The Braken Bat Cave meshweaver (Cicurina venii) was rediscovered two weeks ago in the middle of a highway construction site in San Antonio, Bexar County. The species had not been spotted since its initial discovery in 1980 in Braken Bat Cave, northwestern Bexar County. This second discovery was only five miles from the original discovery site1. In 1990, someone was kind enough to build a housing development on top of the cave where the only known specimen had ever been collected. In the process the entrance to the cave was filled in, and until two weeks ago the world did not know whether the spider had gone extinct2.
Now humans have rediscovered this meshweaver while building an underpass on Texas 151, at Loop 1604. This time the government owned the land instead of some moron who would blithely kill off an entire genetic line, so the $15.1 million highway project has been suspended indefinitely.
The tiny cave where the new specimen was found was uncovered during construction activities.
Biologists have been working alongside construction crews from the start because this area is known for its abundance of natural resources, including songbirds and rare cave animals, like the spiders, said Stirling J. Robertson, biology team leader for TxDOT's environmental affairs division.
To find a Braken Bat Cave meshweaver was a discovery of another kind altogether, akin to “stumbling on a new Galapagos Island in terms of the biological significance of the region,” said biologist Jean Krejca, Zara's president.
After the spider was collected in a bottle, it was dissected for it to be identified, Krejca said. Collecting and killing an endangered species is allowed for that purpose if done by someone with a federal permit. No other spiders have been spotted in the hole where the one was found. . . .
“From a conservation standpoint,” Robertson said, “this is an amazing coup.”
The entire area where the Braken Bat Cave meshweaver was found (not be confused with Bracken Bat Cave near Garden Ridge) could be a spider habitat.
Biologists have identified 19 cave features, which look like holes, while working on the underpass project. Spiders, not currently classified as endangered, were in five of those holes, which biologists will continue to analyze1.
And that idiot who built a housing development on top of a critically endangered species? No word from him, but I think someone ought to go fill in the entrance to his house.
Sources
1. My San Antonio
2. http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Cicurina+venii
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