| Uitenhage Anyphops Flat Spider | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Selenopidae |
| Genus: | Anyphops |
| Species: | A. gilli
|
| Binomial name | |
| Anyphops gilli (Lawrence, 1940)1
| |
Anyphops gilli is a species of spider in the family Selenopidae.2 It is endemic to South Africa and is commonly known as Uitenhage Anyphops flat spider.3
Distribution
Anyphops gilli occurs in three South African provinces: Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Western Cape.3 Notable localities include Uitenhage, Hogsback in the Amatola Mountains, iSimangaliso Wetland Park, and Ngome State Forest.3
Habitat and ecology
The species inhabits Forest, Savanna, and Thicket biomes at altitudes ranging from 45 to 1307 m above sea level.3 These are free-living cryptozoic nocturnal spiders that have been sampled with pitfall traps and from leaf litter in dry-humid wet forest.3
Description
Known only from the male. The carapace is light reddish brown and a little darker anteriorly, with thoracic striae brown and some fine long radiating lines from it. The cephalic region is bisected by a light brown line which is duplicated for most of its length, and the chelicerae are a little darker than the carapace.3
The opisthosoma has some brown spots and wavy cross-bars over most of its surface, with a transverse, procurved, fairly broad black stripe near its posterior extremity. The anterior tibiae have 6 pairs of inferior spines.3
Total length is 8.6 mm.3
Conservation
Anyphops gilli is listed as Least Concern due to its wide geographical range.3 The species is protected in three State Forests, though more sampling is needed to collect the female.3
Taxonomy
The species was originally described by Lawrence in 1940 as Selenops gilli from Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape.1 It was later transferred to the genus Anyphops by Benoit in 1968.3
References
References
- Lawrence, R.F. (1940). "The genus Selenops (Araneae) in South Africa". Annals of the South African Museum. 32: 597. doi:10.5962/bhl.part.5227.
- "Anyphops gilli (Lawrence, 1940)". World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2025-09-27.
- Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S.; Haddad, C.R.; Foord, S.H.; Lotz, L.N. (2020). The Selenopidae of South Africa. Version 1. South African National Survey of Arachnida Photo Identification Guide. p. 22. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7162139.
This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.