Euprosthenopsis pulchella
| Common Euprosthenopsis Nursery-Web Spider | |
|---|---|
| female | |
| female | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Pisauridae |
| Genus: | Euprosthenopsis |
| Species: | E. pulchella
|
| Binomial name | |
| Euprosthenopsis pulchella | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
| |
Euprosthenopsis pulchella is a species of spider in the family Pisauridae.[2] It is found in southern Africa and is commonly known as the common Euprosthenopsis nursery-web spider.[3]
Distribution
Euprosthenopsis pulchella has a distribution in southern Africa. It is found in Lesotho, Eswatini, and South Africa.[3] In South Africa, it has been recorded from six provinces at altitudes ranging from 5 to 1,557 m above sea level.[3]
Habitat and ecology
Sheet-web pisaurids construct their webs in bushes but occasionally also between large grass tussocks. They construct sheet webs in low vegetation. The species has been sampled from the Fynbos, Grassland, Nama Karoo, and Savanna biomes.[3]
Description
Conservation
Euprosthenopsis pulchella is listed as Least Concern by the South African National Biodiversity Institute due to its wide range. There are no significant threats to the species, and it has been sampled from more than 10 protected areas.[3]
Etymology
The species name pulchella is Latin meaning "beautiful" or "pretty".
Taxonomy
The species was originally described by Pocock in 1902 as Euprosthenops pulchellus from Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape.[1] It was transferred to the genus Euprosthenopsis by Blandin in 1977. The male was first described by Silva & Sierwald in 2014, and the species is now known from both sexes.[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 "Euprosthenopsis pulchella (Pocock, 1902)". World Spider Catalog. Retrieved 23 September 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f 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. 30. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7157775. Retrieved 23 September 2025. This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.