| Uitenhage Anyphops Flat Spider | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Selenopidae |
| Genus: | Anyphops |
| Species: | A. gilli |
| Binomial name | |
| Anyphops gilli (Lawrence, 1940) [1] | |
Anyphops gilli is a species of spider in the family Selenopidae. [2] It is endemic to South Africa and is commonly known as Uitenhage Anyphops flat spider. [3]
Anyphops gilli occurs in three South African provinces: Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Western Cape. [3] Notable localities include Uitenhage, Hogsback in the Amatola Mountains, iSimangaliso Wetland Park, and Ngome State Forest. [3]
The species inhabits Forest, Savanna, and Thicket biomes at altitudes ranging from 45 to 1307 m above sea level. [3] These are free-living cryptozoic nocturnal spiders that have been sampled with pitfall traps and from leaf litter in dry-humid wet forest. [3]
Known only from the male. The carapace is light reddish brown and a little darker anteriorly, with thoracic striae brown and some fine long radiating lines from it. The cephalic region is bisected by a light brown line which is duplicated for most of its length, and the chelicerae are a little darker than the carapace. [3]
The opisthosoma has some brown spots and wavy cross-bars over most of its surface, with a transverse, procurved, fairly broad black stripe near its posterior extremity. The anterior tibiae have 6 pairs of inferior spines. [3]
Total length is 8.6 mm. [3]
Anyphops gilli is listed as Least Concern due to its wide geographical range. [3] The species is protected in three State Forests, though more sampling is needed to collect the female. [3]
The species was originally described by Lawrence in 1940 as Selenops gilli from Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape. [1] It was later transferred to the genus Anyphops by Benoit in 1968. [3]
This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.