📸 PhotoPhoto: Akio Tanikawa · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Kimura spider
Heptathela kimurai (Kimura spider · キムラグモ)
Not Evaluated (NE) on the IUCN Red List yet.
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 The female body length of 13.8 mm is slightly smaller than the diameter of a Korean 10-won coin (18 mm) (Comparison).
- 💡 Photographs of burrows with open and closed trapdoors in Shiroyama Park, Kagoshima, were published in the paper (ZooKeys paper).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The Kimura spider is a primitive trapdoor spider (Liphistiidae) known from Kyushu, Japan, that builds burrows with a hinged trapdoor in the ground.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Females have a yellowish-brown cephalothorax, a brown abdomen, and 7 spinnerets, with a body length of 9.3–13.8 mm. Members of the family Liphistiidae are characterized by retaining segmented plates (tergites) on the upper side of the abdomen.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It lives in underground burrows fitted with a trapdoor. A 2019 ZooKeys paper organized the genus into about 20 species and noted that this species is known only from Kagoshima Prefecture.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List: not evaluated (NE) — cross-checked with the Wikidata conservation-status entry
- • catalogueoflife.org — 3KX5T
- • wikidata.org — Q2193753
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Heptathela.kimurai.yanbaruensis.female.-.tanikawa.jpg
- • pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov — PMC6861337
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · CC0 1.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Liphistius desultor)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.