Waiporia modica explained

Waiporia modica is a species of Orsolobidae that is endemic to New Zealand.^[1]

Taxonomy

This species was described as Ascuta mensa in 1956 by Ray Forster from a male specimen collected in Christchurch. In 1985, it was moved into the Waiporia genus and the female was described.^[2] The holotype is stored in Canterbury Museum.

Description

The male is recorded at 2.13mm in length whereas the female is 2.47mm. This species has dark brown legs, dark orange brown carapace and a creamy white abdomen that has a chevron pattern dorsally.

Distribution

This species is only known from Christchurch and Banks Peninsula in New Zealand.

Conservation status

Under the New Zealand Threat Classification System, this species is listed as "Data Deficient" with the qualifiers of "Data Poor: Size" and "Data Poor: Trend".^[3]

Notes and References

1. Forster . R. R . 1956 . New Zealand spiders of the family Oonopidae . Records of the Canterbury Museum . 7 . 89–169.
2. Forster . R.R . Platnick . N.L . 1985 . A review of the austral spider family Orsolobidae (Arachnida, Araneae), with notes on the superfamily Dysderoidea . Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History . 181 . 1–230.
3. 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.