AW Arachnid Book: Spiders (Araneae) - Photos & Descriptions

[ExFmem]

Jumping Spider Heliophanus sp.
Family: Salticidae



Kruger by ExF

"Due to considerable morphological uniformity, a proper identification of the spider genus Heliophanus causes many troubles. That is why there are numerous unidentified and misidentified specimens in many of the collections. The descrip­tions given in the prevailing majority of older publications are inadequate. Only a few papers dealing with regional arachnofaunas contain descriptions supplemented with figures rendering a possibility to correctly identify the species."

http://rcin.org.pl/Content/57921/WA058_ ... l-Nr-1.pdf

[ExFmem]

Jumping Spider Menemerus sp.
Family: Salticidae



Only the males have the white stripe on the pedipalps. Females have all-over cream pedipalps.


Kruger by ExF (female)



Another sighting, Kruger National Park

[ExFmem]

Euophryine Jumping Spider
Family: Salticidae Subfamily: Euophryinae



Kruger by ExF

The subfamily Euophryinae is one of the most diverse groups in the family Salticidae, with about 1,000 described species. However, many other potential euophryine genera are unstudied, and the phylogenetic relationships within the Euophryinae are still poorly understood (see Bodner, 2002).

Euophryinae members belong to an informal group of families termed the “free embolus group” by Maddison (2011). This group is distinctive in having a movable, coiled embolus placed on the tip of the bulb and separated from the tegulum by a fully expandable distal haematodocha.

Relationships within the euophryines are unclear, making generic delimitations far from easy. The recent study on nuclear and mitochondrial gene sequence (Zhang & Maddison 2013) gives the insight into evolution of the subfamily Euophryinae and is a big step forward in understanding the phylogenetic relationships within its genera. The results strongly support the monophyly of euophryines.

Distribution
The majority are found in the tropics of both the Old and New World (Prószy ski 1976; Maddison & Hedin 2003; Platnick 2012; Zhang & Maddison 2012a, b). In the Old World, euophryine jumping spiders are most diverse in the Australasian region and the Eurasian region, but less diverse in Africa (Platnick 2012).

The Euophryinae has remained the largest biogeographically unresolved group of salticid spiders. Most major salticid clades are primarily restricted to one continental region, with few or no representatives in the other (Maddison and Hedin, 2003a; Maddi- son et al., 2008; Bodner and Maddison, 2012).

Six genera are recorded from South Africa: Chinophrys, Euophrys, Rumburak, Tanzania, Thyenula, Yimbulunga.


https://arachnidlady.files.wordpress.co ... n-2013.pdf

https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... uophryinae

[ExFmem]

Jumping Spider Phlegra karoo (Wesołowska, 2006)
Family: Salticidae

Genus Phlegra Simon, 1976
The genus includes nearly 80 species distributed in the Old World (except a single Nearctic species), almost half of which occur in the Afrotropics (Prószyński 2009; Platnick 2010). They are small or medium sized ground living spiders, the majority of whom have dark colouration with a characteristic striped pattern (two longitudinal white streaks on carapace and three streaks on abdomen); some males have the abdomen covered with a delicate dorsal scutum. The species are easily recognizable: as a rule the males have two tibial apophyses and a compound embolus, which is partially hidden in the cymbial pocket behind the distal haematodocha; the females usually have a strongly sclerotized epigyne with the gonopores situated in large depressions, the seminal ducts forming many loops, and small rounded receptacles.




Kgalagadi TP by ExF

Phlegra karoo Wesołowska, 2006

Description
Size: TL female and male 4-6 mm.

Male.
*Carapace medium high, slightly broadened posteriorly, with short eye field. Carapace dark, brownish black, clothed in whitish grey hairs, with brown bristles near eyes.
*Sternum, clypeus and labium brown, maxillae with whitish margins. Chelicerae dark yellow, unidentate.
*Abdomen ovoid, narrower posteriorly; dark brown, with traces of lighter median streak; dorsum with large scutum. Greyish and brown hairs cover abdomen. Sides of abdomen pale, venter greyish. Spinnerets dark.
*Legs light brown; spines numerous, leg hairs brown. Pedipalps light brown. Palpal femur with two dark spots on ventral surface, one medially and second apically. Tibia with ventral transverse ridge and two retrolateral apophyses. Embolus coiled on bulb tip.

Female.
Larger than male, similarly coloured.
*Chelicerae with two small teeth on promarginal edge and single tooth on retromarginal edge.
*Abdomen slightly swollen, without scutum, blackish brown, in some specimens with traces of lighter median streak, densely covered with different coloured long hairs (grey, fawn and brown).
*Legs brown with numerous dark patches.

Distribution
Namibia; South Africa, where it is widespread in the drier parts of the Free State, Northern Cape and North West provinces.

Habitat and biology
One of the most abundant and widespread ground-dwelling jumping spiders in central South Africa.

https://bioone.org/journals/African-Inv ... .0105.full

[Klipspringer]

Giant Daddy-long-legs Spider Artema atlanta
Suborder: Araneomorphae. Series: Haplogyne. Family: Pholcidae.

