New Liphistius spider L. priceae named after me

I am honoured to have a new species of Liphistius spider named after me in 2017. The trapdoor spider, Liphistius priceae sp. nov. has recently been described in a new paper, Revue suisse de Zoologie (September 2017) 124(2): 391-445, A revision of the trapdoor spider genus Liphistius (Mesothelae: Liphistiidae) in peninsular Malaysia; part 1, by Peter J. Schwendinger.

There are 5 species groups of Liphistius in peninsular Malaysia : the trang group, the malayanus-group, the batuensis-group, the tioman-group and the linang-group. L. priceae sp. nov. belongs to the linang-group.

The specimens were collected by Dr Peter Schwendinger. They are known only from two caves in the
same limestone hill at Dabong in Kelantan - Gua Keris and Gua Pagar. None were found in the associated rain forest so they may be confined to caves, although show no noteworthy cave adaptations.

Unfortunately there are no photo of the live specimens, only those in alcohol -

Extracts from the paper :

(Location):

Malaysia, Kelantan, about 5 km

S of Dabong, Gua Keris (= Kris Cave) and Gua Pagar

(locally also called Gua King Kong), 130 m; 8.-9.

VI.2004; leg. P.J. Schwendinger. The precise type

locality is Gua Keris.

Etymology: 

The new species is named in honour of

Liz Price (London, UK), a former long-time resident

in Kuala Lumpur, and a very active speleologist who

over 30 years explored and published on caves and cave

faunas all over Southeast Asia. She was also involved

in conservation and trying to save some caves from

destruction by quarrying in Malaysia.

Diagnosis: 

Small to medium-sized, light-brown coloured

species, similar and closely related to

L. tempurung. Both sexes slightly smaller than those

of L. tempurung.

This is the second specimen to have been named after me. The first was a snail from Laos, called Sinoennea lizae . 

A big thank you to Peter Schwendinger for honouring me with this cave spider.

--

UPDATE Feb 2018

2 specimens of Liphistius priceae Schwendinger 2017 have been catalogued by the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt :

And NMBE catalogue

And a Wikipedia entry on L.priceae.

Liphistius kanthan, trapdoor spider

Liphistius kanthan is a species of trapdoor spider and is only known in one location, a cave called Gua Kanthan in Perak, Malaysia.

There are a few species of cave dwelling trapdoor spiders known in Malaysia.

In Gua Kanthan they build their nests on the cave walls. The nests vary in size and shape.

These 2 nests are side by side

This door is slightly open

See more on Gua Kanthan and Liphistius

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Gua Kanthan, Perak, Malaysia

Gua Kanthan is a large cave in Perak, Malaysia. It is located in Gunung Kanthan which is the northernmost limestone hill in the Kinta Valley.

I revisted the cave in Nov 2011 after an absence of 8 years. It was also my 8th visit to the cave.

The normal route up to the cave was "blocked" by water from the nearby pond so I found a different way up, via the abandoned temple up on the hill. This photos shows the temple in 1997

I managed to easily find the cave and Jan took this photo

The entrance is very impressive with some nice fluting.

The cave is also called Cathedral Cave due to its size. The main cave is a large single chamber with a river running through. However there is no need to get wet as the route through the main chamber is above the water level.
There is graffiti

Going down a climb

At the place where the river crosses the chamber, the way on is by traversing a ledge

At the next part of the chamber we were slightly too late to see the sunbeam - these pictures are from 1993 !

There are some nice gour pools just beyond, Jan took this photo

and a view of the flowstone

The cave is home to a trapdoor spider, Liphistius kanthan, which is found nowhere else in the world.

Looking back up towards Gua Kanthan

Gunung Kanthan is heavily quarried. The cave is on the south end, in a currently untouched area.

Gua Kanthan register number Prk 47/02.

See more on Liphistius kanthan and the Kanthan quarry.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission