''Plectophanes frontalis'' 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 1935 by

Elizabeth Bryant Elizabeth Bangs Bryant (April 7, 1875 – January 6, 1953) was an American arachnologist. She worked at the Museum of Comparative Zoology in Cambridge, Massachusetts and was a close acquaintance of James Henry Emerton.Deichmann, Elisabeth (1958)" ...

from female specimens. It was revised in 1964, in which the male was described. It was most recently revised in 1979. The holotype is stored in Canterbury Museum.

Description

The male is recorded at 6.66mm in length whereas the female is 8.64mm. This species has a dark brown carapace. The abdomen has dark brown markings dorsally.

Distribution

This species is only known from the

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

of New Zealand.

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

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2182767 Cycloctenidae Endemic spiders of New Zealand Spiders described in 1935