Gaius villosus

Gaius villosus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Mygalomorphae
Family:	Idiopidae
Genus:	Gaius
Species:	G. villosus
Binomial name
Gaius villosus Rainbow, 1914 [1]
Synonyms [1]
Anidiops villosus(Rainbow, 1914)

Gaius villosus is a species of spider in the family Idiopidae (armored trapdoor spiders) found in Western Australia in a variety of different habitats. ^[2]

Originally described in 1914 as Gaius villosus by William Joseph Rainbow, ^{[1] [3]} in 1957 it was transferred to Anidiops by Barbara York Main ^{[1] [4]} (a genus no longer recognized). In 2017, it was returned to Gaius by Rix and others ^{[1] [5]} – at the time it was the sole species in the genus, ^[5] although others have been added since. ^[1]

Number 16, ^[6] aged approximately 43 years at death and thought to be the longest-lived spider on record, was a female of this species. ^{[7] [8]}

References

1. "Gen. Gaius Rainbow, 1914", World Spider Catalog, Natural History Museum Bern, retrieved 16 May 2018
2. "Threatened Trapdoor Spiders of the Avon" (PDF). Wheatbelt Natural Resource Management. p. 8. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
3. Rainbow, W. J. (15 August 1914). "Studies in Australian Araneidae. No. 6. The Terretelarinae" (PDF). Records of the Australian Museum. 10 (8): 187–270. doi:10.3853/J.0067-1975.10.1914.901. ISSN   0067-1975. Wikidata   Q56196374.
4. Main, B. Y. (1957). "Biology of Aganippine trapdoor spiders (Mygalomorphae: Ctenizidae)". Australian Journal of Zoology . 5 (4): 402. doi:10.1071/ZO9570402. ISSN   0004-959X. Wikidata   Q99572730.
5. Rix, Michael G.; Raven, Robert J.; Main, Barbara York; Harrison, Sophie E.; Austin, Andrew D.; Cooper, Steven J.B.; Harvey, Mark S. (2017). "The Australasian spiny trapdoor spiders of the family Idiopidae (Mygalomorphae : Arbanitinae): a relimitation and revision at the generic level". Invertebrate Systematics. doi:10.1071/IS16065.
6. Leanda Denise Mason; Grant Wardell-Johnson; Barbara York Main (2018). "The longest-lived spider: mygalomorphs dig deep, and persevere" (PDF). Pacific Conservation Biology . 24 (2): 203. doi:10.1071/PC18015. ISSN   1038-2097. Wikidata   Q56657531.
7. Nelson, Bryan (28 April 2018). "World's longest-lived spider died at the ripe old age of 43". MNN - Mother Nature Network. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
8. "The extraordinary life and death of the world's oldest known spider". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 31 December 2021.