Mammoth Cave Spider
Anthrobia monmouthia Tellkampf, 1844
Taxonomy
| Kingdom | Animalia |
|---|---|
| Phylum | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum | Chelicerata |
| Class | Arachnida |
| Order | Araneae |
| Family | Linyphiidae |
| Genus | Anthrobia |
| Species | Anthrobia monmouthia Tellkampf, 1844 |
Description
Diagnostic characters
- Ecological class
- Troglobiont
- Realm
- Terrestrial
- Troglomorphy
- Troglomorphic
Distribution
Type locality
Mammoth Cave, Edmonson Co. KY
Range
Known from 13 counties across four states across two karst regions.
Continent
North America
Country
United States
States and provinces
Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia
Counties
- Alabama
- Blount
- Kentucky
- Barren, Edmonson, Jackson, Pulaski, Wayne
- Tennessee
- Bledsoe, Franklin, Grundy, Smith, Van Buren, Warren, Wilson
Karst regions
Appalachians, Interior Low Plateau
Specimens
Collections holding material
| Institution | Lots |
|---|---|
| Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard | 2 |
| National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution | 1 |
3 cataloged lots in 2 collections. Compiled from GBIF and not an exhaustive census: many collections are not yet digitised, and holdings are added continually. Search GBIF for specimen records.
Download all 3 specimen records (CSV) Institution, catalog number, type status and preparation. No coordinates.
Conservation and management
NatureServe
G5 Secure
Global rank last reviewed 2002.
Subnational ranks
- Kentucky
- S2S3 Imperiled to Vulnerable
- Tennessee
- S1 Critically Imperiled
- Virginia
- S2 Imperiled
State and federal status
Not listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
Other resources
References
- Bailey, V. 1933. Cave Life of Kentucky. US Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Biological Survey, Washington, DC, USA. 256 pp.
- Barr, T.C., Jr. & Kuehne, R.A. 1971. Ecological studies in the Mammoth Cave system of Kentucky. II. The Ecosystem. Annales de Speleologie 26: 47–96. doi:10.5038/1827-806X.3.1.10
- Dixon, G.B. & Zigler, K.S. 2011. Cave-obligate biodiversity on the campus of Sewanee: The University of the South, Franklin County, Tennessee. Southeastern Naturalist 10: 251–266. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41263008. details
- Harker, D.F., Jr. & Barr, T.C., Jr. 1979. Caves and associated fauna of Eastern Kentucky, Volume 3. Kentucky Nature Preserves Commission, Frankfurt, Kentucky, USA. 130 pp.
- Lewis, J.J. 2005a. A biological inventory of caves of the Cumberland Plateau. Tennessee Chapter Cave Program, The Nature Conservancy, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. 156 pp.
- Miller, J.A. 2005. Cave adaptation in the spider genus Anthrobia (Araneae, Linyphiidae, Erigoninae). Zoologica Scripta 34: 565–592. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2005.00206.x
- Nicholas, G. 1960. Checklist of macroscopic troglobitic organisms of the United States. The American Midland Naturalist 64: 123–160. doi:10.2307/2422897
- Niemiller, M.L. & Zigler, K.S. 2013. Patterns of cave biodiversity and endemism in the Appalachians and Interior Plateau of Tennessee, USA. PLOS One 8: e64177. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0064177
- Packard, A.S. 1871. The Mammoth Cave and its inhabitants. On the crustaceans and insects. American Naturalist 5: 739–761. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2447590. details
- Tellkampf, T. 1844. Beschreibung einiger neuer in der Mammuth-Höhle in Kentucky aufgefundener Gattungen von Gliedertieren. Archiv für Naturgeschichte 10: 318–322. doi:10.5962/bhl.part.29561
- Tellkampf, T.A. 1845. Memoirs on the blind fishes and some other animals living in the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. The New York Journal of Medicine and the Collateral Sciences 5: 84–93. https://www.google.com/books/edition/New_York_journal_of_medicine/rXEdAQAAMAAJ?hl=en. details
This account was last revised 28 August 2026.
How to cite this account
Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.
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