Menemerus patellaris

Menemerus patellaris males have a flattened carapace typically 2.6 mm (0.10 in) long and 1.9 mm (0.07 in) wide. It has wide brown stripes along the sides formed of white hairs extending onto the spider's face, or clypeus. The eye field is darker. The remainder has a covering of greyish-white hairs. The mouthpart, the chelicerae, labium and maxilae, are brown, with pale tips on the maxillae. The sternum, the underside of the cephalothorax, is light brown. The abdomen is yellowish-beige on the top and yellow underneath. It is typically 2.9 mm (0.11 in) long and 1.7 mm (0.07 in) wide, with a covering of long brown and yellowish hairs. The spider's spinnerets are yellow. Its legs are also yellow, the foremost being light brown with a dark brown stripe on the front. The legs have long brown spines and yellow hairs. The pedipalps are light brown with dense white hairs on the femur and patella.^[12]

Spiders of the Menemerus genus are difficult to distinguish.^[13] A study of the copulatory organs is essential to determining the species. Menemerus patellaris has a cymbium with a scattering of white hairs. The spider's tegulum is a narrow oval with a distinctive furrow dividing a sac of tissue used in copulation called a haematodocha. The embolus is very short. The tibia of its pedipalp has a single apophysis. There is a large lump at the base of the palpal femur.^[12] It can be differentiated from other species in the genus by the presence of an apophysis on the patellar.^[11] The female has not been described.^[1]

Menemerus spiders are found throughout Africa and Asia, and have been identified as far as Latin America.^[14] Menemerus patellaris is endemic to Yemen.^[1] The holotype was found in Taiz in 1998. It was living in a house.^[15]