''Megadictyna'' is a genus of spiders in the family Megadictynidae. It was first described in 1906 by

Friedrich Dahl Karl Friedrich Theodor Dahl (24 June 1856 in Rosenhofer Brök north of Dahme, Schleswig-Holstein, Dahme, Holstein – 29 June 1929 in Greifswald) was a German zoologist, and in particular an arachnologist. The son of a farmer, Dahl studied at the ...

. , it contains only one species, ''Megadictyna thilenii'', found in

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 ...

. Similar to many

RTA clade The RTA clade is a clade of araneomorph spiders, united by the possession of a retrolateral tibial apophysis – a backward-facing projection on the tibia of the male pedipalp. The clade contains over 21,000 species, almost half the current total ...

spiders, ''Megadictyna'' build wheel-shaped orb webs.

Taxonomy

The genus and species were first described in 1906 by Friedrich Dahl. The species was undergone numerous revisions.Forster, R. R. (1970)
The spiders of New Zealand. Part III
''Otago Museum Bulletin'' 3: 1-184. Harvey, M. S. (1995)
The systematics of the spider family Nicodamidae (Araneae: Amaurobioidea)
''Invertebrate Taxonomy'' 9(2): 279-386. doi:10.1071/IT9950279

Description

The female is recorded at 11.87mm in length whereas the male is 9.67mm. The carapace is coloured is dusky yellow with dark brown areas. The legs are yellow brown with dark banding. The abdomen is creamy yellow with brown mottling. Megadictyna thilenii male

Distribution

This species is widespread throughout New Zealand, except the southern half of the

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

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 "Not Threatened".

References

Monotypic Araneomorphae genera Endemic spiders of New Zealand Megadictynidae Taxa named by Friedrich Dahl {{Araneomorphae-stub