#2400 - Forsteropsalis bona EDIT: Ungoliant bona
EDIT: Since renamed to Ungoliant bona, after the even BIGGER giant spider in Tolkien's canon.
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Vada the lallies on that one.
Alas, I didn't find any Cave Wetas in the McCluggage Tunnel - instead, I found these enormous Harvestmen.
Fosteropsalis is a genus of 13 Neopilionid harvestmen endemic to New Zealand, with males having massively overdeveloped chelicerae that they use in combat against other males.
Fosteropsalis pureora has alpha, beta, and gamma males - the latter are a fraction of the size of the other two, avoid combat, and seem to be the result of males that lost a leg or two during development and instead focus on being sneaky mates.
They're opportunistic omnivores that both prey on other arthropods and scavenge dead animal matter. Some have been observed waiting underneath spiderwebs for discarded pieces of the spider's prey. One species, Forsteropsalis photophaga, is a specialist predator of New Zealand's famous glowworms.
There were also these - either a female or a subadult male.
McCluggage Tunnel, Inland Taranaki, New Zealand
