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''Spelungula'' is a
File:Nelson_Cave_Spider_imported_from_iNaturalist_photo_367168822_on_13_October_2024.jpg
File:Nelson Cave Spider imported from iNaturalist photo 326795454 on 13 October 2024.jpg
File:Nelson Cave Spider imported from iNaturalist photo 326724522 on 13 October 2024.jpg
monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of South Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
large-clawed spiders containing the single species, ''Spelungula cavernicola'', or the Nelson cave spider.
Taxonomy
This species was described in 1987 byRay Forster
Raymond Robert Forster (19 June 1922 – 1 July 2000) was a New Zealand Arachnology, arachnologist and museum director. He was a Fellow of The Entomological Society of New Zealand.
Biography
Forster was born in Hastings, New Zealand in 1922, a ...
from specimens collected in caves around Nelson
Nelson may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey
* ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers
* ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...
. The holotype is stored at Te Papa Museum
The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa (Māori for ' the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum of New Zealand an ...
under registration number AS.000014.
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.Description
It is New Zealand's largest known spider, with a leg span of and a body length of , and its main prey is cave weta.
Distribution/habitat
This species is only known from caves in northwestern Nelson, New Zealand.Conservation status
It is one of the few spider species afforded legal protection under the New Zealand Wildlife Act. It is classified as "Range Restricted" and stable in theNew Zealand Threat Classification System
The New Zealand Threat Classification System is used by the Department of Conservation to assess conservation priorities of species in New Zealand.
The system was developed because the IUCN Red List, a similar conservation status system, had s ...
.
In May 2022, the Crazy Paving Cave in Kahurangi National Park
Kahurangi National Park is a national park in the northwest of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the second largest of the thirteen national parks of New Zealand. It was gazetted in 1996 and covers , ranging from the Buller River near Murc ...
, where the spiders are known to breed, was closed for a year in an attempt to help the population to recover.
Gallery
See also
*Spiders of New Zealand
New Zealand has an estimated 2,000 species of spiders, with over 1,100 species described scientifically. Over 90 per cent are endemism, endemic, with the approximately 70 non-endemic species being introduced through association with humans or b ...
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q14736493, from2=Q2376193 Cave spiders Gradungulidae IUCN Red List data deficient species Monotypic Araneomorphae genera Taxa named by Raymond Robert Forster Endemic spiders of New Zealand