Meedo gympie?

Fact Box Species: Meedo gympie? (A paper by Platnick showed that this Brisbane spider might be M. gympie could be Neato beewah and Peeto rodmani have also been found in the same locality. Note its changed Family name as explained below) Family: Trachycosmidae (formerly Gallieniellidae) Body length: female: 8 mm male: 5.5 mm Habitat: This species probably spends most of its time in leaf litter but little is known about its habits Toxicity: Unknown but probably harmless

View from above Underside of male Underneath male

The transfer of this species from the Gallieniellidae into the Family Trachycosmidae is as stated in the following paper, published in January 2022: Azevedo GHF, Bougie T, Carboni M, Hedin M and Ramirez MJ "Combining genomic, phenotypic and Sanger sequencing data to elucidate the phylogeny of the two-clawed spiders (Dionycha)" Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution 166 1-14.

Distinguishing features of this spider are its long, slender, unspined legs, the first and fourth pairs of which are much longer than the other two pairs, and its shiny black body with orange areas on the legs.

The male shown on this page appears to be darker than would be expected from replica watches Platnick's description of the known South Queensland gallieniellids but the apparent complete lack of leg spines makes this spider most likely to be Meedo gympie.

Known Range: This is recorded as being in coastal area from Townsville down to Sydney but is most common in South-east Queensland.

Spider(s) with a very similar appearance: Venonia micarioides.