Langelurillus furcatus

Langelurillus furcatus is a small spider. The male has a high, dark brown carapace that is typically 1.8 mm (0.071 in) long and 1.4 mm (0.055 in) wide. The short eye field has long brown bristles. The chelicerae are light brown and hairy with two very small teeth visible to the front. The labium is yellowish. The abdomen is similar in size to the carapace, typically 1.7 mm (0.067 in) long and 1.3 mm (0.051 in) wide, and more elongated. It is dark fawn and covered with brown hairs, with a lighter pattern vaguely visible on the back. The underside is yellowish-grey. The legs are orange with large dark patches, and have brown leg hairs and spines.^[9] The pedipalps are squat and have two tibial apophysis, or spikes, aligned in a V-shape.^[8] The coiled embolus is hidden behind a shield.^[10]

The female has a rather high carapace that is larger than the male, between 2.2 and 2.4 mm (0.087 and 0.094 in) long and 1.7 and 1.9 mm (0.067 and 0.075 in) wide, with a short black eye field takes up nearly a third. It is covered in black hairs but is otherwise lighter than the male. It has a brown clypeus. The brown chelicerae lack any teeth although the labium is yellowish like the male. The abdomen is also larger than the male, measuring between 2.4 and 2.7 mm (0.094 and 0.106 in) in length and 2.1 and 2.6 mm (0.083 and 0.102 in) in width. It is dark russet on the top with a pattern of irregular patches of black and white, and covered in brown hairs. The hairs are denser to the front. The bottom of the abdomen is light with dark dots. The spider has rather short legs, which are generally orange and marked with dark rings and patches. The leg hairs and spines are brown. The epigyne is covered in long dense hairs and has a deep depression that is plugged with a waxy secretion.^[9] It has rather large copulatory openings leading to relatively simple seminary ducts and receptacles.^[11]

The spider is similar to the related Langelurillus alboguttatus, but can be distinguished by the male's v-shaped tibial apophysis.^[8] As with other spiders in the genus, the design of the epigyne is also distinctive.^[7]

Almost all, if not all, Langelurillus spiders live in sub-Saharan Africa.^[12] Langelurillus furcatus is found in Kenya and Tanzania.^[1] The male holotype and female paratype were discovered in 1994 in the Mkomazi National Park in Tanzania.^[8] The spider was first identified in Kenya in 2016 near Shimoni, but based on examples found in 1977.^[13] It has been found in mountain grassland and forests of Spirostachys trees.^[8]