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biodiversity explorer

the web of life in southern Africa

Family: Daesiidae

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Ecdysozoa > Panarthropoda > Tritocerebra > Arthropoda > Arachnomorpha > Cheliceriformes > Chelicerata > Euchelicerata > Arachnida > Solifugae

Occurs in Africa, southern Europe and the Middle East, and further east to Central Asia and China. There are also a few species in the southern parts of South America. There are 28 genera and 189 species worldwide, with six genera and 89 species native to southern Africa.

Genera native to southern Africa

Information from Dippenaar-Schoeman et al. (2006) and Harvey (2003).

Biton

Distribution includes Africa, South-Eastern Europe, Middle East and Central Asia. Of the 66 species, 50 have been recorded from Africa, and 31 from southern Africa.

 

Blossia

Distribution includes Africa and the Middle East. Of the 49 species, 40 have been recorded from southern Africa.

 

Eberlanzia

Two species of which one, Eberlanzia flava, occurs in southern Africa. It has been recorded from Luderitz and Gobabeb in the Namib Desert, Namibia.

 

Hemiblossia

Of the 18 species in this African genus, 15 have been recorded from southern Africa.

 

Hemiblossiola

One species, Hemiblossiola kraepelini, recorded from the Kamiesberg Mountains, Northern Cape, South Africa.

 

Namibesia

One species, Namibesia pallida, recorded from the Namib Desert, Namibia.

 

Publications

  • Dippenaar-Schoeman A, Gonzalez Reyers AX, Harvey MS. 2006. A check-list of the Solifugae (sun spiders) of South Africa (Arachnida: Solifugae). African Plant Protection 12:70-92.
  • Harvey MS. 2003. Catalogue of the smaller arachnid orders of the world. CSIRO Publishing, Australia.

Text by Norman Larsen ©