{{Short description|Genus of spiders}} {{Speciesbox | name = | image = Gradungula sorenseni - Sebastian Doak - 151718791.jpeg | image_caption = ''Gradungula sorenseni'' | image2 = | image2_caption = | taxon = Gradungula sorenseni | authority = Forster, 1955 | parent_authority = Forster, 1955<ref name=wsc /> }}
'''''Gradungula''''' is a monotypic genus of South Pacific large-clawed spiders containing the single species, '''''Gradungula sorenseni'''''. It is only found in New Zealand.<ref name=wsc />
==Etymology== The genus name is derived from Latin ''{{lang|la|gradus}}'' "step" and ''{{lang|la|ungula}}'' "claw", referring to the enlarged front leg claws of this species. These claws also occur in other species of the family Gradungulidae.{{cn|date=October 2025}} The species is named after Jack Sorensen, the discoverer of the species.<ref name="forster1999" />
== Taxonomy == ''Gradungula sorenseni'' was first described by Raymond Robert Forster in 1955.<ref name=Fors1955 />
== Distribution == ''Gradungula sorenseni'' is distributed in forests throughout the western South Island of New Zealand and throughout Stewart Island. <ref name="forster1987" />
==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name="wsc">{{cite web | url=https://wsc.nmbe.ch/genus/1012 | title=Gen. ''Gradungula'' Forster, 1955 | publisher=World Spider Catalog | doi=10.24436/2 | accessdate=2025-10-29}}</ref> <ref name="forster1999">Forster, Ray; Forster, Lyn (1999). ''Spiders Of New Zealand And Their World Wide Kin''. Otago, New Zealand: University of Otago Press. pp. 119–124.</ref> <ref name="forster1987">Forster, R. R., Platnick, N. I. & Gray, M. R. (1987). A review of the spider superfamilies Hypochiloidea and Austrochiloidea (Araneae, Araneomorphae). ''Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History'' '''185''': 1-116.</ref> <ref name="Fors1955">{{cite journal|last=Forster|first=R. R.|year=1955|title=A new family of spiders of the sub-order Hypochilomorphae.|journal=Pacific Science|pages=277–285|volume=9|hdl=10125/12859}}</ref> }}
==External links== * {{inaturalist taxon}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2993123|from2=Q2487775}}
Category:Gradungulidae Category:Monotypic Araneomorphae genera Category:Endemic spiders of New Zealand Category:Taxa named by Raymond Robert Forster
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