The Dolloff cave spider (''Meta dolloff'') is a

spider Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species d ...

native to California, among the rarest spiders of North America. This species was listed on the 2000

IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biolo ...

. This doesn't provide

legal Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. ...

protection for the species, but the list tracks animals that may become

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

Habitat

The Dolloff cave spider has been found in caves in the Empire Cave System near

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge ...

, and in the Gray Whale Ranch State Park. Since the discovery of Meta dolloff in the Empire and Dolloff Caves, Santa Cruz, California, Meta dolloff have been found to regularly exist and reproduce outside of caves in other subterranean habitats such as railroad tunnels and human-dug soil pits at UC Santa Cruz (Krohn & Jones, 2020).

References

Krohn, Alexander R & Jones, Alexander S. (2020). "Meta dolloff Levi, 1980 (Araneae: Tetragnathidae) in cave-like environments," The Pan-Pacific Entomologist 96(3), 185-187.

External links

IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals
Tetragnathidae Spiders of the United States Cave spiders Endemic fauna of California {{Tetragnathidae-stub