Tube trapdoor

Fact Box Species: Misgolas species (QM) (formerly Dyarcyops species: see notes below) Family: Idiopidae formerly Ctenizidae Body length: female: 27 mm male: 23 mm Habitat: This species lives in a burrow with an entrance that is a paper-like tube horizontal to the ground Toxicity: May be somewhat toxic to humans

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 called M. pulchellus is synonymous with Arbanitis longipes, a spider found in the Greater Brisbane region of South-east Queensland. Like A. longipes the Toowoomba tube spider has a carapace covered sparsely with golden hairs and a similar fovea and eye pattern. However, a major difference is that the burrow of this spider has a tube-like entrance that resembles that of some other Misgolas species except that it lies horizontally on the surface instead of extending vertically above it. On the other hand, the burrow entrance for A. longipes is not tube-shaped but more nearly resembles that of some wolf spiders. In addition, the male of the spider presented on this page has a double coupling spur on each Tibia I which is very similar to that shown for Misgolas echo by Raven and Wishart but which is not present on A. longipes males. It is therefore concluded that this spider is a Misgolas species but its species name is yet to be determined.

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