Tube trapdoor

Fact Box Species: Arbanitis species (QM) (For the changed identity of this spider, which was formerly a Misgolas species, see below) Family: Idiopidae formerly Ctenizidae Body length: female: 27 mm male: 23 mm Habitat: The entrance to the burrow species lives in is a paper-like tube horizontal to the ground Toxicity: Possibly somewhat toxic

The female Short spinnerets Burrow entrance The male

The correct species name for this spider is uncertain. It was previously considered to be Misgolas pulchellus but Raven and Wishart have stated that the species once called M. pulchellus is synonymous with Arbanitis longipes, a spider found in the Greater Brisbane region of South-east Queensland east of the Darling Downs. These authors described only three Misgolas species, all from coastal South Queensland and the Lamington Plateau, but the spider shown in the above photos matches none of them, was found just south of Toowoomba on the Darling Downs and lived in a burrow very different to that stated for any of the three named Misgolas spceies.

However, in an earlier paper Wishart described a number of NSW Misgolas species and his drawings of one of them, Misgolas dereki, are a very good match for the Toowoomba Misgolas species shown above. In addition, Wishart noted that the burrow was a horizontal tube very similar to that used by the Toowoomba spider. It is therefore tempting to label the spider on this page as Misgolas dereki but according to Wishart the range of Misgolas dereki is a coastal region from Kiama down to the Victorian border so it seems improbable that the Toowoomba spider is the same species. Hence, this spider must be left without a species name until this situation is clarified.

To add to the above confusion, early in 2017 the journal Invertebrate Systematics indicated that they had just accepted a revision paper by M. Rix et al entitled "The Australasian spiny trapdoor spiders of the family Idiopidae (Mygalomorphae: Arbanitinae): a relimitation and revision at the generic level" in which the authors say Misgolas should now be considered to be a junior synonym for the genus Arbanitis.

Spider(s) with a very similar appearance: Arbanitis longipes, Euoplos species and some Namea and Aname species.