Olgania cracroft Rix &amp; Harvey 2010, sp. n.
Creators: name: Rix, Michael
name: Harvey, Mark
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Micropholcommatidae
Olgania
Olgania cracroft

description: <i>Olgania cracroft</i> Rix &amp; Harvey, sp. n. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 4F30BA73-C2D0-427F-A5BF-2F432DC69F2E Figs 178D, 179C, 180–181, 213 <b>Type material.</b> Holotype male: <i>Wargata</i> <i>Mina</i> (Judds Cavern) (C-1), Cracroft karst, Tasmania, Australia, from groups of sheet-webs on wall of C-17 side passage (dark zone), 43°15'S, 146°35'E, 25.XI.1989, J. Jackson (AMS KS29532). Paratypes: Allotype female, same data as holotype (AMS KS97161); 1 female, same data as holotype (AMS KS97162); 4 females, same data as holotype (QVM 13: 12662). <b>Etymology.</b> The specific epithet is a noun in apposition, taken from the type locality. <b>Diagnosis.</b> Males of <i>Olgania cracroft</i> can be distinguished from all other described congeners except <i>O. troglodytes</i> by the absence of prolateral, thorn-like macrosetae on the male pedipalpal tibia; and from <i>O. troglodytes</i> by the coiled embolus (Fig. 181). Females can be distinguished from all other described congeners by the distinctive, inverted L-shaped receptacula with coiled insemination ducts (Fig. 178D). <b>Description.</b> <i>Holotype male</i>: Total length 0.98. Carapace 0.49 long, 0.45 wide. Abdomen 0.65 long, 0.49 wide. Leg I femur 0.86. Cephalothorax tan yellow; legs pale tan-yellow; abdomen pale cream. Carapace raised anteriorly, fused to sternum via pleural sclerites; dorsal surface of pars cephalica strongly convex in lateral view; carapace and sternum heavily punctate. Eyes absent, except for single, barely-visible vestigial eye spot on each side of pars cephalica. Chelicerae each with large, bulging anterior projection; promargin without peg teeth. Legs relatively long (leg I femur- carapace ratio 1.76); macrosetae absent. Abdomen globose, 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 strongly recurved distal apophysis bearing flattened distal process; tibia without thorn-like macrosetae; tegulum smooth, with curved, marginal ETR; embolus very long (length &gt;&gt; 5× width), coiling nearly 2× around margin of bulb (Fig. 181). <i>Allotype female</i>: Total length 1.07. Carapace 0.55 long, 0.47 wide. Abdomen 0.73 long, 0.59 wide. Leg I femur 0.87. Cephalothorax, abdominal sclerites dark tan-yellow; legs, abdomen pale 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. Eyes absent, except for single, barely-visible vestigial eye spot on each side of pars cephalica. Chelicerae each with large, bulging anterior projection; promargin without peg teeth. Legs relatively long (leg I femur-carapace ratio 1.58); macrosetae absent. Abdomen subtriangular-globose, covered with hair-like setae, each seta projecting from small sclerotic spot; dorsal scute and lateral sclerotic strips absent. Pedipalp entire, five-segmented. Epigyne with distinctive, inverted L-shaped external morphology (Fig. 180D); receptacula globular, constricted, with looped internal ducts; insemination ducts coiled around receptacula; fertilisation ducts simple, curved (Fig. 178D). <b>Distribution.</b> Known only from the cave <i>Wargata Mina</i> (formerly <i>Judds Cavern</i>) in the Cracroft karst of southern Tasmania (Fig. 213). <b>Remarks.</b> <i>Olgania cracroft</i> is a distinctive, blind and long-legged species known only from a single cave in southern Tasmania. It is among the most troglomorphic of any Micropholcommatidae, and is most similar to <i>O. troglodytes</i> from the nearby Ida Bay karst (Fig. 179). Nothing is known of its biology or conservation status, except that specimens were collected from sheet-webs on the cave wall.
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 92-93, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.36.306, http://zenodo.org/record/576620