Aotearoa magna explained

Aotearoa magna is a species of spiders in the Mecysmaucheniidae family. It was first described in 1949 by Forster., it is the only species in the genus Aotearoa, erected by Forster and Platnick in 1984. It is found in New Zealand.^[1] (The Māori name of the island nation is Aotearoa.)

Taxonomy

This species was described in 1949 by Ray Forster from male and female specimens collected in Fiordland.^[2] In 1984, it was moved into the Aotearoa genus by Ray Forster and Norman Platnick, of which it is the sole member.^[3] The holotype is stored in Canterbury Museum.

Description

The male is recorded at 2.62mm in length whereas the female is 3.83mm. This species has a dark brown carapace and a greyish yellow abdomen. The head has dark brown markings dorsally near the eyes.

Distribution

This species is only known from Fiordland, New Zealand.

Conservation status

Under the New Zealand Threat Classification System, this species is listed as "Not Threatened".^[4]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Gen. Aotearoa Forster & Platnick, 1984. World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. 2017-04-10.
2. Forster . R.R. . 1949 . New Zealand spiders of the family Archaeidae . Records of the Canterbury Museum . 5 . 193-203.
3. Forster . R.R. . Platnick . N.I. . 1984 . A review of the archaeid spiders and their relatives, with notes on the limits of the superfamily Palpimanoidea (Arachnida, Araneae) . Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History . 178 . 1-106.
4. 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 . New Zealand Threat Classification Series . English . 34 . 1–37.