Pionothele straminea
| Cape Pionothele Trapdoor Spider | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Mygalomorphae |
| Family: | Pycnothelidae |
| Genus: | Pionothele |
| Species: | P. straminea
|
| Binomial name | |
| Pionothele straminea | |
Pionothele straminea is a species of spider in the family Pycnothelidae.[2] It is endemic to South Africa and is commonly known as the Cape Pionothele trapdoor spider.[3] This is the type species of the genus Pionothele.[3]
Distribution
Pionothele straminea is endemic to the Western Cape Province. The species inhabits a relatively small subcoastal area from St Helena Bay to the Cederberg Mountains in the north to the Cape Peninsula in the south.[3] The species occurs at altitudes ranging from 4 to 109 m above sea level.[3]
Habitat and ecology
Pionothele straminea are burrow dwelling ground spiders found in the Fynbos biome.[3] Nothing more is known about their behavior.[3]
Description
Conservation
Pionothele straminea is listed as data deficient due to the need for more sampling and identification of museum material to determine the species' current range.[3]
Etymology
The species name straminea comes from "Latin" meaning "straw-colored".
Taxonomy
The species was originally described by William Frederick Purcell in 1902 from the Cederberg Mountains.[3] The female was later described by Tucker in 1917.[3] The species was revised by Zonstein in 2016.[3] The genus Pionothele was originally placed in Ctenizidae, later transferred to Nemesiidae by Raven (1985), and subsequently moved to Pycnothelidae by Opatova et al. (2020).[3]
References
- ^ Purcell, W.F. (1902). "New South African trap-door spiders of the family Ctenizidae in the collection of the South African Museum". Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society. 11: 348–382. doi:10.1080/21560382.1900.9525972.
- ^ "Pionothele straminea Purcell, 1902". World Spider Catalog. Retrieved 2025-09-28.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S.; Haddad, C.R.; Foord, S.H.; Lotz, L.N. (2021). The Pycnothelidae of South Africa. Version 1. South African National Survey of Arachnida Photo Identification Guide. p. 6. This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.