Red Flat Spider
S1, female, dorsal
Ellura
Red Flat Spider
S2, male, Eye Arrangement
 
                      
Red Flat Spider (Platorish gelorup)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Spiders, Scorpions, Mites & Ticks (Arachnida)
Order: Spiders (Araneae)
Family: Flat Spider (Gnaphosoidea: Trachycosmidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Red Flat Spider (Platorish gelorup)
This Photo:     🔍S2, male, dorsal🔎

Thank you Caitlin Henderson for identifying this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
1st Live Photo on-line:
One diagnostic of these is that they can walk up glass. We've tested this with these. The males were ~6mm long, while the female ~7.5mm long.
Notice the spinnerets are tiny compared to Hemicloea.
We thought this was Morebilus cf fumosus.
Caitlin said "I'm fairly confident that what you have is Platorish gelorup ... the particularly wide carapace compared to length and the rounded sternum are diagnostic. The image of the palp was clear enough to compare structures to Platnick's 2002 revision which match perfectly with P. gelorup, which is also a geographic match. Without examining the specimen under a microscope of course, there is margin for error."
To be clear, Caitlin only id'ed the male. We have assumed the female is the same species based on appearance & location.
Imaged 3 (1F) in Apr & May.

Similar Species: Flat Ground Spider (Hemicloea sp)

Copyright © 2020-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 20-Apr-2020
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.