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 ...
native to California, among the rarest spiders of North America.
This species was listed on the 2000
IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. This doesn't provide
legal
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
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 inva ...
.
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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California syste ...
, 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