Thyenula oranjensis

Thyenula are medium to large spiders. They have a body that is divided into two main parts: a rounded cephalothorax and a more bulbous abdomen. The male Thyenula oranjensis has an oval carapace, the hard upper part of the cephalothorax, that is between 2.5 and 2.7 mm (0.10 and 0.11 in) long, between 1.8 and 2 mm (0.07 and 0.08 in) wide and between 0.9 and 1 mm (0.04 and 0.04 in) high. It is generally dark brown, covered in a dense mat of brown and grey hairs, with a black eye field and a pattern of two light brown stripes on its thorax. There are two large lighter areas at the back of the thorax that help distinguish the spider from the otherwise similar Thyenula hortensis. There are long brown bristles around the front row of the spider's eyes. The underside of the cephalothorax, or sternum, is dark brown. The part of the spider's face known as its clypeus is relatively low and covered in greyish hairs. Its chelicerae are dark brown while its remaining mouthparts, its labium and maxillae, are a lighter brown, its maxillae having light ends. The male's oval abdomen is similar in size to its carapace, measuring 2.3 and 2.5 mm (0.09 and 0.10 in) long and between 1.9 and 2.1 mm (0.07 and 0.08 in) wide. The top of its abdomen is dark brown and marked with an irregular russet streak running from the front to the back and a fawn-greyish underside with a pattern of small dark patches. …

Thyenula spiders are only found in southern Africa. Thyenula oranjensis is endemic to South Africa. The spider has been found in Montane grasslands and shrublands at an altitude of between 1,500 and 1,900 m (4,900 and 6,200 ft) above sea level. Its conservation status is considered of least concern.

Thyenula oranjensis is a species of jumping spider, a member of the family Salticidae, that was first described by the arachnologist Wanda Wesołowska in 2001. It was one of over 500 species that she identified during her career, more than any other contemporary writer and second only to the French arachnologist Eugène Simon. She allocated it to the genus Thyenula, which had been first circumscribed by Simon in 1902. The spider's specific name relates the place where it was first found, which was then known as Oranje Province. It is known as the Golden Gate Thyenula Jumping Spider. In 2015, the evolutionary biologist Wayne Maddison undertook a phylogenetic classification that showed that the genus is a member of tribe Euophryini. First circumscribed by Simon in 1901, the tribe has also been known as Euophrydinae, but the original name is now more prevalent. It is a member of the clade Saltafresia. The genus was part of a proposed clade named after it alongside the related genus Rumburak. In 2017, the arachnologist Jerzy Prószyński added the genus to a group of genera named Euopherines.