Spelungula cavernicola
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| Spelungula cavernicola | ||||||||||||||||
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| Spelungula cavernicola Forster, 1987 |
Spelungula cavernicola, or the Nelson cave spider, is a spider endemic to New Zealand. It is New Zealand's largest spider by leg span, and is found only in certain caves in the Nelson and Buller regions in the north of New Zealand's South Island. It is also New Zealand's only legally protected spider.
S. cavernicola is the only species of the genus Spelungula.
Spelungula cavernicola has a leg span of up to 15 cm. Their coloration is mottled light and dark brown, and they have long claws on the end of the first two pairs of legs.
They are hunters, and are known to prey on cave wetas. They produce large round egg sacs, and these are suspended from the cave ceilings by a thread.
