''Cycloctenus paturau'' is a species of

Cycloctenidae Cycloctenidae is a family of spiders first described by Eugène Simon Eugène Louis Simon (; 30 April 1848 – 17 November 1924) was a French naturalist who worked particularly on insects and spiders, but also on birds and plants. He is by ...

spider endemic to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

.Forster, R. R. (1979)
The spiders of New Zealand. Part V. Cycloctenidae, Gnaphosidae, Clubionidae
''Otago Museum Bulletin'' 5: 1-95

Taxonomy

This species was described in 1979 by

Ray 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 male and female specimens. The holotype is stored in the

New Zealand Arthropod Collection The New Zealand Arthropod Collection is a collection of terrestrial invertebrates held by Maanaki Whenua – Landcare Research in Auckland, New Zealand. It specialises in the taxonomy and identification of indigenous and exotic invertebrate sp ...

under registration number NZAC03014961.

Description

The male is recorded at 11.8mm in length whereas the female is 10.8mm. The body is coloured yellow brown and has very few dark markings.

Distribution and habitat

This species is only known from

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 ...

, New Zealand. It is apparently restricted to caves.

Conservation status

Under the

New 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 ...

, this species is listed as "Naturally Uncommon" with the qualifiers of "Range Restricted".

References

Cycloctenidae Endemic spiders of New Zealand Spiders described in 1979 {{Cycloctenidae-stub