Heliophanus (Heliophanus) capicola Simon, 1901

Wesołowska, Wanda & Haddad, Charles R., 2014, An overview of the jumping spiders of Lesotho (Araneae: Salticidae), with descriptions of six new species, African Invertebrates 55 (2), pp. 229-229 : 237-238

Heliophanus (Heliophanus) capicola Simon, 1901

Figs 24, 25

Heliophanus capicola Simon, 1901 a: 52 , fig. 1; Wesołowska 1986: 225, figs 807–813.

Wesołowska (1986) described both sexes.

Diagnosis: The female of H. capicola can be recognised from congeners by the laterally placed copulatory openings and the sharply bending seminal ducts, leading to the oval median spermathecae ( Figs 24, 25 ). The male (not treated here) is characterised by the spike-like embolus and the presence of a retrolateral-distally directed small lobe of the bulb (see Wesołowska 1986: fig. 807).

Description:

Female.

Measurements: Cephalothorax: length 1.6–1.7, width 1.2–1.3, height 0.8. Eye field: length 0.7–0.8, anterior width 1.0–1.1, posterior width 1.1–1.2. Abdomen: length 2.2–2.9, width 1.5–1.9.

Body very dark, almost black, with metallic lustre; some specimens with traces of light line along anterior edge of abdomen and pair of round spots on dorsum posteriorly. Venter dark. Legs blackish, only tarsi slightly lighter. Epigyne with two large oval depressions ( Fig. 24 ); internal structure as in Fig. 25 .

Material examined: Maseru district: 11♀ Mohale Dam, Islands , 29°25'S 28°06'E, 2060 m, under rocks, 14.xii.2003 ( NCA 2013 /3025) .

Distribution: Hitherto known only from South Africa. Recorded from a single locality in central Lesotho ( Fig. 48 ).

Figures

Figs 24, 25. Heliophanus capicola, ♀: (24) epigyne, ventral view; (25) internal structure of epigyne.

Fig. 48. Distribution of Salticidae from Lesotho.