Camillina cordifera

Common African Pearly-Eyed Ground Spider
female
male
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Gnaphosidae
Genus: Camillina
Species:
C. cordifera
Binomial name
Camillina cordifera
(Tullgren, 1910)
Synonyms
  • Camillina natalensis Lawrence, 1938

Camillina cordifera is a species of spider in the family Gnaphosidae.[1] It has a wide distribution across Africa and is commonly known as the common African pearly-eyed ground spider.[2]

Distribution

Camillina cordifera is widespread throughout Africa, recorded from South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi. In South Africa, it occurs in all provinces.[2]

Habitat and ecology

The species is a free-living ground dweller found at altitudes ranging from 29 to 2,398 m above sea level. It has been sampled from all floral biomes except Desert and Succulent Karoo. The species has also been collected from citrus, cotton, maize, pistachio, and sunflower fields.[2]

Description

Conservation

Camillina cordifera is listed as Least Concern by the South African National Biodiversity Institute due to its wide global range. The species is protected in more than ten protected areas.[2]

Taxonomy

The species was described by Tullgren in 1910 from Tanzania. It was revised by Platnick & Murphy in 1987, who synonymized Camillina natalensis Lawrence, 1938 with this species.[2]

References

  1. ^ "Camillina cordifera (Tullgren, 1910)". World Spider Catalog. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S.; Haddad, C.R.; Foord, S.H.; Lotz, L.N. (2021). The Gnaphosidae of South Africa. part 1 (A-D). South African National Survey of Arachnida Photo Identification Guide. pp. 48–50. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7197174. Retrieved 22 September 2025. This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.