, 2♀ ( WAM T94467) .

Remarks. Micropholcomma longissimum is remarkable for the exaggerated length of the male embolus (see Forster and Platnick 1984, fig. 369) and the concomitantly extreme development of the female insemination ducts, the latter of which are very tightly coiled around the fertilisation ducts (Fig. 15E). There are, however, a number of undescribed species of Micropholcomma in both eastern and south-western Australia that share a very similar, ‘super-coiled’ genitalic morphology, as well as several species (e.g. M. linnaei , M. turbans ) with a somewhat intermediate morphology between M. longissimum and those taxa with a simple, looped embolus (e.g. M. bryophilum ).