Calponia

Calponia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Caponiidae
Genus: Calponia
Platnick, 1993[1]
Species: C. harrisonfordi
Binomial name
Calponia harrisonfordi
Platnick, 1993[1]

Calponia is a genus of spider containing only one species, Calponia harrisonfordi.[1] It was discovered in 1993 by the arachnologist Norman I. Platnick, and named after the film actor Harrison Ford to thank him for narrating a documentary for the Natural History Museum in London. It is one of the most primitive members of the Caponiidae family.[2]

C. harrisonfordi is found in California in the United States. Unlike most members of its family, C. harrisonfordi retains all eight eyes and has few of the family's characteristic distal leg segment modifications. It is roughly 5 millimetres (0.20 in) in length. Much of its physiology is not well understood, but it is thought to eat other spiders.[2]

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References

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