Plesiothele fentoni (Hickman, 1936)
Lake Fenton trapdoor spider
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Hexathele fentoni Hickman, 1936
The genus Plesiothele was erected for the type species Hexathele fentoni by (Raven, 1978). The subfamily Plesiothelinae was erected for the type genus Plesiothele by (Raven, 1980), but has recently been synonymised with Hexathelinae by (Hedin et al., 2018).
Conservation Status
Last record: 1932?
Rediscovery date disputed: 1987 (TSMS, 2013); June 1995 (Turner, 1995); 1996 (Doran, 1996)
Distribution
southern Tasmania, Australia
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
Above: photograph of the Lake Fenton trapdoor spider (Plesiothele fentoni), taken by Marshal Hedin on 8 February 2017 at 12:25PM. Reproduced under CC BY-SA 2.0 license. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Another photo of a live Lake Fenton trapdoor spider (Plesiothele fentoni) can be seen in (Gardner, 2022).
References
Original scientific description:
Hickman, Vernon Victor. (1936). A new mygalomorph spider belonging to the genus Hexathele Ausserer. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 1935: 131-137.
Other references:
Bryant, Sally L. and Jackson, J. (1999). Tasmania's Threatened Fauna Handbook: What, Where and How to Protect Tasmania's Threatened Animals. Threatened Species Unit, DPIWE, Hobart. [p. 303-306]
Doran, Niall. (2002). Lots of invertebrate news! Invertebrata: http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/zoology/invertebrata/onlinearchive/onlinetext/inv22-2-02.html
Gardner, Angela. (2022). Web of mystery continues to unravel. Forest Practices News 15(2): 19.
Gertsch, W. J. and Platnick, N. I. (1979). A revision of the spider family Mecicobothriidae (Araneae, Mygalomorphae). American Museum Novitates 2687: 1-32.
Hedin, M., Derkarabetian, S., Ramírez, M. J., Vink, C. and Bond, J. E. (2018). Phylogenomic reclassification of the world’s most venomous spiders (Mygalomorphae, Atracinae), with implications for venom evolution. Scientific reports 8(1): 1636.
Raven, Robert J. (1978). Systematics of the spider subfamily Hexathelinae (Dipluridae: Mygalomorphae: Arachnida). Australian Journal of Zoology Supplementary Series 26(65): 1-75. https://doi.org/10.1071/AJZS065
Raven, Robert J. (1980). The evolution and biogeography of the mygalomorph spider family Hexathelidae (Araneae, Chelicerata). Journal of Arachnology 8: 251-266.
Raven, Robert J. (1985). The spider infraorder Mygalomorphae (Araneae): cladistics and systematics. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 182: 1-180.
Taylor, Robert J. and Bryant, Sally L. (1997). Compilation of a list of threatened invertebrates: the Tasmanian experience. Memoirs of the Museum of Victoria 56(2): 605-609. https://doi.org/10.24199/j.mmv.1997.56.57
Threatened Species & Marine Section. (2013). Listing Statement for Plesiothele fentoni (Lake Fenton Trapdoor Spider). Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, Tasmania. [automatic download]
Turner, Elizabeth. (1995). Rediscovery of the Lake Fenton Funnelweb. Invertebrata: http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/zoology/invertebrata/printarchive/printtext/inv5items.html#5turner
https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/15466/plesiothele-fentoni-fenton-trapdoor-spider
https://nre.tas.gov.au/Documents/Plesiothele%20fentoni%20listing%20statement.pdf