Tetragnatha paschae Berland, 1924:421
Rapa Nui long-jawed spider
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Conservation Status
Missing (Baert et al., 1997; Cotoras et al., 2017a,b) or Extinct (Anonymous, n.d.)
Last record: pre-1925 (Cotoras, 2012); 1925 (Cotoras et al., 2017a)
Described on the basis of a female specimen (Berland, 1924), with three females (and an immature male that may represent the species) collected the next year by P. H. Johnson (Pacific expedition of the S.Y. Saint George) (Cotoras et al., 2017a). No further record of the species has been made, despite a series of surveys (1993; August 2008; June-July 2009; August 2011; August-September 2012; November 2018) of the island's arachnids failed to record it (Baert et al., 1997; Cotoras et al., 2017a,b; Anonymous, n.d.).
Distribution
Rapa Nui (=Easter Island)
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Only three or four preserved specimens appear to still exist, with an immature male (the fourth specimen?) unable to be asigned to the species (Cotoras et al., 2017a).
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Berland, L. (1924). Araignées de l’île de Pâques et des îles Juan Fernandez, pp. 419-437. The Natural History of Juan Fernandez and Easter Island. Volume 3. Almqvist & Wiksells Boktryckeri AB, Uppsala.
Other references:
Anonymous. (n.d.). Ficha FINAL 17mo Proceso RCE: Tetragnatha paschae Berland, 1924. Report. 5 pp.
Baert, L., Lehtinen, P. and Desender, K. (1997). The spiders (Araneae) of Rapa Nui (Easter island). Bulletin de l’Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Entomologie 67: 9-32.
Cotoras, Darko D. (2012). Colonization of the most isolated island on Earth: What is the origin of the spider Tetragnatha paschae? Unpublished report. 3 pp.
Cotoras, Darko D. et al. (2017a). Ancient DNA Resolves the History of Tetragnatha (Araneae, Tetragnathidae) Spiders on Rapa Nui. Genes 8(12): 403. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes8120403
Cotoras, Darko D., Wynne, J. Judson, Flores-Prado, Luis and Villagra, Cristian. (2017b). The Spiders of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Revisited. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 120: 1-17.
http://www.clas.berkeley.edu/Research/graduate/summer2012/Reports/Cotoras/index.html
http://wsc.nmbe.ch/species/36924/Tetragnatha_paschae
https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/17115/tetragnatha-paschae