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Avellopsis capensis Life
> Eukaryotes
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Opisthokonta >
Metazoa
(animals) > Bilateria > Ecdysozoa > Panarthropoda > Tritocerebra >
Arthropoda > Arachnomorpha > Cheliceriformes > Chelicerata > Euchelicerata
> Arachnida > Araneae
> Araneomorpha > Family: Deinopidae
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| Net-casting spider,
Avellopsis capensis. [images N. Larsen ©] |
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Avellopsis has two lateral pointed humps on the abdomen resulting in
a triangular shape. It is 6 mm long and is the most bulky of the three
deinopid genera found in southern Africa.
Avellopsis capensis is the only species in this monotypic genus. It
may be found to belong to the same genus as the Australian Avella
dispiciens to which it is almost identical. Avellopsis capensis,
the most attractively marked of the deinopids, occurs in various shades of
brown to a dirty yellow with two dorso-lateral pointed humps on the abdomen
resulting in a triangular shape. It is 6 mm long and is the most bulky of
the three genera. A Western Cape endemic it can de found in moist temperate
coastal forests from Cape Town to Potberg in the De Hoop Nature Reserve. It
does not occur inland as, after numerous trips to suitable habitat in the
Langeberg Mountains at Grootvadersbos Nature Reserve, no specimens could be
found. Two atypical collections were made from vlei and renosterbos habitats
to the immediate north of Cape Town.
Typical Avellopsis capensis habitat
in Newlands forest. [image N. Larsen ©] |
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