Palfuria

Palfuria
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Zodariidae
Genus:	Palfuria Simon, 1910
Species
See text
Diversity
9 species

Palfuria is a spider genus of the family Zodariidae with nine described species from southern Africa. ^[1]

Distribution

Five species (P. retusa, P. spirembolus, P. gladiator, P. panner, P. harpago) are known from the southwestern part of the continent, the other species (P. gibbosa, P. helichrysorum, P. hirsuta, P. caputlari) from the eastern part. The last species is from as far north as northern Tanzania. ^[2]

As in many other genera, there is a tendency for the embolus to increase in length. Both the most basal (Palfuria panner) and the most derived species (Palfuria spirembolus) are found in Namibia. ^[2]

Species

As of September 2025 ^[update] , this genus includes nine species: ^[1]

• Palfuria caputlari Szűts & Jocqué, 2001 – Tanzania, South Africa
• Palfuria gibbosa (Lessert, 1936) – Mozambique
• Palfuria gladiator Szűts & Jocqué, 2001 – Namibia
• Palfuria harpago Szűts & Jocqué, 2001 – Namibia
• Palfuria helichrysorum Szűts & Jocqué, 2001 – Malawi
• Palfuria hirsuta Szűts & Jocqué, 2001 – Zambia
• Palfuria panner Jocqué, 1991 – Namibia
• Palfuria retusa Simon, 1910 – Namibia, South Africa (type species)
• Palfuria spirembolus Szűts & Jocqué, 2001 – Namibia, South Africa

References

1. "Genus Palfuria". World Spider Catalog. doi:10.24436/2 . Retrieved 28 September 2025.
2. Szüts, T.; Jocqué, R. (2001). "A revision of the Afrotropical spider genus Palfuria (Araneae, Zodariidae)" (PDF). Journal of Arachnology. 29 (2): 205–219. doi:10.1636/0161-8202(2001)029[0205:AROTAS]2.0.CO;2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-05.