Anyphops gilli


Anyphops gilli is a species of spider in the family Selenopidae. It is endemic to South Africa and is commonly known as Uitenhage Anyphops flat spider.

Distribution

Anyphops gilli occurs in three South African provinces: Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Western Cape. Notable localities include Uitenhage, Hogsback in the Amatola Mountains, iSimangaliso Wetland Park, and Ngome State Forest.

Habitat and ecology

The species inhabits Forest, Savanna, and Thicket biomes at altitudes ranging from 45 to 1307 m above sea level. These are free-living cryptozoic nocturnal spiders that have been sampled with pitfall traps and from leaf litter in dry-humid wet forest.

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.
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.
Total length is 8.6 mm.

Conservation

Anyphops gilli is listed as Least Concern due to its wide geographical range. The species is protected in three State Forests, though more sampling is needed to collect the female.

Taxonomy

The species was originally described by Lawrence in 1940 as Selenops gilli from Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape. It was later transferred to the genus Anyphops by Benoit in 1968.