Tooth Cave Spider

The tooth cave spider (Tayshaneta myopica, formerly Neoleptoneta myopica) is a 1/16 inch (1.6 mm) long arachnid. It is endemic to Texas (USA) and is considered an endangered species.

This spider has a pale-cream color and very long legs. The spider has six "Obsolescent" eyes; they are nearly absent and have no dark pigment. The Tooth cave spider is a sedentary aerial spider that hangs from a small tangle or sheet web on long, thin legs. It preys on tiny microarthropods. The tooth cave spider lives under and between rocks in caves of the Edwards Plateau in Travis County, Texas and near Austin. Destruction of these cave habitats in urban areas is the primary cause of its endangered status.

Its reproductive habits, description of nurturing by parents and population are as yet undescribed.

Famous quotes containing the words tooth, cave and/or spider:

    And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
    Bible: Hebrew Exodus, 21:23-25.

    Do you know how poetry started? I always think that it started when a cave boy came running back to the cave, through the tall grass, shouting as he ran, “Wolf, wolf,” and there was no wolf. His baboon-like parents, great sticklers for the truth, gave him a hiding, no doubt, but poetry had been born—the tall story had been born in the tall grass.
    Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)

    And now, dear little children, who may this story read,
    To idle, silly, flattering words, I pray you ne’er give heed;
    Unto an evil counselor close heart, and ear, and eye,
    And take a lesson from this tale of the Spider and the Fly.
    Mary Howitt (1799–1888)