''Eukoenenia christiani'' (the Maltese palpigrade, known as ' in
Maltese
Maltese may refer to:
* Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta
* Maltese alphabet
* Maltese cuisine
* Maltese culture
* Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people
* Maltese people, people from Malta or of Maltese ...
) is a species in the
order
Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to:
* A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica
* Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood
...
Palpigradi
Palpigradi is an order of very small arachnids commonly known as microwhip scorpion or palpigrades.
Description
Palpigrades belong to the arachnid class. They are the sister group to Solifugae, no more than in length, and averaging . They hav ...
, an early-branching lineage of
arachnid
Arachnids are arthropods in the Class (biology), class Arachnida () of the subphylum Chelicerata. Arachnida includes, among others, spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, opiliones, harvestmen, Solifugae, camel spiders, Amblypygi, wh ...
s. There are 80
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of palpigrade worldwide. They are small and eyeless with a long tail-like structure. This species is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
to the
Maltese Islands
The geography of Malta is dominated by water. Malta is an archipelago of coralline limestone, located in Europe, in the Mediterranean Sea, 81 kilometres south of Sicily, Italy,From Żebbuġ in Malta, coordinates: 36°04'48.2"N 14°15'06.7"E to Ca ...
.
[Wildlife of the Maltese Islands, BirdLife Malta and Nature Trust, 1995]
Taxonomy and naming
''Eukoenenia christiani'' was first discovered in 1988 when a specimen was found in a cave in the
Girgenti Valley (
Malta
Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...
).
No sightings have been reported since then.
Description
''Eukoenenia christiani'' is long, and is depicted as having a light brown colouring.
See also
*
Endemic Maltese wildlife The Maltese Islands, although small in area (316 km2), host many endemic species. This may make the organism endangered. These endemic species are important to the Maltese Islands because they form part of Maltese national heritage and are topi ...
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3014466
Palpigradi
Fauna of Malta
Animals described in 1988
Endemic fauna of Malta