Kingdom Animalia Family Phalangodidae Genus Bee creek cave harvestman Order Harvestmen | Class Arachnida Phylum Arthropoda Rank Species | |
Similar Cicurina madla, Bee creek cave harvestman, Cicurina venii, Harvestmen, Tartarocreagris texana | ||
Texella cokendolpheri is a rare species of arachnid known by the common name Cokendolpher Cave harvestman. It may also be called the Robber Baron cave harvestman. It is endemic to Texas in the United States, where it is only known from a single cave in Bexar County. It is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.
This is "a small eyeless or essentially eyeless" harvestman. It is pale orange in color. It is a troglobite that lives its whole life in a subterranean karst cave. It is known only from Robber Baron Cave in Bexar County, a cave which runs underneath a heavily urbanized area. The cave is owned by the Texas Cave Management Association. This cave is also the only home for the Robber Baron cave meshweaver (Cicurina baronia), a spider.
The worst threat to this and other rare local troglobites is the outright loss of their cave habitat, which is destroyed as the land is consumed for urban development, or during quarrying operations. Caves are also altered and polluted so that they cannot support this and other species.