A new species of blind Cave Spider from Keloğlan Cave in Denizli Province, Turkey.

Cave Spiders (Nesticidae) are found across the Mediterranean Basin, as well as in the Canary Islands and parts of Asia. They are cave-dwelling Spiders, which often show features of adaptation common to Spiders that lifve underground, such as loss of colouration and elongation of the limbs. Species within the groups tend to be easy to identify, with distinctive genital morphology, but relationships within the group are poorly understood, and it is likely that the genera used do not reflect evolutionary relationships.

In a paper published in the journal ZooKeys on 23 June 2013, Carles Ribera of the Departament de Biologia Animal at the Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat at the Universitat de Barcelona, Mert Elverici of the Department of Biology at the Faculty of Science and Arts at the University of Erzincan, Kadir Boğaç Kunt of Ankara and Recep Sulhi Özkütük of the Department of Biology at the Faculty of Science at Anadolu University describe a new species of Cave Spider from Keloğlan Cave in Denizli Province, Turkey.

The new species is placed within the genus Typhlonesticus, which currently contains a single species from Macedonia, and is given the specific name gocmeni, in honour of Bayram Göçmen of the University of Ege, a distinguished Turkish biologist. Typhlonesticus gocmeni is a yellowish-white Cave Spider 2.75-3.24 cm in length, with the females being larger than the males. The species is described from a population in the Keloğlan Cave in the northern part of the West Taurus karst region, which is a popular tourist attraction. The population of Spiders there was first described in 2013, and initially identified as belonging to the species Nesticus morisii.

(20) Male Typhlonesticus gocmeni on web. (21) Female Typhlonesticus gocmeni. Ribera et al. (2014).

The approximate location of Keloğlan Cave. Google Maps.

Ribera et al. also carried out a genetic analysis of the relationships between several species of Cave Spiders from the genera Nesticus, Carpathonesticus and Typhlonesticus, from which it is concluded that the species Nesticus idriacus, Nesticus morisii and Nesticus obcaecatus should all be transferred to the genus Typhlonesticus in order to more accurately reflect evolutionary relationships.

ML tree inferred using the concatenated dataset of cox1, rrnL mtDNA and H3 nuDNA gene fragments. Numbers next to nodes correspond to bootstrap support values. The tree was rooted using Canarionesticus quadridentatus from the Canary Islands. Ribera et al. (2014).

See also…

 A giant Spider from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou Biota.

In 2011 Paul Seldon of the College of Life Sciences at Capital Normal University in Beijing, the Paleontological Institute and Department of Geology at the University of Kansas and the Natural History Museum in London, along with ChungKun Shih and Dong Ren, also of the College of Life Sciences at Capital Normal University, described a large female...

 Five new species of cave-dwelling Armoured Spiders from southern China.

Armoured Spiders (Tetrablemmidae) are found throughout the tropics, but are at their most diverse and abundant in Southeast Asia. Most species are small, and dwell in leaf litter and soil, including the soil built up around epiphytic plants in the canopies of rainforests. Some cave dwelling species are also known. Armoured Spiders are easy to identify as such since they...

 The repeated evolution of sociality in a genus of Eresid Spiders.

Social Spiders are unusual in that the females form colonies of hundreds to thousands of individuals, which cooperate in the building of webs, capture of prey, defence of the colony and raising...

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Nine new species of cave-dwelling huntsman spider from Laos.

Huntsman Spiders (Sparassidae) are large, active Spider from South East Asia, Australia, Africa, Southern Europe and the Americas, noted for their chasing down of prey and general aggressive behavior. The larger members of the group are often mistaken for Tarantulas, though they are not closely related. They are known by a variety of local names, including Crab Spiders, Cane Spider, Lizard Eating Spiders, Wood Spiders and Rain Spiders. The bite of Huntsman Spiders is often painful, but not considered dangerous, and the Spiders are quite likely to bite if handled or if they otherwise feel threatened; the females will defend their eggs vigorously.

In a paper published in the journal Zootaxa on 9 August 2012, Peter Jäger of the Senckenberg Research Institute describes nine new species of Huntsman Spider from caves in Laos; all are placed within a single genus, Sinopoda, which is restricted to eastern Asia.

The first new species described is named Sinopoda steineri, named in honour of Helmut Steiner, a collector of South East Asian cave biota, including the specimen, a single female Spider, from which this species is named. The specimen is a 12.7 mm brown spider collected from a limestone cave in Luang Nam Tha Province. 

Sinopoda steineri, in dorsal view. Jäger (2012).

The second new species described is Sinopoda tham, the word 'tham' being Lao for cave. The species is described on the basis of three male and sixteen female spiders found in caves in Oudomxai and Luang Nam Tha provinces. These Spiders are 13-22 mm in length.

