Themacrys cavernicola

Themacrys cavernicola is a species of spider in the family Phyxelididae. It occurs in South Africa and Lesotho and is commonly known as the Zululand cave hackled band spider.

Distribution

Themacrys cavernicola is distributed across two South African provinces: KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, and also occurs in Lesotho. The species occurs at altitudes ranging from 647 to 1,795 m above sea level.

Habitat and ecology

This species inhabits the Grassland and Savanna biomes. Themacrys cavernicola is a ground retreat-web cryptic spider that lives in dark places. The species is sometimes found in caves.

Conservation

Themacrys cavernicola is listed as Least Concern by the South African National Biodiversity Institute. The species has a wide geographic range and there are no significant threats identified.

Etymology

The specific name means "cave-dwelling" in Latin.

Taxonomy

The species was originally described by Reginald Frederick Lawrence in 1939 as Haemilla cavernicola from the Noodsberg Caves in KwaZulu-Natal. It was later transferred to the genus Themacrys by Pekka Lehtinen in 1967 and revised by Griswold in 1990. Themacrys cavernicola is known from both sexes.