Chiasmopes lineatus

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Striped Chiasmopes nursery-web spider
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Pisauridae
Genus: Chiasmopes
Species:
C. lineatus
Binomial name
Chiasmopes lineatus
(Pocock, 1898)[1]
Synonyms[2]
  • Spencerella lineata Pocock, 1898
  • Spencerella sexmaculata Roewer, 1955
  • Chiasmopes sexmaculatus Dippenaar-Schoeman et al., 2020

Chiasmopes lineatus is a species of spider in the family Pisauridae.[2] It is found in several African countries and is commonly known as the striped Chiasmopes nursery-web spider.[3]

Distribution

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Chiasmopes lineatus has been recorded from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Uganda, Eswatini and South Africa.[3] In South Africa, it has been recorded from seven provinces at altitudes ranging from 17 to 2102 m.[3]

South African localities include Humansdorp, Mazeppa Bay, Thyspunt, Addo Elephant National Park and Hogsback in the Eastern Cape, Sterkfontein Dam Nature Reserve in the Free State, multiple sites in Gauteng, several locations in KwaZulu-Natal including Dukuduku Forest Station and Tembe Elephant Park, Graskop and Wakkerstroom in Mpumalanga, and multiple sites in the Western Cape including Fernkloof Nature Reserve and Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve.[3]

Habitat and ecology

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The species is a sheet-web pisaurid that constructs webs in vegetation close to the ground, especially in short shrubs and bushes but occasionally also between longer grass tussocks. The sheet-web consists of many criss-crossing silk threads. They are active at night.[3]

The species has been sampled from the Fynbos, Forest, Grassland, Savanna and Thicket biomes, and has also been sampled from maize fields.[3]

Description

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See also: Glossary of spider terms

Conservation

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Chiasmopes lineatus is listed as Least Concern due to its wide geographical range. The species is protected in more than 10 protected areas in South Africa. There are no significant threats to the species.[3]

Etymology

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The species name lineatus is Latin for "striped" or "lined".

Taxonomy

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The species was originally described by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1898 as Spencerella lineata from Durban in South Africa.[1] It was transferred to Chiasmopes by Blandin in 1977, who also synonymized Spencerella sexmaculata Lessert, 1916 (elevated from a subspecies by Roewer in 1955) with this species.[4] The species is known from both sexes and has been revised by Blandin (1977).[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b Pocock, R.I. (1898). "The Arachnida from the province of Natal, South Africa, contained in the collection of the British Museum". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 7. 2 (9): 197–226. doi:10.1080/00222939808678036.
  2. ^ a b "Chiasmopes lineatus (Pocock, 1898)". Natural History Museum Bern. World Spider Catalog. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. pp. 16–17. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7157775. This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
  4. ^ Blandin, P. (1977). "Etudes sur les Pisauridae africaines VIII. Les genres Chiasmopes Pavesi, 1883 et Rothus Simon, 1898 (Araneae - Pisauridae - Pisaurinae)". Revue Zoologique Africaine. 91 (3): 538–557.