The species name "intermedius" (Latin for "intermediate") likely refers to its morphological characteristics that appear intermediate between other Stiphropus species.
Taxonomy
The species was first described by French arachnologist Jacques Millot in 1942 from specimens collected in Ivory Coast. Millot distinguished S. intermedius from other Stiphropus species by its possession of seven abdominal sigilla (muscle attachment scars).[3]
Female S. intermedius have a dark brown to black cephalothorax with bronze reflections and a reddish border around the lateral and anterior median eyes.[3] The opisthosoma (abdomen) is greyish-yellow, lighter than in other known Stiphropus species, and is marked with seven brown-reddish sigilla with a very finely textured surface. The legs are rusty brown with slightly lighter hip segments.[3]
The cephalothorax is flattened with a rough, punctured surface forming a slightly narrowed trapezoid shape. In the female, it measures 2 mm wide at the summit and 2.3 mm at the base. The front edge is very wide and truncated, extending beyond the chelicerae on each side with a short, blunt tooth at each angle.[3]
The chelicerae are wide and short, barely longer than their width at the base. Their internal margin is straight while the external margin is strongly curved, almost forming a circular arc. The margins are armed with approximately ten irregularly arranged teeth.[3]
The flattened, disc-shaped abdomen is slightly wider than it is tall, measuring 3.7 mm wide by 3.4 mm tall in females. The characteristic seven sigilla consist of three small anterior ones, two large median ones, and two very small posterior ones.[3]
The legs are short and robust with the leg formula 2143. The different leg segments lack true spines but have a dense covering of compound hairs.[3]
Conservation status
In South Africa, S. intermedius is assessed as Least Concern due to its wide geographical range across the country.[2] The species is protected within several nature reserves including Roodeplaatdam, Ndumo Game Reserve, Ophathe Game Reserve, Hluhluwe Nature Reserve, and Pilanesberg Nature Reserve.[2]
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dippenaar-Schoeman, A. S.; Haddad, C. R.; Foord, S. H.; Lotz, L. N. (2020). The Thomisidae of South Africa. Part 3 Sm-T. South African National Survey of Arachnida Photo Identification Guide. p.79. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7513278.This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Millot, J. (1942). "Les araignées de l'Afrique Occidentale Français: Thomisidae". Mémoires de l'Académie des Sciences de l'Institut de France. 65 (1): 1–82.
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