''Pinkfloydia'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of small Australian long-jawed orb-weavers, reaching a maximum lengths of about . It was first described by D. Dimitrov & G. Hormiga in 2011, and contains two species, found in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

: '' P. harveyi'' and '' P. rixi''. They have a unique rounded, cone-shaped head structure with one pair of large eyes and three pairs of smaller eyes. The genus is named after British rock band Pink Floyd.

Description

''P. harveii'' is a species of tiny brown spiders, with individuals ranging from in total body length, with females reaching larger maximum sizes than males. The eight eyes are situated on an elevated, rounded protuberance of the cephalothorax, with a one pair of eyes (the posterior median eyes) greatly enlarged compared to the other three pair. The elevated protuberance is unique among tetragnathid spiders, and other unusual features of the male

pedipalp Pedipalps (commonly shortened to palps or palpi) are the second pair of appendages of chelicerates – a group of arthropods including spiders, scorpions, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. The pedipalps are lateral to the chelicerae ("jaws") an ...

s warranted the designation of a new genus with a name evocative of its uniqueness: ''Pinkfloydia'' was named by biologists Dimitar Dimitrov and Gustavo Hormiga after British rock band Pink Floyd, noting "In its heyday Pink Floyd was an innovative group that created music which was an eclectic mixture of styles... ''Pinkfloydia'' has very unusual morphological features and its name aims to reflect its uniqueness." The species name ''harveii'' honors biologist Mark S. Harvey of the

Western Australian Museum The Western Australian Museum is a statutory authority within the Culture and the Arts Portfolio, established under the ''Museum Act 1969''. The museum has six main sites. The state museum, now known as WA Museum Boola Bardip, officially re-ope ...

who collected specimens as early as 1990, including the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

specimen, the primary specimen used in describing the species.

Distribution and ecology

''P. harveii'' is known from coastal areas of the state of

, with a range extending from

Lesueur National Park Lesueur National Park is a national park straddling the boundary between the Wheatbelt and Mid West regions of Western Australia, 211 km north of Perth. The park was gazetted in 1992. It includes two mesas known as Mount Lesueur and Mou ...

in the northwest to

Bremer Bay Bremer may refer to: People *Bremer (surname) * Bremer Ehrler (born 1914), American politician * Bremer (born 1997), Brazilian footballer Places ;Australia *Bremer Bay, Western Australia * Bremer Marine Park *Bremer Island * Bremer River (disambig ...

in the southeast. The natural history of ''P. harveii'' is poorly known. Horizontal webs of juveniles have been described, measuring wide.

Classification

''Pinkfloydia'' is a member of the

Tetragnathidae Long-jawed orb weavers or long jawed spiders (Tetragnathidae) are a family of araneomorph spiders first described by Anton Menge in 1866. They have elongated bodies, legs, and chelicerae, and build small orb webs with an open hub with few, wide-se ...

, a globally distributed family containing around 1,000 species with about 30 species in Australia. Based on morphological, behavioural, and DNA similarities, ''Pinkfloydia'' is classified within a group of tetragnathids native to Australia and New Zealand known as the "''Nanometa'' clade", which includes species of '' Nanometa'' and '' Orsinome sarasini''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q20675082 Tetragnathidae Spiders of Australia Monotypic Araneomorphae genera Pink Floyd Endemic fauna of Australia

Description

Distribution and ecology

Classification

See also

References