Stalita taenaria

Stalita taenaria is an araneomorph spider species in the family Dysderidae.[2] The species is classified as a member of troglofauna, more precisely a troglobiont species, meaning such spiders are obligate cave-dwellers adapted to living in dark surroundings.[3][4] Stalita taenaria is a species of a few European countries.[5] The spider is thought to be the first described species of true (eyeless[6]) cave spider in the world.[7][8]

Stalita taenaria
Stalita taenaria, cave in Slovenian Karst
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Dysderidae
Genus: Stalita
Species:
S. taenaria
Binomial name
Stalita taenaria
Synonyms[1]
  • Stalita spinosissima Kulczyński

Taxonomy

The species was first described and named by Danish entomologist Jørgen Matthias Christian Schiødte in 1847.[9] In the same year Schiødte also named and described the genus Stalita,[10] while making Stalita taenaria its type species.[11] Besides S. taenaria there are three more species in the same genus.[12]

Description

Males

Males of this species are approximately 6.7 millimetres long. They have densely haired and oval opisthosoma (abdomen) which is of bright ivory colour. Their legs are reddish-brown and covered with many characteristic spines which are located only on a spider's tibial and femoral part of a leg. A spider has a flattened prosoma (cephalothorax) of dark rusty-brown colour. Bulbs of their pedipalps are quite long and shaped nearly cylindrical; they end with many long teeth. A peak of the embolus is claw-shaped.[5]

Females

Females of this species are a bit bigger, usually reaching from 7 to 9 millimetres of length, with their prosoma reaching from 3.2 to 3.7 millimetres. A female's mouth parts, the chelicerae, consist of a promargin with three and retromargin containing only one teeth. A characteristic of females is also a vulva, which has T-shaped anterior part.[5]

Distribution

Stalita taenaria is a relatively rare European troglobite species, limited to countries of Slovenia, Italy and Croatia.[5]

References
  1. "Stalita taenaria Schiödte, 1847". www.gbif.org. Retrieved 2021-10-25.
  2. Bern, Natural History Museum. "NMBE - World Spider Catalog - Stalita taenaria". wsc.nmbe.ch. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  3. "Jamarski leksikon". www.jamarska-zveza.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  4. Pipan T., Pečnik M., Drole F., Kozel P. Inventarizacija jamske favne na Kočevskem - Poročilo o rezultatih raziskave pred sanacijskim čiščenjem jam (2016). Retrieved 24.10.2021 (in Slovenian).
  5. "Araneae (Spiders of Europe) - Stalita taenaria Schiödte, 1847". araneae.nmbe.ch. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  6. Mammola, Stefano; Isaia, Marco (2017-04-26). "Spiders in caves". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 284 (1853): 20170193. doi:10.1098/rspb.2017.0193. ISSN 0962-8452. PMC 5413924. PMID 28446696.
  7. Pavlek, Martina; Arnedo, Miquel; Gasparo, Fulvio; Adrian, Silvia (2018). "Unraveling the evolutionary history of the cave-dwelling Dysderidae in the Dinarides". ARPHA Conference Abstracts. 1. doi:10.3897/aca.1.e29975. S2CID 85557661.
  8. Ramšak, Lucija (2007). "Vpliv turizma na kopensko favno Postojnske in Otoške jame : diplomsko delo". repozitorij.uni-lj.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 2021-10-25.
  9. "ITIS - Report: Stalita taenaria". www.itis.gov. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  10. "ITIS - Report: Stalita". www.itis.gov. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  11. "World Spider Catalog- Stalita". research.amnh.org. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  12. "NMBE - World Spider Catalog - Stalita". wsc.nmbe.ch. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
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