Authors
Muntasir Akash, Nusrat Jahan, Mahatub Khan Badhon
Publication date
2017
Journal
Bangladesh Journal of Zoology
Volume
45
Issue
1
Pages
97-100
Publisher
Zoological Society of Bangladesh
Description
While conducting a biodiversity survey in deltaic island clusters of South-Central Bangladesh, a spider was encountered on December 08, 2016 from a backyard garden of Nijhum Dwip (22 04′ 21.78 ″N 91 01′ 48.02 ″E, Figs 1-2). The specimen was examined, photographed and identified as a sparassid Huntsman spider species Olios lamarcki Latreille, 1806. This is the first confirmed documentation of O. lamarcki to the spider inventory of Bangladesh. The sparassid genus Olios is the most diverse in the family, characterized by upraised and dome-shaped prosoma; indistinct to no-groove on thorax; longer second pair of legs; elongated and broadened mouth appendages ie, clypeus and labium; distinctive eyes with straight anterior rows, procurved posterior rows and bigger and brighter anteromedians (Gravely 1931, Biswas and Raychaudhuri 2005, Platnick 2011). Typical of all araneomorph spiders, Olios is with vertically oriented chelicerae (Foelix 2011). This genus, like other sparassids, is vernacularly known as Huntsman spider due to their wanderingstalking predation technique, and sometimes as Giant crab spider due to their size and appearance as well as for solitary, no-snare dependent nature (Isbister 2003, Foelix 2011). Of 246 species of this diverse tropical ‘taxonomic trashbasket’, three have been sighted from Bangladesh ie, O. gravelyi Sethi and Tikader, 1988, O. hampsoni Pocock, 1901 and O. durlaviae Biswas and Raychaudhuri, 2005-the last one being endemic to the country (Siliwal and Molur 2006, Ahmed et al. 2008, Platnick 2011). There was no record of O. lamarcki from Bangladesh till this finding, though it is among …
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