{{Short description|Genus of spiders}} {{italic title}} {{Speciesbox | taxon=Califorctenus cacachilensis | authority=Jiménez, Berrian, Polotow & Palacios-Cardiel, 2017<ref name=NMBE /> }} '''''Califorctenus''''' is a genus of spiders in the family Ctenidae. It was first described in 2017 by Jiménez, Berrian, Polotow, and Palacios-Cardiel.<ref name=Zootaxa>{{cite journal |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.4238.1.7 |author1=Jimenez, M. L. |author2=Berrian, J. E. |author3=Polotow, D. |author4=Palacios-Cardiel, C. |date=2017 |title=Description of ''Califorctenus'' (Cteninae, Ctenidae, Araneae), a new spider genus from Mexico |journal=Zootaxa |volume=4238 |number=1 |pages=97–108|pmid=28264270 }}{{subscription required}}</ref> {{As of|2017}}, it contains only one species, '''''Califorctenus cacachilensis''''', also known as the Sierra Cacachilas wandering spider.<ref name=NMBE>{{cite web|title=Ctenidae| website=World Spider Catalog| publisher=Natural History Museum Bern| access-date=2017-03-22| url=https://www.wsc.nmbe.ch/genus/5592}}</ref><ref name=CBS2017>{{cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-spider-species-discovered-mexico-cave-sierra-cacachilas/|title=New species alert: Massive, cave-dwelling spider discovered in Mexico|date=April 13, 2017|work=CBS News|access-date=April 14, 2017}}</ref>
==''Califorctenus cacachilensis''== ''Califorctenus cacachilensis'' is named after the Sierra de las Cacachilas mountain range in Baja California Sur, where it was first found in an abandoned mine by Michael Wall and Jim Berrian, researchers from the San Diego Natural History Museum, during an expedition on November 4, 2013.<ref name=SDUT-140126>{{cite news |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/environment/sdut-environment-natural-history-museum-baja-cacachilas-2014jan26-story.html |title=Discovering the secrets of Baja |author=Brennan, Deborah Sullivan |date=26 January 2014 |newspaper=The San Diego Union-Tribune |access-date=7 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://blogs.brit.org/2014/02/24/baja2/ |title=Nov 4th, Day 15, Monday: MINE-O-MINE! |author=Vanderplank, Sula |date=4 November 2013 |website=Phytophilia [Official blog of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas] |access-date=7 April 2017 |quote=Finally we stopped at an abandoned mine and were led down the shaft by the mine manager. There were no plants there in the darkness, but our headlights soon revealed treasures amongst the overwhelming numbers of cockroaches! There was a mouse on her nest and what might be a new species of large cave spider (according to arachnologist Jim Berrian). Going deeper into the mine shaft we found the bats, and bat expert Drew Stokes caught a lesser long-nosed bat. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170407235147/http://blogs.brit.org/2014/02/24/baja2/ |archive-date=7 April 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=SFG-170407>{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Softball-sized-spider-discovered-in-California-11056149.php#item-39786 |title=Baseball-sized spider discovered in Baja California mine |author=Robertson, Michelle |date=7 April 2017 |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |access-date=7 April 2017}}</ref>
{{quote |text=We think it's a new species. The spider, from leg to leg, is about softball-sized. Its abdomen is the size of two quarters. It's like a small-sized tarantula, but much daintier, not as husky. It's quite bald, and its abdomen is mustard brown with iridescence. |author=Michael Wall |source=2014 ''Union-Tribune'' article<ref name=SDUT-140126 />}}
Subsequent collaboration with María Jimenez, an entomologist from Mexico who identified it as a member of the ''Ctenidae'' or wandering spider family, confirmed it was a new species and genus.<ref name=SFG-170407 /><ref name=SDUT-170404 /> Berrian initially noted shed exoskeletons during the 2013 expedition, and eventually found two dozen spiders, bringing eight back to San Diego for further study.<ref name=SDUT-170404>{{cite news |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/science/sd-me-cave-spider-20170403-story.html |title=Saucer-sized spider discovered in Baja cave |author=Brennan, Deborah Sullivan |date=4 April 2017 |newspaper=San Diego Union-Tribune |access-date=7 April 2017}}</ref> He received a spider bite during the expedition, which he described as "like being poked by a cactus spine and a little mild pain."<ref name=SDUT-170404 />
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== * {{cite web |url=https://www.sdnhm.org/science/binational-expeditions/sierra-de-las-cacachilas/ |title=Sierra de las Cacachilas Expedition (2013–2016) |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=2016 |publisher=San Diego Natural History Museum |access-date=7 April 2017}} * {{cite web |url=http://bajanature.com/p736432018/h10bc7f10#h15fbe59e |title=Wandering Spiders: Family Ctenidae |author=Berrian, Jim |date=2013 |publisher=Baja Nature |access-date=7 April 2017 |archive-date=19 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170819191835/http://bajanature.com/p736432018/h10bc7f10#h15fbe59e |url-status=dead }} * {{cite web |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/119530914@N07/12963543985/ |title=Wandering Cave Spider, (Ctenidae), n.sp.?, Rancho Canoas, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Found so far only in caves and mine shafts. |author=Berrian, James |date=4 November 2013 |website=flickr |access-date=7 April 2017}}
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Category:Ctenidae Category:Monotypic Araneomorphae genera Category:Spiders of Mexico
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