Maloides

Maloides
Conservation status
Nationally Critical (NZ TCS)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Amaurobiidae
Genus:	Maloides
Species:	M. cavernicola
Binomial name
Maloides cavernicola (Forster & Wilton, 1989)
Synonyms
Mala cavernicola

Maloides is a genus of cave-dwelling spiders containing only one species, Maloides cavernicola, currently placed in the family Amaurobiidae.

Taxonomy

This species was first described as Mala cavernicola by Ray Forster and Cecil Wilton in 1973 from a female specimen. The male of this species is unknown. ^[1] The genus was renamed as Maloides in 1989. ^[2] The holotype is stored in the New Zealand Arthropod Collection. ^[1]

Description

The female is recorded at 10.74mm in length. The carapace and legs are coloured pale yellow. The abdomen is creamy. The eyes are very reduced. ^[1]

Distribution and habitat

This species is only known from Nelson, New Zealand. It is only known to occur in caves. ^[1]

Conservation status

Under the New Zealand Threat Classification System, this species is listed as "Nationally Critical" with the qualifiers of "Data Poor: Size", "Data Poor: Trend" and "One Location". ^[3]

References

1. Forster, R. R.; Wilton, C. L. (1973). "The spiders of New Zealand. Part IV". Otago Museum Bulletin. 4: 1–309.
2. Platnick, N. I. (1989). "Advances in Spider Taxonomy 1981-1987: A Supplement to Brignoli's A Catalogue of the Araneae described between 1940 and 1981". Journal of Arid Environments. 17 (3): 358. Bibcode:1989JArEn..17..358P. doi:10.1016/S0140-1963(18)30893-0.
3. Sirvid, P. J.; Vink, C. J.; Fitzgerald, B. M.; Wakelin, M. D.; Rolfe, J.; Michel, P. (2020-01-01). "Conservation status of New Zealand Araneae (spiders), 2020" (PDF). New Zealand Threat Classification Series. 34: 1–37.