Helafricanus
Helafricanus is an African genus of the spider family Salticidae.
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 C. L. Koch, 1833 by Wesołowska in 2024. The type species is Helafricanus patellaris. Fourteen species are known from South Africa.Species
, this genus includes 46 species:- Helafricanus aethiopicus – Ethiopia
- Helafricanus alienus – Cameroon
- Helafricanus anymphos – Kenya
- Helafricanus bisulcus – Namibia, South Africa
- Helafricanus bolensis – Ethiopia
- Helafricanus brevis – Ethiopia
- Helafricanus butemboensis – Ivory Coast, DR Congo, Rwanda
- Helafricanus congolensis – Nigeria, Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe
- Helafricanus crudeni – Tanzania
- Helafricanus debilis – DR Congo, Tanzania, Angola, Malawi, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Lesotho
- Helafricanus decempunctatus – Ethiopia
- Helafricanus demonstrativus – Tanzania, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Lesotho
- Helafricanus dux – Yemen
- Helafricanus edentulus – Nigeria, Mediterranean to Iran
- Helafricanus erythropleurus – Ethiopia
- Helafricanus fascinatus – Ghana, Sudan, DR Congo, Rwanda, Botswana, South Africa, Yemen
- Helafricanus furvus – Lesotho
- Helafricanus giltayi – Kenya to Angola
- Helafricanus gloriosus – Angola, Botswana
- Helafricanus hastatus – South Africa, Lesotho
- Helafricanus heurtaultae – Guinea
- Helafricanus imperator – Kenya, Malawi
- Helafricanus insperatus – DR Congo, Angola, Zimbabwe, South Africa
- Helafricanus jacksoni – Kenya
- Helafricanus kenyaensis – Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania
- Helafricanus kilimanjaroensis – Tanzania
- Helafricanus kovacsi – Ethiopia
- Helafricanus leucopes – Ethiopia
- Helafricanus marshalli – South Africa
- Helafricanus megae – Zimbabwe
- Helafricanus minutissimus – Ethiopia
- Helafricanus modicus – South Africa, Lesotho, Madagascar
- Helafricanus nanus – Namibia, South Africa
- Helafricanus papyri – Ethiopia
- Helafricanus patellaris – South Africa, Lesotho
- Helafricanus paulus – Nigeria, Botswana
- Helafricanus pauper – Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa
- Helafricanus pistaciae – Zimbabwe, South Africa
- Helafricanus proszynskii – South Africa, Lesotho
- Helafricanus rutrosus – Ethiopia
- Helafricanus saudis – Saudi Arabia, Yemen
- Helafricanus transversus – Lesotho
- Helafricanus trepidus – Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa
- Helafricanus undecimmaculatus – Somalia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania
- Helafricanus validus – Kenya
- Helafricanus xanthopes – Ethiopia