Dolloff cave spider

The Dolloff cave spider (Meta dolloff) is a spider native to California, among the rarest spiders of North America.^[2]

Dolloff cave spider
Dolloff cave spider found in Empire Cave in Santa Cruz, California
Conservation status
Vulnerable  (IUCN 2.3)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Tetragnathidae
Genus:	Meta
Species:	M. dolloff
Binomial name
Meta dolloff Levi & Levi, 1980

This species was listed as vulnerable in 1996 on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals.^[1] This doesn't provide legal protection for the species, but the list tracks animals that may become endangered.

Habitat

The Dolloff cave spider has been found in caves in the Empire Cave System near University of California, Santa Cruz, and in the Gray Whale Ranch State Park.

Since the discovery of Meta dolloff in the Empire and Dolloff Caves, Santa Cruz, California, M. dolloff have been found to regularly exist and reproduce outside of caves in other subterranean habitats such as railroad tunnels and human-dug soil pits at UC Santa Cruz.^[3]