© ExFmem
Twee Rivieren, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Description
Artema is easily distinguished from other pholcids by its large body and strong legs (body length 5.5–9.5 mm; leg span up to 15 cm; also by distinctive pattern on globose and high abdomen (dark dots dorsally, arranged in stripes from dorsal to lateral).
Cephalothorax widest at posterior half, anterior half narrower and conical. A mid longitudinal crest at the anterior half of carapace, bordered by narrow brown lines, posteriorly pointed towards fovea, a longitudinal brown patch at the region of fovea; lateral region of carapace with three small brown patches arranged in a longitudinal row, well separated from lateral margin. Clypeus long and protruding downwards, both row of eyes recurved, median portion of clypeus with a brown band. Eight eyes at the tip of carapace, anterior medians at front, all the eyes grouped into two sets of three eyes. Sternum as long as wide; broadest at coxae II and III, slightly narrow at I and II and very narrow at leg IV. Labium fused with sternum. Maxillae longer than wide, more or less even in width, basal region projected inwards. Sternum a little more brownish than coxa. Abdomen globular, greyish yellow, decorated with three rows of dusky grey spots. Epigyne with a brown, thickly horny plate, with a common posterior margin.
Color: Carapace ochre beige, with light brown median band and small dots laterally; ocular area light brown; clypeus with light brown band fading towards edge, with brown rim; legs light ochre, with dark rings; abdomen pale ochre with pale and dark dots forming large marks dorsally and stripes laterally.

Distribution
Artema atlanta has a worldwide distribution. It is widespread from the subtropical Americas through Africa and India, the Far East and Australia. It can be assumed from the genus distribution that A. atlanta was originally an Old World species.

Habitat
Like other species in the genus, A. atlanta inhabits caves as well as buildings and basements.

© ExFmem

Links:
https://europeanjournaloftaxonomy.eu/in ... w/501/1110

[ExFmem]

Jumping Spider Manzuma sp.
Family: Salticidae
Tribe: Aelurillini (Simon, 1901) Subtribe: Aelurillina (Simon, 1901)


Genus Manzuma gen. nov. (new genus)

To date, the genus Manzuma is the first and the only endemic genus of aelurillines described from the Afrotropical Region. Although only seven species are known, the genus is likely to contain more undescribed species from different African regions, and its current species richness is underestimated. Underestimation of aelurilline diversity is not isolated to Manzuma, but rather throughout aelurillines. There are undescribed endemic aelurilline genera from Africa awaiting description, with some of their species being mistakenly assigned to such genera as Aelurillus, Langona, Langelurillus and Phlegra (unpubl. data).





The currently-known world Aelurillina fauna contains 291 species in ten genera, including the Manzuma. The Afrotropical Region (sensu Dippenaar-Schoeman & Jocqué 1997) includes 125 Aelurillina species in seven genera, which is almost 43 % of the world diversity of Aelurillina.


Kgalagadi TP by ExF (female)






Kgalagadi TP by ExF (female)

Description
Small spiders, ranging in body length from 2.80 to 3.75 mm in males and 3.80 to 4.60 mm in females. Sexes similar in general body shape. Males usually smaller and brighter coloured.
CARAPACE: Rather high, highest point located in PLE or just behind PLE. Color pattern of both sexes usually with two longitudinal stripes running along the ALE–PLE lines (poorly visible or invisible in some females); fovea present and situated between PLEs; the anterior part of the eye field is covered with short erect bristles similar to the ‘rod-hairs’.


CLYPEUS: Medium to high, ranging between 50–83% of the AME diameter in males and 44–63% in females.
CHELICERAE: Medium length, vertical and of usual shape; promargin with two small teeth, basally fused together, retromargin with one tooth.
ENDITES: Subparallel, of usual shape, with pale yellow to white apices; in males of all species with small retrolateral “cavity” (EnC) at the base of endites, while in females this character is absent.
STERNUM: Ovoid, longer than wide.
PEDICEL: Short, in live specimens not visible in dorsal view.
ABDOMEN: Elongate, without scutum; colour markings simple – with white median longitudinal stripe in males and usually with two median longitudinal lines of white spots in females.
BOOK-LUNG COVERS: Not sclerotized.
SPINNERETS: Medium in size.
LEGS: Subequal in length, with femora of legs III longer than others; female metatarsi I without retrolateral spines; in four species (M. jocquei, M. kenyaensis, M. nigritibia and M. petroae gen. et sp. nov.) femora I of male with long white or yellow-white hairs prolaterally; tarsal claws narrow, on legs I–II of male with 7–8 teeth prolaterally and 4–5 retrolaterally, on legs I–II of female with 1 or 3–4 small teeth pro- and retrolaterally. Leg formula: III/IV/II/I or III/IV/I/II in both sexes.
FEMALE PALP: General form, without an apical claw.
MALE PALP: Femora of usual form, densely covered with long white hairs; tibia short, with ventral short membranous apophysis and a well-developed sclerotized ventral apophysis and bulge- like dorsal apophysis, in M. kenyaensis gen. et comb. nov. with dorsal bulge. Cymbium oval, without apical claw; cymbial apex densely covered with short erect hairs and poorly-marked ventral groove. Basal haematodocha is well-developed and subtegulum is simple, visible in an expanded palp only. Tegulum is narrow and elongated, with small apical tegular projection, in M. lympha and M. nigritibia poorly visible. The distal haematodocha is well-developed and the salticid radix has a small and rounded proximal projection.

