Biology:Spelungula
Spelungula is a monotypic genus of South Pacific large-clawed spiders containing the single species, Spelungula cavernicola, or the Nelson cave spider.[1]
Taxonomy
This species was described in 1987 by Ray Forster from specimens collected in caves around Nelson.[2] The holotype is stored at Te Papa Museum under registration number AS.000014.[3]
Etymology
The genus name is derived from "spelunca", which is latin for cave and is feminine in gender. The species name "cavernicola" refers to the species restriction to caves.[2]
Description
It is New Zealand's largest known spider, with a leg span of 13 to 15 centimetres (5.1 to 5.9 in) and a body length of 2.4 centimetres (0.94 in), and its main prey is cave weta.[4][5]
Distribution/habitat
This species is only known from caves in northwestern Nelson, New Zealand.[2]
Conservation status
It is one of the few spider species afforded legal protection under the New Zealand Wildlife Act.[6][7] It is classified as "Range Restricted" and stable in the New Zealand Threat Classification System.[8]
In May 2022, the Crazy Paving Cave in Kahurangi National Park, where the spiders are known to breed, was closed for a year in an attempt to help the population to recover.[9]
See also
- Spiders of New Zealand
References
- ↑ "NMBE - World Spider Catalog". https://wsc.nmbe.ch/species/12698.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Forster, R. R.; Platnick, N. I.; Gray, M. R. (1987). "A review of the spider superfamilies Hypochiloidea and Austrochiloidea (Araneae, Araneomorphae).". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 185: 1–116.
- ↑ "Collections Online - Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa". https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/125443.
- ↑ McLachlan, Andrew. "Nelson cave spider" (in en). New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/28811/nelson-cave-spider.
- ↑ "Topic: Nelson cave spider | Collections Online – Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa". http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/Topic/9432.
- ↑ Faulls, D. (1991). "Eight legs, two fangs and an attitude". New Zealand Geographic (10): 68–96.
- ↑ Wildlife Act – Schedule 7 Terrestrial and freshwater invertebrates declared to be animals
- ↑ Molloy, Janice (2002). "Classifying species according to threat of extinction. A system for New Zealand". Department of Conservation (New Zealand). http://www.doc.govt.nz/upload/documents/science-and-technical/TSOP22.pdf.
- ↑ "Nelson cave to shut for a year to improve rare spider's population". RNZ. 1 June 2022. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/468295/nelson-cave-to-shut-for-a-year-to-improve-rare-spider-s-population.
<ref> tag with name "wsc" defined in <references> is not used in prior text.External links
- {{Inaturalist taxon}} template missing ID and not present in Wikidata.
Wikidata ☰ Q14736493 entry
 |  |
