Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 25, 2026

Lepthercus

Lepthercus is a genus of South African mygalomorph spiders in the family Entypesidae. It was first described by William Frederick Purcell in 1902. Originally placed with the Ctenizidae, it was transferred to the Nemesiidae in 1985, then to the Entypesidae in 2020.

Last revised
Jun 25, 2026
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Lepthercus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Mygalomorphae
Family: Entypesidae
Genus: Lepthercus
Purcell, 19021
Type species
L. dregei
Purcell, 1902
Species

11, see text

Lepthercus is a genus of South African mygalomorph spiders in the family Entypesidae. It was first described by William Frederick Purcell in 1902.2 Originally placed with the Ctenizidae,2 it was transferred to the Nemesiidae in 1985,3 then to the Entypesidae in 2020.4

All described species are endemic to South Africa.1

Species

As of October 2025, this genus includes eleven species:1

  • Lepthercus confusus Ríos-Tamayo & Lyle, 2020
  • Lepthercus dippenaarae Ríos-Tamayo & Lyle, 2020
  • Lepthercus dregei Purcell, 1902 (type species)
  • Lepthercus engelbrechti Ríos-Tamayo & Lyle, 2020
  • Lepthercus filmeri Ríos-Tamayo & Lyle, 2020
  • Lepthercus haddadi Ríos-Tamayo & Lyle, 2020
  • Lepthercus kwazuluensis Ríos-Tamayo & Lyle, 2020
  • Lepthercus lawrencei Ríos-Tamayo & Lyle, 2020
  • Lepthercus mandelai Ríos-Tamayo & Lyle, 2020
  • Lepthercus rattrayi Hewitt, 1917
  • Lepthercus sofiae Ríos-Tamayo & Lyle, 2020
References

References

  1. "Gen. Lepthercus Purcell, 1902". World Spider Catalog. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2025-10-18.
  2. Purcell, W. F. (1902). "New South African trap-door spiders of the family Ctenizidae in the collection of the South African Museum". Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society. 11: 348–382. doi:10.1080/21560382.1900.9525972.
  3. Raven, R. J. (1985). "The spider infraorder Mygalomorphae (Araneae): Cladistics and systematics". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 182: 86.
  4. Opatova, V.; et al. (2020). "Phylogenetic systematics and evolution of the spider infraorder Mygalomorphae using genomic scale data". Systematic Biology. 69 (4): 701–702. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syz064. PMID 31841157.
Further reading

Further reading

  • Ríos-Tamayo, D.; Lyle, R. (2020). "The South African genus Lepthercus Purcell, 1902 (Araneae: Mygalomorphae): phylogeny and taxonomy". Zootaxa. 4766 (2): 261–305. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4766.2.2. hdl:11336/142115. PMID 33056597. S2CID 216050193.
  • Hewitt, J. (1917). "Descriptions of new South African Arachnida". Annals of the Natal Museum. 3: 687–711.
External links