The Nature LibraryEN·ES
iNat·648788SpeciesArachnida16 field observations
  1. Animals
  2. ›Arthropods
  3. ›Chelicerates
  4. ›Arachnids
  5. ›Spiders
  6. ›Mygalomorphs
  7. ›Avicularioidea
  8. ›Spiny Curtain-web Spiders
  9. ›Australothelinae
  10. ›Allothele
Allothele australis
Plate 1 of 1. (c) shamwarispeciessurvey, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) · via iNaturalist

Allothele australis

Allothele australis is a species of mygalomorph spider in the family Euagridae. It is endemic to South Africa, where it is commonly known as the Eastern Cape's sheet-web spider.

Continue reading on Wikipedia

From the article Allothele australis on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section

§1

Description

Females of A. australis can be distinguished by their chelicerae having large and small teeth arranged alternately in a well-defined row, with a few minute denticles forming an outer row near the base. Males have distinctive characteristics of the pedipalps, with the palpal bulb being pyriform and passing gradually into a spine that tapers to a point at the apex. The basal part of the spine is broadly curved. The tarsus is short and lacks spines, while the tibia is longer than the patella and is expanded below. The tibia is covered with long curved stout bristles or setiform spines on all surfaces except on each side in the proximal half. Males also possess a strong, forwardly projecting process on the anteroinferior edge of tibia II, bearing two to five black, sharp-pointed, claw-like tubercles. The opisthosoma has numerous long, outstanding, bristly setae as well as golden hairs, and similar stout setae occur on the legs.

§2

Range & habitat

Allothele australis is found in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces of South Africa. The species has an extent of occurrence of 56,580 km2 and an area of occupancy of 48 km2, occurring at elevations ranging from 37 to 1,652 metres above sea level. In the Eastern Cape, it has been recorded from locations including Addo Elephant National Park, Baviaanskloof Nature Reserve, Cookhouse, Grahamstown, Dunbrody along the Sundays River, Peddie, and several nature reserves including Mpofu and Tsolwana. In the Western Cape, it is known from Swartberg Nature Reserve and Somerset West.

Wikipedia: “Distribution”

§·

Where it lives

Recorded sightings

—

geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.

Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.

§·

In the stacks

Searching the stacks…

Every page naming Allothele australis in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →

This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 648788.