Pinkfloydia facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Pinkfloydia |
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Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Tetragnathidae |
| Genus: | Pinkfloydia Hormiga & Dimitrov, 2011 |
| Type species | |
| P. harveyi Dimitrov & Hormiga, 2011
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| Species | |
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Pinkfloydia is a special group (called a genus) of small spiders found only in Australia. These spiders are known as long-jawed orb-weavers. They are quite tiny, usually growing to about 4.5 millimeters long. Scientists D. Dimitrov and G. Hormiga first described them in 2011. There are two known types (species) of Pinkfloydia: P. harveyi and P. rixi. You can find them in New South Wales and Western Australia. These spiders have a very unique, rounded, cone-shaped head. They have one pair of large eyes and three pairs of smaller eyes. The genus is named after the famous British rock band Pink Floyd.
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What is a Pinkfloydia Spider?
P. harveyi is a tiny brown spider. These spiders are usually between 2.75 and 4.5 millimeters long. Female spiders tend to be a bit larger than males.
Unique Features
These spiders have eight eyes on a raised, rounded bump on their head area (called the cephalothorax). One pair of their eyes (the posterior median eyes) is much bigger than the other three pairs. This raised bump is very unusual among spiders in the tetragnathid family.
The male spiders also have unique features on their pedipalps (small leg-like parts near their mouth). Because of these special features, scientists decided to create a new genus for them. They named it Pinkfloydia.
How it Got its Name
Biologists Dimitar Dimitrov and Gustavo Hormiga named the genus after the British rock band Pink Floyd. They noted that Pink Floyd was a very creative band that mixed many styles of music. They felt that Pinkfloydia spiders also have very unusual body parts. So, the name reflects how unique these spiders are.
The species name harveyi honors a biologist named Mark S. Harvey. He works at the Western Australian Museum. Mr. Harvey collected some of these spiders as early as 1990. He even found the holotype specimen. This is the main spider used to describe and name the species.
Where Pinkfloydia Spiders Live
P. harveyi spiders are found along the coast of Western Australia. Their home range stretches from Lesueur National Park in the northwest to Bremer Bay in the southeast.
Spider Habits
We don't know much about the daily lives of P. harveyi spiders. However, young spiders have been seen making flat webs. These webs can be about 50 to 90 millimeters wide.
How Pinkfloydia Spiders are Classified
Pinkfloydia belongs to a spider family called Tetragnathidae. This family of spiders is found all over the world. There are about 1,000 species in this family, and about 30 of them live in Australia.
Scientists classify Pinkfloydia within a group of tetragnathid spiders. This group is found in Australia and New Zealand. It is known as the "Nanometa clade." This group also includes species from the Nanometa genus and Orsinome sarasini. Scientists use things like body shape, behavior, and DNA to figure out these classifications.
