The scientific name and the current common name honor the prominent arachnologist, James Cokendolpher, who identified the species.

[2] Current threats to the species include habitat loss and interactions with invasive fire ants.

[5] Species within the harvestman family Phalangodidae, including T. cokendolpheri, are united by the position of spines on their pedipalps.

However, distinguishing this species from closely related harvestmen, such as Texella tuberculata, can only be done by differences in adult male genitals.

[3] Since identification of the Cokendolpher cave harvestman is difficult, information on the behavior of this species is scarce.

T. cokendolpheri inhabits only the mile long Robber Baron cave located in Bexar County, Texas.

[3] The Cokendolpher cave harvestman has also had one suspected sighting at the John Wagner Ranch #3.

The Robber Baron cave where the species lives is highly urbanized, privately owned land.

[3] Additionally, the invasive fire ant species Solenopsis invicta negatively impacts karst environments.

[8][10] These ants compete with cave crickets, the primary source of food for many karst animals.

T. cokendolpheri was officially listed under the Endangered Species Act on December 26, 2000, with a recovery priority of 2C, along with eight other Bexar County karst invertebrates.

[6] The first five year review suggested that the priority of the Cokendolpher cave harvestman be upgraded from its initial listing at 2C to 5C.

Due to the suggestion of this review, T. cokendolpheri was changed to a recovery priority of 5C because of its limited range.

The review suggests biota surveys as a strategy for gaining more information on the Cokendolpher cave harvestman.

Additionally, the review designates habitat critical for the survival of seven of nine karst species in Bexar County.

This is due to the species’ small population size and the location of its habitat in a highly urbanized area.