Workman’s Werewolf Spider
This spider was named in honour of Thomas Workman, an Irish businessman cum amateur arachnologist, who collected the first specimen from Singapore that was subsequently described by Thorell.
The female has a glossy black carapace, an oval abdomen densely clad with short velvety hairs, and bi-coloured legs with all patellae and tibiae tinted with chestnut brown. The double-toned legs I and II are often visible when it sits near the entrance of burrow ready to strike at a passing prey.
The male is seldom seen. It is slenderer than the female and is easily recognised by the powdery look on the carapace and on the femora.
| Length | ♀ 20–23 mm; ♂ 15 mm. |
| Habitat | Forest floor, kerbside grassy areas or sheltered clay banks, or in rotten logs. |
| Biology | The spider builds a simple burrow without any trapdoor, but with a collar around the entrance comprising mosses, leaf and wooden fragments bound together with silk. It may pull the entire rim inward to conceal the entrance. |
| Type Locality | Singapore. |
| Distribution | Malaysia (Pahang), Singapore. |
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Chelicerata (Chelicerates)
Class Arachnida (Arachnids)
Order Araneae (Spiders)
Suborder Mygalomorphae (Mygalomorphs)
Holotype
Swedish Museum of Natural History (Naturhistoriska riksmuseet), Stockholm (NHRS), Sweden; ♀ (Raven, 1985a)
Damarchus workmanii (Original description ♀)
Thorell, 1891 Spindlar från Nikobarerna och andra delar af södra Asien: 15
Damarchus workmani
Simon, 1892a Histoire naturelle des araignées. Deuxième édition, tome premier: 108, f doi:10.5962/bhl.title.51973
Damarchus workmani (♀)
Workman, 1896 Malaysian spiders: 81, pl. 81 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.101972
Damarchus workmani (Original description ♂)
Abraham, 1924 Some mygalomorph spiders from the Malay Peninsula: 1092, pl. 1, f. 1-4 doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1924.tb03332.x
Damarchus workmani (♀)
Raven, 1985a The spider infraorder Mygalomorphae (Araneae): cladistics and systematics: 90, f. 50-55
Damarchus workmanni (♂, lapsus)
Zonstein & Marusik, 2014 A redescription of Damarchus cavernicola Abraham, 1924, with notes on Damarchus Thorell, 1891 and Atmetochilus Simon, 1887 (Aranei: Nemesiidae): 274, f. 18-21 doi:10.15298/arthsel.23.3.06
Malaysia (Pahang), Singapore.