Hexura rothi Gertsch & Platnick
Creators: name: Cokendolpher, James C.
name: Peck, Robert W.
name: Niwa, Christine G.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2005
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Mecicobothriidae
Hexura
Hexura rothi

description: Hexura rothi Gertsch & Platnick   
Figs. 1, 3, 5, 9, 16  
 Hexura rothi Gertsch & Platnick 1979: 2627, figs. 64–66, 68–69; Platnick 2005.   
 Material Examined (m = male, f = female, i = immature). Oregon (all collected in 2001 by Niwa and Peck USFS): Curry County: Galice Ranger District, Siskiyou National Forest, N42°38’46”, W123°55’00” to N42°36’06”, W123°51’23” (1128–1402 m elevation), 25 June (7f, 11i), 9 July (5f, 18i), 23 July (10i), 6 Aug. (2f, 20i), 20 Aug. (2f, 11i), 4 Sept. (6f, 7i), 17 Sept. (6m, 8f, 4i), 9 Oct. (136m, 7f, 14i). Grants Pass Resource Area, Medford District, Bureau of Land Management, N42°38’46”, W123°54’46” to N42°36’02”, W123°53’43” (1036–1280 m elevation), 25 June (3f, 4i), 9 July (3f, 11i), 23 July (1i), 6 Aug. (9i), 20 Aug. (2f, 8i), 4 Sept. (1i), 17 Sept. (1f, 6i), 9 Oct. (29m, 6f, 13i). Josephine County: Galice Ranger District, Siskiyou National Forest, N42°36’18”, W123°47’13” to N42°32’53”, W123°35’59” (640–1234 m elevation), 25 June (8f, 18i), 9 July (2f, 9i), 23 July (4i), 6 Aug. (9i), 20 Aug. (1f, 5i), 4 Sept. (1f, 1i), 17 Sept. (2m), 9 Oct. (28m, 1f, 6i). Grants Pass Resource Area, Medford District, Bureau of Land Management, N42°36’35”, W123°48’03” to N42°32’52”, W123°37’05” (533–1539 m elevation), 25 June (5f, 7i), 9 July (1f, 7i), 23 July (1f, 6i), 6 Aug. (6i), 20 Aug. (7i), 4 Sept. (2i), 17 Sept. (2m), 9 Oct. (44 m, 2f, 2i). Illinois Valley Ranger District, Siskiyou National Forest, N42°16’35”, W123°22’53” to N42°01’34”, W123°27’42” (945–1646 m elevation), 25 June (7f, 11i), 9 July (5f, 3i), 23 July (10i), 6 Aug. (6i), 20 Aug. (2f, 16i), 4 Sept. (1f, 1i), 17 Sept. (11i), 9 Oct. (29m, 4f, 2i). Ashland Resource Area, Medford District, Bureau of Land Management, N42°17’27”, W123°21’36” to N42°00’18”, W123°30’53” (518–1372 m elevation), 25 June (3f, 28i), 9 July (3f, 5i), 23 July (13i), 6 Aug. (1f, 15i), 20 Aug. (1f, 8i), 4 Sept. (1f), 17 Sept. (1f, 5i), 9 Oct. (15m, 3f, 5i).   
 Diagnosis. The presence of only four spinnerets in H. rothi will separate it from other members of the genus; which have six spinnerets.   
 Distribution. This species has only been recorded from Curry, Douglas, Jackson, Lane, and Josephine Counties of southwestern Oregon (Figs. 1, 3).   
 Wandering Activity. Collection of mature males was restricted to the early fall, with 96% trapped on 9 October 2001 (Fig. 5). Females were active over the entire sampling period and immature activity was highest in late June–early July and September–October.   
 Comments. Previous habitat information is limited to a single record collected from myrtle duff (Gertsch & Platnick 1979). Opler and Lattin (2001) speculated that H. rothi may be an old­growth forest obligate. Our data expand this knowledge of this species considerably, and indicate that H. rothi occupies a wide range of mid­ and latesuccessional coniferous habitats. Although restricted to the western Siskiyou Mountains, it was found in all 28 sites surveyed. It was most abundant in cool, high elevation sites [ABCO­ABMAS/QUSA2 and ABCO/SYMO plant association (25.4% and 21.8% of the total, respectively)] and least abundant in warm, lower elevation sites [PSME/Dry Shrub sites (5.8%)].   
 Hexura rothi appears to be more tolerant of drier conditions than H. picea, which is found in moister areas of northwestern Oregon and western Washington. Opler and Lattin (2001) suggested that H. picea requires the constant availability of moisture associated with old­growth and coastal habitats.   
 Within the study area, H. rothi appears to be widespread and abundant as it was the most common spider collected (395 individuals, or 14.4% of total spider abundance). Overall, it was 2.6 times more abundant in the Grant Pass area than in the Cave Junction area. Gertsch and Platnick (1979) reported that an egg sac was discovered with a female collected 22 July. The egg sac contained about 80 eggs.
description: Published as part of Cokendolpher, James C., Peck, Robert W. & Niwa, Christine G., 2005, Mygalomorph spiders from southwestern Oregon, USA, with descriptions of four new species, pp. 1-34 in Zootaxa 1058 on pages 11-15, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.170130