Mexcala

Mexcala
Female Mexcala elegans
Female Mexcala quadrimaculata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Salticidae
Subfamily:	Salticinae
Genus:	Mexcala Peckham & Peckham, 1902 [1]
Type species
M. rufa Peckham & Peckham, 1902
Species
22, see text

Mexcala is a genus of jumping spiders that was first described by George and Elizabeth Peckham in 1902. ^[2] The name is probably derived from the Nahuatl mezcal .

Distribution

Mexcala are found only in Africa, Yemen, and Iran. ^[1]

Species

• 
  female M. elegans
• 
  female M. quadrimaculata
• 
  female M. rufa

As of October 2025 ^[update] , this genus includes 22 species: ^[1]

• Mexcala agilis Lawrence, 1928 – DR Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Namibia
• Mexcala angolensis Wesołowska, 2009 – Angola
• Mexcala caerulea (Simon, 1901) – Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast
• Mexcala elegans G. W. Peckham & E. G. Peckham, 1903 – Ivory Coast, Malawi, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa
• Mexcala farsensis Logunov, 2001 – Iran
• Mexcala fizi Wesołowska, 2009 – Congo, Tanzania
• Mexcala formosa Wesołowska & Tomasiewicz, 2008 – Ethiopia
• Mexcala inopinata Wiśniewski & Wesołowska, 2024 – Uganda
• Mexcala kabondo Wesołowska, 2009 – Congo, Malawi, Tanzania
• Mexcala macilenta Wesołowska & Russell-Smith, 2000 – Ethiopia, Tanzania
• Mexcala meridiana Wesołowska, 2009 – South Africa
• Mexcala monstrata Wesołowska & van Harten, 1994 – Egypt, Yemen
• Mexcala namibica Wesołowska, 2009 – Namibia
• Mexcala nigrocyanea (Simon, 1886) – Libya, Egypt, Ethiopia
• Mexcala ovambo Wesołowska, 2009 – Namibia
• Mexcala quadrimaculata (Lawrence, 1942) – Zimbabwe, South Africa
• Mexcala rufa G. W. Peckham & E. G. Peckham, 1902 – Namibia, Botswana, South Africa (type species)
• Mexcala signata Wesołowska, 2009 – Kenya, Tanzania
• Mexcala smaragdina Wesołowska & Edwards, 2012 – Nigeria
• Mexcala synagelese Wesołowska, 2009 – Sudan, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, DR Congo, Uganda, Angola
• Mexcala torquata Wesołowska, 2009 – Guinea, Ivory Coast
• Mexcala vicina Wesołowska, 2009 – Cameroon, Congo

References

1. "Gen. Mexcala G. W. Peckham & E. G. Peckham, 1902". World Spider Catalog. doi:10.24436/2 . Retrieved 2025-10-17.
2. Peckham, G. W.; Peckham, E. G. (1902). "Some new genera and species of Attidae from South Africa". Psyche: A Journal of Entomology. 9 (312): 330–335. doi: 10.1155/1902/13502 .

External links

• Citizen science observations for Mexcala at iNaturalist