Heliophanus designatus

Willowmore Heliophanus Sunny Jumping Spider
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Salticidae
Subfamily:	Salticinae
Genus:	Heliophanus
Species:	H. designatus
Binomial name
	Heliophanus designatus; (Peckham & Peckham, 1903)
Synonyms
	Sittacus designatusPeckham & Peckham, 1903 ;

Last updated October 15, 2025

Heliophanus designatus is a species of jumping spider in the family Salticidae.^[2] It is endemic to South Africa and is commonly known as the Willowmore Heliophanus sunny jumping spider.^[3]

Distribution

Heliophanus designatus is found only in South Africa,^[2] where it is known only from Willowmore in Eastern Cape Province.^[3]

Habitat and ecology

This species is a free-living spider found on ground or plants.^[3] It has been recorded at altitudes ranging from 144 to 1719 m.^[3]

Description

Conservation

Heliophanus designatus is listed as Data Deficient by the South African National Biodiversity Institute.^[3] The species is undersampled and presently known only from the type locality.^[3] Additional sampling is needed to collect the male and determine the species' range.^[3]

Taxonomy

Heliophanus designatus was originally described in 1903 as Sittacus designatus from Willowmore by George and Elizabeth Peckham.^[1] The species is known only from the female.^[1] It was transferred to Heliophanus by Maddison and colleagues in 2020.^[4]

References

1 2 3 Peckham, G.W.; Peckham, E.G. (1903). "New species of the family Attidae from South Africa, with notes on the distribution of the genera found in the Ethiopian region". Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. 14 (1): 173–278.
1 2 3 "Heliophanus designatus (G. W. Peckham & E. G. Peckham, 1903)". World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. doi:10.24436/2 . Retrieved 2025-10-01.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S.; Walt, V. van der; Haddad, C.R.; Foord, S.H.; Lotz, L.N. (2025). The Salticidae of South Africa. Part 3 (He-Iran). Version 1. South African National Survey of Arachnida Photo Identification Guide. p. 37. doi:10.5281/zenodo.17103454. This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
↑ Maddison, W.P.; Maddison, D.R.; Derkarabetian, S.; Hedin, M. (2020). "Sitticine jumping spiders: phylogeny, classification, and chromosomes (Araneae, Salticidae, Sitticini)". ZooKeys (925): 1–54. Bibcode:2020ZooK..925....1M. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.925.39691 .

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[peckham1903-1] 1 2 3 Peckham, G.W.; Peckham, E.G. (1903). "New species of the family Attidae from South Africa, with notes on the distribution of the genera found in the Ethiopian region". Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. 14 (1): 173–278.

[wsc-2] 1 2 3 "Heliophanus designatus (G. W. Peckham & E. G. Peckham, 1903)". World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. doi:10.24436/2 . Retrieved 2025-10-01.

[dippenaar2025-3] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S.; Walt, V. van der; Haddad, C.R.; Foord, S.H.; Lotz, L.N. (2025). The Salticidae of South Africa. Part 3 (He-Iran). Version 1. South African National Survey of Arachnida Photo Identification Guide. p. 37. doi:10.5281/zenodo.17103454. This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.

[maddison2020-4] Maddison, W.P.; Maddison, D.R.; Derkarabetian, S.; Hedin, M. (2020). "Sitticine jumping spiders: phylogeny, classification, and chromosomes (Araneae, Salticidae, Sitticini)". ZooKeys (925): 1–54. Bibcode:2020ZooK..925....1M. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.925.39691 .

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