''Fijocrypta'' is a

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 "unispec ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of South Pacific brushed trapdoor spiders containing the single species, ''Fijocrypta vitilevu''. Both genus and species were first described by

Robert Raven Robert John Raven is an Australian arachnologist, being the Head of Terrestrial Biodiversity and the Senior Curator (Arachnida) at the Queensland Museum. Dr Raven has described many species of spider in Australia and elsewhere, and is spider bit ...

in 1994, and they have only been found in

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

. It was first found in

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

s in the eastern highlands of

Viti Levu Viti Levu (pronounced ) is the largest island in the Republic of Fiji. It is the site of the nation's capital, Suva, and home to a large majority of Fiji's population. Geology Fiji lies in a tectonically complex area between the Australian P ...

, the largest island in

, from which the species name is derived. The genus name is derived from "Fiji" and the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word ', meaning "hidden".

Description

The male ''Fijocrypta vitilevu'' can grow to a body length of nearly long. It has an orange-brown

carapace A carapace is a Dorsum (biology), dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tor ...

with fine darker lines and darker areas towards the front. The

chelicerae The chelicerae () are the mouthparts of the subphylum Chelicerata, an arthropod group that includes arachnids, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. Commonly referred to as "jaws", chelicerae may be shaped as either articulated fangs, or similarly ...

are also orange-brown, and the legs are yellow-brown without ring markings. The upper surface of the

opisthosoma The opisthosoma is the posterior part of the body in some arthropods, behind the prosoma (cephalothorax). It is a distinctive feature of the subphylum Chelicerata (arachnids, horseshoe crabs and others). Although it is similar in most respects to a ...

is brown with many small white spots. The lower surface is about equally brown and white. The

palpal bulb The two palpal bulbs – also known as palpal organs and genital bulbs – are the copulatory organs of a male spider. They are borne on the last segment of the pedipalps (the front "limbs" of a spider), giving the spider an appearance often descr ...

is pear-shaped with a short blunt embolus at the end. Females have a somewhat longer body, growing up to long. They have a similar coloring, except the legs are orange-brown and the paler spots on the upper surface of the abdomen form either lines or chevrons rather than the seemingly random scatter of males. ''Fijocrypta'' can be distinguished from most other brushed trapdoor spiders in the western Pacific by the absence of a spur on the

tibia The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...

of the first leg in males. '' Seqocrypta'' and ''

Moruga The village of Moruga lies on the central south coast of Trinidad at the western end of the Trinity Hills. It is in Victoria County, Trinidad and Tobago, and is served by the Princes Town Regional Corporation. The village is close to Trinidad's ...

'' males also lack this spur, but ''Fijocrypta'' males have two rows of teeth on the claws and the

embolus An embolus (; plural emboli; from the Greek ἔμβολος "wedge", "plug") is an unattached mass that travels through the bloodstream and is capable of creating blockages. When an embolus occludes a blood vessel, it is called an embolism or emb ...

doesn't have a fine tip.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q14628019, from2=Q2713375 Endemic fauna of Fiji Barychelidae Monotypic Mygalomorphae genera Spiders of Fiji