Belippo


Belippo is a genus of ant-mimicking African jumping spiders. The genus was first described by Eugène Simon in 1910.

Life style

These are ground-dwelling spiders, usually collected from leaf litter. They generally mimic Crematogaster ants.

Description

Belippo are small ant-like spiders with elongated bodies.
The most characteristic feature of males is the movable retrolateral tibial apophysis. Females are characterized by the primary and secondary spermathecae joined by a thin, long canal. Carapace with shallow constriction, slightly higher in cephalic part, surface with punctured sculpture. Carapace with black eye field, covered in thin long colourless hairs with scattered white scales among them and long bristles near eyes. Two long trichobothria in constriction.
Chelicerae long, promargin toothless, retromargin with four teeth, fangs long. Endites, labium and sternum dark brown. Abdomen elongate. Legs slender with four pairs of long ventral spines on tibiae I and two pairs on metatarsi.

Taxonomy

The genus was last revised by Fred Wanless in 1978. Since then several species have been described.

Species

, this genus includes thirteen species:Belippo anguina Simon, 1909São Tomé and Príncipe Belippo attenuata Wesołowska & Haddad, 2014 – LesothoBelippo calcarataGuinea, Equatorial Guinea, DR Congo, Kenya, Angola, Mozambique, South AfricaBelippo cygniformis Wanless, 1978 – GhanaBelippo eburnensis Wesołowska & Wiśniewski, 2020 – Guinea, Ivory Coast, GhanaBelippo elgonensis Wesołowska & Wiśniewski, 2015 – KenyaBelippo ibadan Wanless, 1978 – NigeriaBelippo meridionalis Wesołowska & Haddad, 2013 – South AfricaBelippo millotiIvory Coast, Nigeria, DR Congo, KenyaBelippo nexilisSão Tomé and PríncipeBelippo pulchra Haddad & Wesołowska, 2013 – South AfricaBelippo terribilis Wesołowska & Wiśniewski, 2015 – KenyaBelippo viettei – São Tomé and Príncipe