Anelosimus nelsoni

Nelson's Anelosimus Comb-Foot Spider
	Female
	Female
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Theridiidae
Genus:	Anelosimus
Species:	A. nelsoni
Binomial name
	Anelosimus nelsoni; I. Agnarsson, 2006
Synonyms
	Anelosimus nelsonDippenaar-Schoeman et al., 2021 ;

Last updated October 11, 2025

Anelosimus nelsoni is a species of spider in the family Theridiidae. It was first described from iSimangaliso Wetland Park, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The species is named after Nelson Mandela.

Distribution

Anelosimus nelsoni is found in South Africa,^[2] where it is known from the provinces Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, and Western Cape.^[3]

Description

The male holotype specimen is 2.08 millimetres (0.082 in) in length, and the female paratype is 2.60 millimetres (0.102 in) in length. Both the holotype and paratype were found on Fanies Island, 5 km south of Cape Vidal. Both were collected from bushes or trees in an open forest patch.^[1]

Habitat and ecology

This web-dwelling species was collected by beating bushes and trees from the Fynbos, Indian Ocean Coastal Belt, Forest, Grassland, Savanna, and Thicket biomes. The species was also sampled from citrus orchards.^[3]

Anelosimus nelsoni has been sampled at altitudes ranging from 4 to 1556 m.^[3]

Conservation

Anelosimus nelsoni is listed as Least Concern by the South African National Biodiversity Institute due to its wide geographical range. There are no significant threats to this species. It is protected in more than ten protected areas.^[3]

References

1 2 Agnarsson, I.; Zhang, J.X. (2006). "New species of Anelosimus (Araneae: Theridiidae) from Africa and Southeast Asia, with notes on sociality and color polymorphism". Zootaxa. 1147: 1–34. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1147.1.1.
1 2 "Anelosimus nelsoni Agnarsson, 2006". World Spider Catalog. Retrieved 1 October 2025.
1 2 3 4 Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S.; Haddad, C.R.; Foord, S.H.; Lotz, L.N. (2021). The Theridiidae of South Africa. Part 1 A-P. Version 1. South African National Survey of Arachnida Photo Identification Guide. p. 8. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7515890. This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.

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[agnarsson2006-1] 1 2 Agnarsson, I.; Zhang, J.X. (2006). "New species of Anelosimus (Araneae: Theridiidae) from Africa and Southeast Asia, with notes on sociality and color polymorphism". Zootaxa. 1147: 1–34. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1147.1.1.

[wsc-2] 1 2 "Anelosimus nelsoni Agnarsson, 2006". World Spider Catalog. Retrieved 1 October 2025.

[dippenaar2021-3] 1 2 3 4 Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S.; Haddad, C.R.; Foord, S.H.; Lotz, L.N. (2021). The Theridiidae of South Africa. Part 1 A-P. Version 1. South African National Survey of Arachnida Photo Identification Guide. p. 8. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7515890. This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.

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