Kingdom Animalia Class Arachnida Family Eukoeneniidae Scientific name Eukoenenia christiani | Phylum Arthropoda Order Palpigradi Genus Eukoenenia Rank Species | |
The Maltese palpigrade (Eukoenenia christiani, known as Il-Palpigrad ta' Malta in Maltese), endemic to the Maltese Islands, comes from the order Palpigradi, a rather primitive order of arachnids. There are 80 species of palpigrade worldwide (see the article Palpigradi). They are small and eyeless with a long tail-like structure.
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Discovery
The Maltese palpigrade was first discovered in 1988 when a specimen was found in a cave in the Girgenti Valley (Malta). Since then, no news of another specimen has been heard of making the Maltese palpigrade a very rare species.
General features
The Maltese palpigrade is 1.2 millimetres (0.047 in) long, and is depicted as having a light brown colouring.
References
Maltese palpigrade Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA