''Aptostichus bonoi'', or Bono's Joshua Tree trapdoor spider, is a morphological

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), ...

Euctenizidae The Euctenizidae (formerly Cyrtaucheniidae subfamily Euctenizinae) are a family of mygalomorph spiders. They are now considered to be more closely related to Idiopidae. Etymology The name comes from the Greek prefix (''eu-''), meaning "valu ...

spiders,

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

arthropod Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...

s who seize their prey after leaping out of their burrows and inject it with

venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...

. The species was found in

Joshua Tree National Park Joshua Tree National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, US National Park located in southeastern California, straddling north-central Riverside County, California, Riverside County and part of southern San Bernardino County, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, and described by the

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...

professor

Jason Bond Jason E. Bond is an American biologist working as a Professor of Entomology and the Schlinger Chair in Insect Systematics at the University of California, Davis. Education Bond attended Western Carolina University, earning a Bachelor of Scien ...

in 2012. Only seven species of ''

Aptostichus ''Aptostichus'' is a genus of North American Mygalomorphae, mygalomorph spiders in the family Euctenizidae, and was first described by Eugène Simon in 1891. They are found predominantly in southern California, United States. Behavior Members of ...

'' were known prior to 2012, including the Angelina Jolie trapdoor spider.

Etymology

The species was named after the Irish rock band U2's singer

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by the nickname Bono ( ), is an Irish singer-songwriter and activist. He is a founding member, the lead vocalist, and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Bono is known for his impassioned voca ...

in honor of the band's 1987 album ''

The Joshua Tree ''The Joshua Tree'' is the fifth studio album by the Irish rock music, rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 9 March 1987 by Island Records. In contrast to the ambient music, ambient experimentati ...

''.

Description

Unlike males of the rest of the ''

'' species, male specimens of ''A. bonoi'' and '' A. fisheri'' barely have scopula pads and possess short but distinctive spines on the ventral surface of tarsus I. The two species differ in that ''A. bonoi'' has significantly more spines on the retrolateral surface of tibia I. ''A. bonoi'' is one of only two sympatric species of ''Aptostichus'', the other one being '' A. serrano''. The two species are easily distinguished from one another due by spines on the retrolateral surface I, which ''A. serrano'' lacks. ''Aptostichus bonoi'' was described on the basis of only one male and one female

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wikt:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to ancho ...

; the male is the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

and is presumed to have been collected from a

pitfall trap A pitfall trap is a trapping pit for small animals, such as insects, amphibians and reptiles. Pitfall traps are a sampling technique, mainly used for ecology studies and ecologic pest control. Animals that enter a pitfall trap are unable to es ...

, while the female is the

paratype In zoology and botany, a paratype is a specimen of an organism that helps define what the scientific name of a species and other taxon actually represents, but it is not the holotype (and in botany is also neither an isotype (biology), isotype ...

and was presumably caught live in her burrow. The species is known only from an area of

called Covington Flat, which is the type locality. The available data is very limited, but it is assumed that males disperse to look for females from late fall until early winter.

Conservation status

Due to the very limited range of the species and its scarceness in collections, it is probable that Bono's Joshua Tree trapdoor spider is endangered in terms of its

conservation status The conservation status of a group of organisms (for instance, a species) indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing conservation ...

. According to Bond, the protection of the species is critical.

References

External links

Detailed description
at species-id.net {{Taxonbar, from=Q4996152 Euctenizidae Endemic fauna of California Fauna of the Colorado Desert Endemic spiders of the United States Joshua Tree National Park Endangered fauna of California Spiders described in 2012 Bono Fauna without expected TNC conservation status

Etymology

Description

Conservation status

See also

References

External links