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Alexander Dudley | all galleries >> Australian Invertebrates >> Australian Spiders > Tasmanian Cave Spider, Hickmania troglodytes
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28-JAN-2011 İAlexander Dudley 2011

Tasmanian Cave Spider, Hickmania troglodytes

Roseberry, Tasmania

This long-legged Tasmanian endemic is regarded as one of the most "primitive" araneomorph spiders and is the sole Australian representative of the family Austrochilidae.
Their closest relatives occur in South America.
I would certainly regard it as one of the creepiest, but nonetheless this is an important part of the cave fauna of Tasmania.
They apparently live for several decades, which considering that mating can last for five and a half hours, and the young take 8-10
months to hatch from the eggs, make these spiders amongst the slowest evolving invertebrates, which might go some way to explain
their "primitiveness".

Nikon D300 ,Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D AF Micro
1/250s f/18.0 at 60.0mm iso200 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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