Shelob, Taylor, 2025

Shelob new genus

Fig. 8c, d View FIGURE 8

http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:5C77813C-BFCB-45B9-A252-5A5E67927B6F

Type species: Megalopsalis inconstans Forster, 1944 View in CoL .

Etymology: Gender feminine. After Shelob , a monstrous spider-like creature featured in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.

Description: As for the type and only known species ( Taylor 2011).

Comments: Shelob inconstans has been recorded widely in central New Zealand, from the southern North Island and northern South Island ( Vélez et al. 2014). Fernández et al. (2014) established that Megalopsalis chiltoni nigra Forster, 1944 , treated as Forsteropsalis nigra by Taylor (2011), represented a colour variant of S. inconstans and synonymised the two taxa.

Shelob inconstans stands out from all other Enantiobuninae in its degree of armature with the entire carapace being densely denticulate, including the mesopeltidium. It also has a distinctive genital morphology with the glans being conspicuously narrowed at the base but with the sides then becoming parallel, and the glans overall being quite long. This may be derived from an ancestor more similar in genital morphology to Forsteropsalis , via elongation of the distal section of the glans.