Chiasmopes signatus
| Grahamstown Chiasmopes nursery-web spider | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Pisauridae |
| Genus: | Chiasmopes |
| Species: | C. signatus
|
| Binomial name | |
| Chiasmopes signatus | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
| |
Chiasmopes signatus is a species of spider in the family Pisauridae.[2] It is endemic to South Africa and is commonly known as the Grahamstown Chiasmopes nursery-web spider.[3]
Distribution
Chiasmopes signatus is endemic to the Eastern Cape, where it is presently known only from two localities at 552 m altitude.[3]
The known localities are Grahamstown (now Makhanda) and Bathurst.[3]
Habitat and ecology
The species is a sheet-web spider sampled from the Thicket biome. Nothing more is known about their behaviour.[3]
Description
Chiasmopes signatus is distinguished from Chiasmopes lineatus from Durban by having the anterior lateral eyes two diameters instead of one diameter apart, the anterior medians about a diameter instead of half a diameter apart, and only equal to the radius of the posterior medians.[3]
Conservation
Chiasmopes signatus is listed as Data Deficient. The status of the species remains obscure. More sampling is needed to determine the species range. Threats to the species are unknown.[3]
Taxonomy
The species was originally described by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1902 as Spencerella signata from Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape.[1] It was transferred to Chiasmopes by Blandin in 1974, who also described the male for the first time.[4] The species is known from both sexes and has been revised by Blandin (1977).[3]
References
- ^ a b Pocock, R.I. (1902). "Descriptions of some new species of African Solifugae and Araneae". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 7. 10 (55): 6–27. doi:10.1080/00222930208678627.
- ^ a b "Chiasmopes signatus (Pocock, 1902)". Natural History Museum Bern. World Spider Catalog. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
- ^ a b c d e f g Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S.; Haddad, C.R.; Foord, S.H.; Lotz, L.N. (2020). The Pisauridae of South Africa. Version 1. South African National Survey of Arachnida Photo Identification Guide. p. 18. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7157775. This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
- ^ Blandin, P. (1974). "Etudes sur les Pisauridae africaines I. Le problème de la définition des genres Perenethis L. Koch, 1878, Tetragonophthalma Karsch, 1878, Chiasmopes Pavesi, 1883 et Maypacius Simon, 1898 (Araneae – Pisauridae – Pisaurinae)". Revue Suisse de Zoologie. 81 (1): 305–318. doi:10.5962/bhl.part.76005.