Dolloff cave spider (Meta dolloff)

Description

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Dolloff cave spider fact file

• Description
• Biology
• Range
• Habitat
• Status
• Threats
• Conservation
• Find out more
• Glossary
• References
• Print factsheet

Dolloff cave spider description

The Dolloff cave spider (Meta dolloff) is the largest web-building spider to occur within the Santa Cruz Caves in the United States ⁽²⁾. The body of this species is mostly brown, with indistinct barring on its legs. There are two dark patches on the top of the abdomen, with two light triangular markings between them, and the back of the abdomen is marked with dark, horizontal bars. The sides of the body are streaked. The measurement of the length and height of the abdomen of Meta species is roughly equal, and is narrower towards the head and widest at the centre. In this genus the first pair of legs is the longest and the third pair is the shortest. The underside of the abdomen of the Dolloff cave spider is grey and has two parallel white lines made up of tiny spots ⁽³⁾.

The head region of the Dolloff cave spider is narrow and has very strong mouthparts and closely-spaced eyes, which are present in all members of this genus ⁽³⁾. 

The female Dolloff cave spider is slightly larger than the male. Males of the genus Meta generally have more curved mouthparts than the female ⁽³⁾.

Size

Length: 10 - 15 mm ⁽²⁾

Dolloff cave spider biology

Almost nothing is known of the biology about the Dolloff cave spider. However, although its diet is likely to mainly consist of cave moths such as Triphosa haesitata and harvestmen such as Leiobunum exilipes ⁽⁴⁾.

Dolloff cave spider range

The Dolloff cave spider is found in California in the United States, where it is occurs in the Santa Cruz cave system ^{(1) (2)}.

Dolloff cave spider habitat

As its name suggests, the Dolloff cave spider inhabits caves, where it creates large vertical webs ⁽²⁾. The webs are usually located on the roof of the cave, close to the entrance ^{(2) (4)}, as well as in the ‘twilight zone’ where there is a small amount of natural light ⁽²⁾.

Dolloff cave spider status

The Dolloff cave spider is classified as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List ⁽¹⁾.

Dolloff cave spider threats

The main threat to the Dolloff cave spider is humans accessing the cave system it inhabits and causing pollution and poisoning by lighting bonfires and vandalising the area with graffiti. A nearby university has no storm drains to remove excess water from its campus, meaning that large amounts of water can enter the cave system, reducing available food supplies and affecting all species within. The water in the caves is also known to be polluted, posing another potential threat to the Dolloff cave spider and its prey ⁽⁴⁾. 

Dolloff cave spider conservation

To protect the Dolloff cave spider, the expansion of the university campus must be halted until the water runoff problems have been resolved. Tougher law enforcement must also be implemented to prevent behaviour which is detrimental to the Dolloff cave spider, and vandals should be prevented from accessing the site. A gate was previously installed to prevent access to the cave, although this was broken into shortly after ⁽⁴⁾.

No other specific conservation measures are currently known to be in place for this poorly-known spider.

Find out more

More information on the Dolloff cave spider:

• Endangered Species and Habitats of Santa Cruz County - Dolloff Cave Spider:
  http://www.oatney.com/endangered_species/

Authentication

This information is awaiting authentication by a species expert, and will be updated as soon as possible. If you are able to help please contact:
arkive@wildscreen.org.uk

Glossary

Abdomen

In arthropods (crustaceans, insects and arachnids) the abdomen is the hind region of the body, which is usually segmented to a degree (but not visibly in most spiders).

Genus

A category used in taxonomy, which is below ‘family’ and above ‘species’. A genus tends to contain species that have characteristics in common. The genus forms the first part of a ‘binomial’ Latin species name; the second part is the specific name.

References

1. IUCN Red List (April, 2012)
   http://www.iucnredlist.org/
2. Ubick, D. (2001) Cavernicolous Invertebrates of Cave Gulch, Santa Cruz County, California. California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. Available at:
   http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/734/files/cavebio.pdf
3. Levi, H.W. (1980) The orb-weaver genus Mecynogea, the subfamily Metinae and the genera Pachygnatha, Glenognatha and Azilia of the subfamily Tetragnathinae north of Mexico (Araneae: Araneidae). Bulletin of the Museum of Comparitive Zoology, 149: 1-74.
4. Endangered Species and Habitats of Santa Cruz County - Dolloff Cave Spider (April, 2012)
   http://www.oatney.com/endangered_species/