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Helafricanus

Helafricanus is an African genus of the spider family Salticidae (jumping spiders).

Distribution

Most species in this genus are endemic to Africa, with two species reaching the Arabic Peninsula and one Iran.

Life style

These are free-living spiders found on the ground or plants, collected from a broad range of habitats.

Description

The genus Helafricanus comprises small to medium-sized spiders, measuring 2.5 to 4.5 mm.

Males have a black carapace, in some species with a thin whitish median streak. The abdomen is black, usually with a white leaf-like pattern or a median stripe, sometimes also featuring a thin white line along the lateral edges of the body.

Females have mottled brown and black colouration and an abdominal pattern comprising a light central stripe composed of several pairs of merging spots. Notably, some males exhibit an abdominal pattern similar to females.

Light streaks and patches are composed of white hairs. The diagnostic character of Helafricanus males is the presence of a large palpal patellar apophysis. The structure of the female genital organs is similar in all congeners, with the copulatory openings usually placed at the posterior part of the epigyne.

Taxonomy

The genus Helafricanus was elevated from a subgenus of Heliophanus <small>C. L. Koch, 1833</small> by Wesołowska in 2024. The type species is Helafricanus patellaris (Simon, 1901). Fourteen species are known from South Africa.

Species

, this genus includes 46 species:

References

External links