Heptathela kimurai, the Kimura spider, or kimura-gumo (in Japanese), is an Old World spider, found primarily in Japan and named after Arika Kimura, who collected it in 1920. It belongs to the sub-order Mesothelae (primitive burrowing spiders) and can reach up to 3 cm in length. Its burrows are covered by a camouflaged "pill box" flap.
| Kimura spider | |
|---|---|
| |
| Heptathela kimurai yanbaruensis (female). | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Suborder: | Mesothelae |
| Family: | Heptathelidae |
| Genus: | Heptathela |
| Species: | H. kimurai
|
| Binomial name | |
| Heptathela kimurai | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
|
Liphistius kimurai Kishida, 1920 | |
Taxonomy
editHeptathela kimurai was first described by Kyukichi Kishida in 1920, when it was placed in the genus Liphistius as L. kimurai. In 1923, Kishida erected the genus Heptathela for the species, as on re-examination he decided it was sufficiently distinct from spiders of the genus Liphistius. The species name kimurai honours the collector, Arika Kimura.[2]
References
edit
Wikispecies has information related to Heptathela kimurai.
- ^ a b "Taxon details Heptathela kimurai (Kishida, 1920)", World Spider Catalog, Natural History Museum Bern, retrieved 2016-03-16
- ^ Kishida, K. (1923), "Heptathela, a new genus of liphistiid spiders", Annotationes Zoologicae Japonenses, 10: 235–242
- Tomo Kočar, Strah je okrogel in ima osem nog (The fear is round and it has eight legs), GEA 12 (2002) 7, pp 46 – 49.
- Yoshikura, M. 1982. Kumo no fushigi (The wonder of spiders). Iwanami-shoten, Tokyo.