''Porrhothele blanda'' is a species of

Mygalomorphae The Mygalomorphae, or mygalomorphs, are an infraorder of spiders, and comprise one of three major groups of living spiders with over 3,000 species, found on all continents except Antarctica. Many members are known as trapdoor spiders due to t ...

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 ...

Taxonomy

This species was described in 1968 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 in the northern

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 ...

. The holotype is stored at Canterbury Museum.

Description

This species has a stocky appearance. Females are known to grow up to 18mm in body length. The carapace and legs are brown. The abdomen is purple with chevron patterns dorsally. Males are smaller, being recorded at 13.5mm in length. The males also have a darker first pair of legs and modifications typical of male ''Porrhothele''.

Distribution

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 ...

and

Marlborough Sounds The Marlborough Sounds (Māori language, te reo Māori: ''Te Tauihu-o-te-Waka'') are an extensive network of ria, sea-drowned valleys at the northern end of the South Island of New Zealand. The Marlborough Sounds were created by a combination ...

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

Endemic spiders of New Zealand Spiders described in 1968

blanda The Blanda () is a river in Iceland which flows northwards from the northwest side of the Hofsjökull glacier into Húnaflói bay at Blönduós. The Blanda is one of the longest rivers in the country, with a length of about 125 km, and has a ...

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