Ariadna major Hickman, 1929

Marsh, Jessica R., Stevens, Mark I. & Framenau, Volker W., 2022, A taxonomic revision of the tube-web spiders of the genus Ariadna (Araneae: Segestriidae) in Tasmania, Zootaxa 5105 (2), pp. 151-201 : 179

Ariadna major Hickman, 1929

Fig. 19

Ariadna major Hickman, 1929 , 100, fig. 2

Type material. Holotype ♀. AUSTRALIA: Tasmania: Mount Hobbs , east Tasmania, 42.5°S, 147.58°E. 13 May 1928, V. V. Hickman ( QVMAG QVM:13:7361). Only images examined.

Other material examined. Known only from the type specimen.

Diagnosis. Ariadna major can be differentiated from all other species of Ariadna known from Tasmania by it having a uniform grey abdomen, lacking transverse abdominal markings.

Distribution. Ariadna major is known only from the type locality of Mount Hobbs, in eastern Tasmania ( Fig. 19 ).

Remarks. The holotype for A. major was only available for examination through images provided to the authors, these images were not of publication quality. No mature representative specimens were present in the material examined, similar immature specimens were present, but due to variation in key diagnostic features between juveniles and mature specimens, these could not confidently be assigned to A. major . Specimens of A. alta sp. nov. were recorded from the same type locality as A. major (Mount Hobbs, south east Tasmania), but A. alta sp. nov. clearly differs from A. major (see diagnosis of A. alta sp. nov.,) and sympatry has been recorded for other Australian Ariadna (for example Marsh et al. 2018) and is frequent in the species described in this manuscript.

Figures

FIGURE 19. Distribution of Ariadna ferrogrisea sp. nov. (red circle), Ariadna fragilis sp. nov. (blue triangle), Ariadna gonzo sp. nov. (green diamond), Ariadna major (yellow square), Ariadna muscosa (white circles).