Distribution
Afrotropical Region (sensu Dippenaar-Schoeman & Jocqué 1997).

Natural history
Like other members of the Aelurillina (Prószyński 2017; Logunov & Azarkina 2018), members of Manzuma are ground-dwellers, occurring in different biotopes with high insulation.

Remarks
Females of six Manzuma species show close similarity in coloration and great intraspecific variability in the structure of copulatory organs and are almost indistinguishable from each other.
Females of M. botswana gen. et sp. nov., M. kenyaensis gen. et comb. nov. and M. petroae gen. et sp. nov. have a short white stripe on the eye field just behind the AMEs and cheeks with two narrow lines of whitish dense scales running from AMEs to the sides of the carapace. Females of M. jocquei, M. lympha and M. nigritibia are almost indistinguishable except that M. jocquei and M. lympha have the cephalic part of the carapace slightly narrower, than that of M. nigritibia.


https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... f/download

[ExFmem]

Aelurilline Jumping Spider
Family: Salticidae Subfamily: Salticinae
Tribe: Aelurillini Subtribe: Aelurillina

Tribe Aelurillini (Simon, 1901)

This group of more than 500 species worldwide, contains the distinctive aelurillines along with the Neotropical freyines and Afrotropical thiratoscirtines.

Monophyly: Although freyines and thiratoscirtines resemble each other in body form and markings, there are no known morphological synapomorphies to link them to each other or the somewhat more distinctive Aelurillina. The group is well supported by molecular data (Maddison et al. 2014).

Subtribe Aelurillina (262 species in 11 genera)

(Global Genera: Aelurillus, Asianellus, Langelurillus, Langona, Mashonarus, Microheros, Phanuelus, Phlegra, Proszynskiana, Rafalus, Stenaelurillus )








Kgalagadi TP, Mata Mata Camp by ExF

Aelurilline diversity is underestimated. There are undescribed endemic aelurilline genera from Africa awaiting description, with some of their species being mistakenly assigned to such genera as Aelurillus, Langona, Langelurillus and Phlegra (unpubl. data).

The Afrotropical Region (sensu Dippenaar-Schoeman & Jocqué 1997) includes 125 Aelurillina species in seven genera, which is almost 43 % of the world diversity of Aelurillina.

Remarks.—Although speciose, this ground-dwelling group is rather uniform in appearance, with a slightly narrowed carapace and stout legs. Langelurillus and Phanuelus are exceptions, being smaller and more compact. Among the best-known genera are Aelurillus and Phlegra. Only a single species of this Afro-Eurasian group has reached the New World, Phlegra hentzi.

Several aelurilline species are reported to live with or eat termites.

Monophyly: The palp has a distinctive appearance, with the tegulum oval, distally extended as a shield hiding the embolus, and proximally pointed. Logunov (1996a) proposes a pocket on the cymbium as a synapomorphy of the group. The embolus is spiral in many species, and separated from the tegulum by a hematodocha. The thorax is often marked by longitudinal bands of white or pale scales at or just medial to the PLE.



13198_Maddison_2015_Jou_43_231_292.pdf

[ExFmem]

Jumping Spider Menemerus sp.
Family: Salticidae


Kruger NP by ExF

For information on the genus Menemerus, see: https://africawild-forum.com/viewtopic. ... 78#p498278

[ExFmem]

Jumping Spider Menemerus sp.
Family: Salticidae



Kruger NP by ExF

For information on the genus Menemerus, see: https://africawild-forum.com/viewtopic. ... 78#p498278

[ExFmem]

Jumping Spider. Pignus sp.
Family: Salticidae

Genus Pignus Wesołowska, 2000

This genus, related to the Palaearctic genus Philaeus Thorell, 1869, contains three species, all known only from males.

The type species, P. simoni (Peckham & Peckham, 1903), is reported from South Africa and Zimbabwe; P. lautissimum Wesołowska & Russell-Smith, 2000 is known from Tanzania; and P. pongola Weso♂owska & Haddad, 2009 was recently described from the KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa.

The males of this genus are very similar in size, body shape and colouration, and have characteristically large diverging chelicerae with a long tooth on the retromarginal edge, near the base of fang.



Etymology: This generic name is the Latin word "pignus" meaning "hostage".

Kgalagadi TP Urikaruus Camp by ExF (female)



https://bioone.org/journals/african-inv ... .0105.full

https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... a/download

9027_Wesolowska_2000_Arn_10_145_174.pdf