Anyphops
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| Anyphops | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Female A. broomi | |
 | |
| Female A. barbertonensis | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Selenopidae |
| Genus: | Anyphops Benoit, 1968[1] |
| Type species | |
| A. atomarius (Simon, 1887) | |
| Species | |
|
64, see text | |
Anyphops is an African genus of wall spiders that was first described by Benoit in 1968.[2]
Most species are endemic to southern Africa, with almost sixty described species only found in South Africa. One species is endemic to Madagascar, and a few species are described from Cameroon and the DR Congo.
Life style
Members of this genus are free-living cryptozoic nocturnal spiders.[3]
Description
Small to large (6–23 mm) spiders. Anyphops differs from other selenopid genera in the arrangement of the eyes, the number of ventral spines on tibiae I – II, the shape of the median apophysis of the male palp, the general structure of the female epigynum and the leg formulae.[3]
Carapace flattened; subcircular; usually brown to reddish brown, with lateral dark bands or spots; chelicerae brown to orange, normally with black or grey bands; labium and sternum usually paler in colour; anterior median eyes and posterior median eyes are in a strongly recurved line; posterior median eyes larger than anterior median eyes; posterior lateral eyes the largest, anterior lateral eyes the smallest.[3]
Abdomen flattened, round to oval; clothed in dense setae; normally grey or yellowish with brown or black dorsal defined patterns; venter yellowish, without markings.[3]
Leg two claws with claw tufts and scopulae; laterigrade; anterior legs provided with strong, four to seven pairs of ventral spines on tibiae and metatarsi I and II; tarsal claws smooth; formulae normally 4321. Male palp with a retrolateral tibial apophysis with two branches similar in size or the dorsal longer than the ventral.[3]
Female epigynum with a middle field reduced or well developed, represented by a depression or a septum, the lateral lobes of the epigynum well distinguished or not and, in very few cases, with slight secondary epigyneal pockets.[3]
