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Pachyballus flavipes
Pachyballus flavipes is a species of jumping spider that lives in Africa. A typical member of the genus Pachyballus, the spider has a dark brown or blackish body that consists of a round cephalothorax, or forward section, that is from 1.2 to 1.6 mm long and, behind that, a larger heart-shaped abdomen that is between 1.9 and 3.1 mm long. Both sexes generally look similar. The male has darker legs than the female, and its front pair are also thicker than the rest. Both have a body is covered with a pitted outer coating that shows signs of sclerotization. The spider is nearly hairless and there is a large scutum on the top of its abdomen, which resemble the hardened forewing, or elytra, of beetles. This helps it to mimic members of the Coccinellidae family. On the underside of its abdomen are two smaller scuta. The male was first described by the arachnologist Eugène Simon in 1909, the female not being described until 1941. The latter description, by Lucien Berland and Jacques Millot, was originally called Pachyballus cordiformis, which is now synonymised with this species.
From the article Pachyballus flavipes on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
Pachyballus flavipes has a shape that is typical of the genus. The spider is particularly similar to the related Pachyballus mombasensis and the female also to Pachyballus castaneus. Like other members of the genus, its body divided into two main parts, a rounded cephalothorax to the front and, behind that, a larger heart-shaped abdomen that has a large armoured plate, or scutum covering much of its upper surface. The male's cephalothorax measures between 1.2 and 1.6 mm (0.05 and 0.06 in) in length and between 1.4 and 1.7 mm (0.06 and 0.07 in) in width while its abdomen is between 1.9 and 2.5 mm (0.07 and 0.10 in) long and between 1.8 and 2.3 mm (0.07 and 0.09 in) wide. It abdomen slightly overlaps with its carapace, the hard upper part of the cephalothorax. The spider is generally dark brown to back on its topside and dark brown underneath. The top is nearly hairless and shiny, although there are a few light hairs around some of its eyes. Its entire body is covered with an obviously pitted outer coating that shows signs of sclerotization. On the underside of the abdomen, there are two scuta and a scattering of small sclerotized bumps. The front of the male spider varies between specimen. Its mouthparts have whitish tips and its chelicerae have three teeth at the front but different examples have been found with two, three and sometimes four teeth at the rear. …
Range & habitat
Pachyballus spiders generally live in Africa and have been found in Yemen. Pachyballus flavipes was initially seen only in West Africa but has also been found in East Africa, implying it has a wide distribution across Africa. Specimens of the spider have been collected from many countries, including Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. It lives in forests, both in the canopy and on the ground. The spider has been seen in rainforest and on steppe living amongst Acacia trees at an altitude of up to 2,100 m (6,900 ft) above sea level.
Wikipedia: “Distribution and habitat”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
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Every page naming Pachyballus flavipes 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 680624.