Tooth cave spider

Tooth cave spider
Tooth Cave Spider from Gallifer Cave, Travis County, TX
Conservation status
Endangered (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Family:	Leptonetidae
Genus:	Neoleptoneta
Species:	N. myopica
Binomial name
Neoleptoneta myopica (Gertsch, 1974)

The tooth cave spider (Tayshaneta myopica, formerly Neoleptoneta myopica) is a 1/16 inch (1.6 mm) long arachnid. It is endemic to Texas (USA) and is considered an endangered species.

This spider has a pale-cream color and very long legs. The spider has six "Obsolescent" eyes; they are nearly absent and have no dark pigment. The Tooth cave spider is a sedentary aerial spider that hangs from a small tangle or sheet web on long, thin legs. It preys on tiny microarthropods. The tooth cave spider lives under and between rocks in caves of the Edwards Plateau in Travis County, Texas and near Austin. Destruction of these cave habitats in urban areas is the primary cause of its endangered status.

Its reproductive habits, description of nurturing by parents and population are as yet undescribed.

See also

• Texella reddelli
• Texella reyesi

References

• World Conservation Monitoring Centre (1996). Neoleptoneta myopica. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is listed as data deficient