''Pinkfloydia'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of small

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n long-jawed orb-weavers, reaching a maximum lengths of about . It was first described by D. Dimitrov & G. Hormiga in 2011, and contains two species, found in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

: '' P. harveyi'' and '' P. rixi''. They have a unique rounded, cone-shaped head structure with one pair of large eyes and three pairs of smaller eyes. The genus is named after British rock band

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

Description

''P. harveii'' is a species of tiny brown spiders, with individuals ranging from in total body length, with females reaching larger maximum sizes than males. The eight eyes are situated on an elevated, rounded protuberance of the

cephalothorax The cephalothorax, also called prosoma in some groups, is a tagma of various arthropods, comprising the head and the thorax fused together, as distinct from the abdomen behind. (The terms ''prosoma'' and ''opisthosoma'' are equivalent to ''cepha ...

, with a one pair of eyes (the posterior median eyes) greatly enlarged compared to the other three pair. The elevated protuberance is unique among tetragnathid spiders, and other unusual features of the male pedipalps warranted the designation of a new genus with a name evocative of its uniqueness: ''Pinkfloydia'' was named by biologists Dimitar Dimitrov and Gustavo Hormiga after British rock band

, noting "In its heyday Pink Floyd was an innovative group that created music which was an eclectic mixture of styles... ''Pinkfloydia'' has very unusual morphological features and its name aims to reflect its uniqueness." The species name ''harveii'' honors biologist Mark S. Harvey of the Western Australian Museum who collected specimens as early as 1990, including the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

specimen, the primary specimen used in describing the species.

Distribution and ecology

''P. harveii'' is known from coastal areas of the state of

, with a range extending from

Lesueur National Park Lesueur National Park is a national park straddling the boundary between the Wheatbelt and Mid West regions of Western Australia, 211 km north of Perth. The park was gazetted in 1992. It includes two mesas known as Mount Lesueur and Moun ...

in the northwest to

Bremer Bay Bremer may refer to: People *Bremer (surname) *Bremer Ehrler (born 1914), American politician * Bremer (born 1997), Brazilian footballer Places ;Australia *Bremer Bay, Western Australia *Bremer Marine Park *Bremer Island * Bremer River (disambigua ...

in the southeast. The natural history of ''P. harveii'' is poorly known. Horizontal webs of juveniles have been described, measuring wide.

Classification

''Pinkfloydia'' is a member of the

Tetragnathidae Long-jawed orb weavers or long jawed spiders (Tetragnathidae) are a family of araneomorph spiders first described by Anton Menge in 1866. They have elongated bodies, legs, and chelicerae, and build small orb webs with an open hub with few, wide-se ...

, a globally distributed family containing around 1,000 species with about 30 species in Australia. Based on morphological, behavioural, and DNA similarities, ''Pinkfloydia'' is classified within a group of tetragnathids native to Australia and New Zealand known as the "''Nanometa'' clade", which includes species of '' Nanometa'' and '' Orsinome sarasini''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q20675082 Tetragnathidae Spiders of Australia Monotypic Araneomorphae genera Pink Floyd Endemic fauna of Australia

Description

Distribution and ecology

Classification

See also

References