| St Helena Anyphops Flat Spider | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Selenopidae |
| Genus: | Anyphops |
| Species: | A. helenae |
| Binomial name | |
| Anyphops helenae (Lawrence, 1940) [1] | |
Anyphops helenae is a species of spider in the family Selenopidae. [2] It is endemic to South Africa and is commonly known as St Helena Anyphops flat spider. [3]
Anyphops helenae is endemic to the Western Cape province of South Africa. [3] The species is known only from the type locality of Stompneus at St Helena Bay. [3]
The species inhabits the Fynbos biome at an altitude of 109 m above sea level. [3] These are free-living cryptozoic nocturnal spiders. [3]
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Known only from the female. [3] The carapace is light reddish brown, ornamented with minute black specks and larger blackish spots, with a tuft of white hairs above and overhanging the anterior median eyes. The chelicerae are the same colour as the carapace. [3]
The opisthosoma is brown above with some rather ill-defined symmetrical darker markings. The anterior legs have brown bands while the posterior ones are without bands. The anterior tibiae have 5 pairs of inferior spines. [3]
Total length is 8 mm. [3]
Anyphops helenae is listed as Data Deficient due to taxonomic reasons. [3] The species has a very small range and more sampling is needed to collect males and determine the full extent of its distribution. [3]
The species was originally described by Lawrence in 1940 as Selenops helenae. [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.