Two specimens of Sinopoda tham from the Chom Ong cave system. Jäger (2012).

The third new species described is named Sinopoda sitkao, where the word 'sitkao' derives from the Lao word 'sîitkăao' meaning 'pale'; like many cave-dwelling species, Sinopoda sitkao, is pale in colour. The species is described from two female Spiders from a single cave in Luang Prabang Province, both 15.6 mm in length.

Sinopoda sitkao. Jäger (2012).

The fourth new species described is named Sinopoda taa, 'taa' being a Lao word for eye, the spider having well developed eyes. The species is described from a single female specimen, 18.3 mm in length, from a limestone cave in Luang Prabang Province.

Sinopoda taa. Jäger (2012).

The fifth new species is named Sinopoda suang, 'suang' being a Lao word for hidden. This species is named from a single female Spider, 11.8 mm in length, from a cave in Huaphan Province.

Sinopoda suang. Jäger (2012).

The sixth new species described is named Sinopoda peet, 'peet' being the Lao word for eight (a reference to the eyes, not the legs). The species is named from a single 11.8 mm specimen from Huaphan Province.

Sinopoda peet. Jäger (2012).

The seventh new species described is named Sinopoda guap, where 'guap' means 'almost' or 'nearly' in Lao; the species has almost entirely lost its eyes (not uncommon in cave species). The species is described from an adult female and a juvenile from the same cave in Khammuan Province. The adult is 13.6 mm in length.

Sinopoda guap in dorsal (top) and frontal (bottom) views. Jäger (2012).

The eighth new species described is Sinopoda soong, where 'soong' means 'two' in Lao; the species having only two, much reduced, eyes. The species is named from one adult and one subadult female from caves in Khammuan Province. The adult is 15.1 mm in length.

Sinopoda soong in the wild (top) and in close up (bottom). Jäger (2012).

The ninth and final species described is named Sinopoda scurion, in honour of the Swiss electronics company, Scurion®, that supports conservation and research in Laos, and which makes headlamps used in caving. The species is described on the basis of five adult female specimens and 46 subadult and juvenile specimens of both sexes, all from a single cave in Khammuan Province. The adults are 10.9-13.6 mm in length, and the species completely lacks eyes.

Sinopoda scurion, in the wild (top), and detail of the head (bottom). Jäger (2012).

Map showing the distribution of known members of the genus Sinopoda in Laos. Jäger (2012).

See also New species of Cave Spider from Oregon, Two new species of Pseudoscorpion from China, A new species of Scorpion from Western Australia, New species of Scorpion from Arizona and An Eocene False Scorpion from Baltic amber.

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New species of Cave Spider from Oregon.

Spiders are the most successful group of Arachnids and one of the most successful groups of Arthropods, with over 40 000 described species in over 100 families, distinguished by having eight legs, producing silk, and having a venomous bite. The the evolutionary lineage that produced Spiders, separate  from other Arachnids, appears in the fossil record in the Silurian, about 420 million years ago; though these earliest 'Spiders', called Trigonotarbids, lacked the ability to make silk. Silk producing Spiders appear in the fossil record in the Devonian, 386 million years ago. Since the evolution of the production of silk, Spiders have evolved to fill a wide variety of ecological niches, colonizing every environment except the polar regions and the oceans.

In a paper published in the journal ZooKeys on 17 August 2012, Charles Griswold of the Arachnology Lab at the California Academy of Sciences, the Department of Biological Sciences at San Francisco State University and Environmental Science, Policy and Management at the University of California, Berkeley, Tracy Audisio of the Arachnology Lab at the California Academy of Sciences, the Department of Biological Sciences at San Francisco State University and the Summer Systematics Institute at the California Academy of Sciences and Joel Ledford of the Arachnology Lab at the California Academy of Sciences and Environmental Science, Policy and Management at the University of California, Berkeley, describe a new species of Spider from cave systems in southwestern Oregon and Northwestern California.

The new species is named Trogloraptor marchingtoni, where Trogloraptor means 'clawed cave dweller' and marchingtoni honours Neil Marchington, a Deputy with the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office and a caver, biologist and conservationist. It is deemed to be sufficiently different from all other described species of Spiders that it is placed in a new family, the Trogloraptoridae, largely on account of the destictive claws on the limbs of the Spiders, which help them to run about on the ceilings of caves.

Trogloraptor marchingtoni.  Griswold et al. (2012).

See also Two new species of Pseudoscorpion from China, A new species of Scorpion from Western Australia, New species of Scorpion from Arizona, An Eocene False Scorpion from Baltic amber and Preserved Trilobite digestive tracts from the Middle Cambrian of Utah.

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