Kingdom Animalia Subphylum Chelicerata Order Araneae Rank Genus | Phylum Arthropoda Class Arachnida Infraorder Mygalomorphae | |
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Fijocrypta is a genus of mygalomorph spider in the family Barychelidae, containing the sole species Fijocrypta vitilevu, first described in 1994. It is found on Fiji.
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Taxonomy
The genus and species were first described in 1994 by the Australian arachnologist Robert J. Raven. The genus name is derived from "Fiji" and the Latin word cryptus, "hidden". The species name vitilevu is the local name for the locality where the species was first found.
Description
The male Fijocrypta vitilevu has a body about 9 mm long and an orange-brown carapace, with fine darker lines and darker areas towards the front. The chelicerae are also orange-brown; the legs are yellow-brown without ring markings. The upper surface of the abdomen is brown with many small white spots; the lower surface is about equally brown and white. The palpal bulb is pear-shaped with a short blunt embolus at the end. The female has a somewhat longer body, about 11 mm long. It has a similar colouring, although its legs are orange-brown and the paler spots on the upper surface of the abdomen form lines or chevrons rather than being scattered randomly.
Fijocrypta can be distinguished from most other barychelid genera found in the western Pacific by the absence of a spur on the tibia of the first leg in males. Seqocrypta and Moruga males also lack such a spur, but Fijocrypta males have two rows of teeth on the claws and an embolus without a fine tip.
Distribution and habitat
The species was found in rainforests in the eastern highlands of Viti Levu, the largest island in Fiji.