Olgania excavata Hickman P 1979
Creators: name: Rix, Michael
name: Harvey, Mark
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Micropholcommatidae
Olgania
Olgania excavata

description: <i>Olgania excavata</i> Hickman, 1979 Figs 7O, 152D–E, 176–177, 178A, 188–192, 213, 223A–B <i>Olgania excavata</i> Hickman, 1979: 73, figs 34–38. Brignoli, 1983: 372. Davies, 1985: 55. Platnick, 2009. <b>Type material.</b> 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). <b>Other material examined.</b> <b>AUSTRALIA: Tasmania:</b> Gordon River region, 3.II.1978, L. Hill et al., 1&amp;female; (AMS KS72967); Bubs Hill, just W. of Victoria Pass, in cave (<i>1935 Cave</i>, BH-4), 28.IV.1987, R. Raven, T. Churchill, N. Platnick, 1♁, 6&amp;female; (AMNH); Bubs Hill, <i>1935 Cave</i> (BH-4), 29.XII.1986, S. Eberhard, 3♁, 1&amp;female; (AMNH); Bubs Hill, <i>Thylacine Lair</i> (BH-203), 30.IV.2006, M. Rix, A. Clarke, L. Boutin, 1♁, 4&amp;female; (WAM T76938 SEM &amp;female;); same data, 1&amp;female; (WAM T80021 DNA-MPE); same data, 1&amp;female; (QVM 13: 44520); same data except 1.XI.1988 (written on label as 1.xi.1989), S. Eberhard, 1♁, 1&amp;female; (AMS KS29588); same data except 1.XI.1988, 2&amp;female; (QVM 13: 12727); <i>Cardia Cave</i> (Acheron 1/2 Cave) (AR-X2), Acheron River, western World Heritage Area, 24.III.1989, S. Eberhard, 3♁, 6&amp;female; (AMS KS21307); <i>Kutikina Cave</i> (Fraser Cave) (F-34), Franklin River, western World Heritage Area, 23.III.1989, S. Eberhard, 3♁, 4&amp;female; (AMS KS21297 SEM♁ &amp;female;); same data except 21.iii.1989, 1♁, 2&amp;female; (AMS KS29477); same data, 1♁, 1&amp;female; (QVM 13: 12778). <b>Remarks.</b> <i>Olgania excavata</i> is known only from western and south-western Tasmania, where it has been collected from <i>Kutikina Cave</i> (Franklin River karst), <i>Cardia Cave</i> (Acheron River karst) and caves in the Bubs Hill karst (including <i>1935 Cave</i> and <i>Thylacine Lair</i>) (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 <i>Olgania</i>. 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).
description: Published as part of <i>Rix, Michael &amp; Harvey, Mark, 2010, The spider family Micropholcommatidae (Arachnida: Araneae: Araneoidea): a relimitation and revision at the generic level, pp. 1-321 in ZooKeys 36 (36)</i> on pages 91-92, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.36.306, http://zenodo.org/record/576620
description: {"references": ["Hickman VV (1979) Some Tasmanian spiders of the families Oonopidae, Anapidae and Mysmenidae. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 113: 53 - 79.", "Brignoli PM (1983) A Catalogue of the Araneae Described Between 1940 and 1981. Manchester University Press, Manchester, 755 pp.", "Davies VT (1985) Araneomorphae (in part). In: Walton DW (Ed) Zoological Catalogue of Australia, Vol. 3. Mygalomorphae, Araneomorphae (in part), Pseudoscorpionida, Amblypygi and Palpigradi. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 48 - 125.", "Platnick NI (2009) The World Spider Catalog, Version 10.0. American Museum of Natural History, New York. http: // research. amnh. org / entomology / spiders / catalog / [accessed 20. X. 2009]", "Eberhard SM, Richardson A, Swain R (1991) The Invertebrate Cave Fauna of Tasmania. Zoology Department, University of Tasmania, Hobart, 174 pp."]}