Australian golden hatch spiders are among the most abundant and diverse mygalomorphic spider lineages in eastern subtropical Australia. They are known to make a “door stopper” burrow, made of dirt and silk that sits flush with the surrounding soil when closed.
As we can see in the image, from the study that has been published in the journal Invertebrate Systematics, they have a large body similar to tarantulas and can vary in color from dark red to light tan and all shades in between.
“I’m not sure how they came to be called golden hatch spiders, since very few are actually golden,” says Jeremy Wilson, a researcher at Griffith University, the Museum of Queensland and the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences and leader of the work. “That said, they are a remarkable group of spiders and they are very interesting because they are very varied, from very spiny to quite large, some of them have bodies that are around 4 cm long.”
The five new species of spiders have been named: Euoplos booloumba, Euoplos jayneae, Euoplos raveni, Euoplos regalis and Euoplos schmidti.
” The work of a taxonomist is similar to that of a detective and this particular project highlighted how much work is required to describe a new species,” clarifies Michael Rix, senior curator of arachnology at the Museum of Queensland. “We have been working on this project for a few years, as several of these species appear very similar and live close to each other, which led to us having to compare a large amount of scientific evidence to describe these five new species.”
“When we describe a new species, we must consider their morphology or their appearance, but also compare their DNA to see how similar they are genetically and, of course, where they are,” says the expert.
Referencia: Jeremy D. Wilson & Michael G. Rix. 2021. Systematics of the Australian golden trapdoor spiders of the Euoplos variabilis-group (Mygalomorphae : Idiopidae : Euoplini): parapatry and sympatry between closely related species in subtropical Queensland. Invertebrate Systematics 35 (5): 514-541; doi: 10.1071/IS20055
