''Spelungula'' is a
monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...
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
South Pacific large-clawed spiders containing the single species, ''Spelungula cavernicola'', or the Nelson cave spider. It was first described by
Ray Forster
Raymond Robert Forster (19 June 1922 – 1 July 2000) was a New Zealand 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, and was educat ...
,
Norman I. Platnick
Norman Ira Platnick (December 30, 1951 – April 8, 2020) was an American biological systematist and arachnologist. At the time of his death, he was a professor emeritus of the Richard Gilder Graduate School and Peter J. Solomon Family Curator Em ...
, & Michael R. Gray in 1987,
and has only been found in caves in the northwestern part of New Zealand's
South Island
The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...
.
Etymology
The genus name is derived from "spelunca", which is latin for cave and is feminine in gender. The species name "cavernicola" refers to the species restriction to caves.
Description
It is New Zealand's largest known spider, with a legspan of and a body length of , and its main prey is
cave weta
The orthopteran family Rhaphidophoridae of the suborder Ensifera has a worldwide distribution. Common names for these insects include cave wētā, cave crickets, camelback crickets, camel crickets, Hogan bugs, spider crickets (sometimes shorte ...
.
Conservation status
It is one of the few spider species afforded legal protected under the New Zealand
Wildlife Act. It is classed as "Range Restricted" and stable in 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 some ...
.
In May 2022, the Crazy Paving Cave in
Kahurangi National Park
Kahurangi National Park in the northwest of the South Island of New Zealand is the second largest of the thirteen national parks of New Zealand. It was gazetted in 1996 and covers , ranging to near Golden Bay in the north. Much of what was the ...
, where the spiders are known to breed, was closed for a year in an attempt to help the population to recover.
See also
*
Spiders of New Zealand
New Zealand has 1157 described spider species, with an estimated total fauna of 2000 species. Over 97 per cent are endemic, and the rest have been introduced through human activities or were natural wind-borne introductions.
The New Zealand spide ...
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q14736493, from2=Q2376193
Cave spiders
Endemic fauna of New Zealand
Gradungulidae
IUCN Red List data deficient species
Monotypic Araneomorphae genera
Spiders of New Zealand
Taxa named by Raymond Robert Forster
Endemic spiders of New Zealand