Heliophanus difficilis Wesołowska, 1986

Haddad, Charles Richard, Wiśniewski, Konrad & Wesołowska, Wanda, 2024, The jumping spiders of Mozambique (Araneae: Salticidae), Zootaxa 5560 (1), pp. 1-92 : 23-24

Heliophanus difficilis Wesołowska, 1986

Fig. 14

Heliophanus difficilis Wesołowska, 1986: 226 , figs 825–827 (♀).

Diagnosis. The female can be distinguished from congeners by the trajectory of the seminal ducts, which form a full loop. Male unknown.

Material examined. MOZAMBIQUE: Tete: no further details, 1♀ ( SMF 10368 ) .

Redescription. Female: Measurements. Cephalothorax length 1.8, width 1.3, height 0.7. Abdomen length 1.9, width 1.6. Eye field length 0.7, anterior and posterior width 1.2. General appearance as in Fig. 14A, B . Carapace dark brown, eye field almost black. Some long brown bristles near anterior row of eyes, sparse faint white hairs on anterior part of eye field. White hairs form thin belt on lateral slopes running along eye field and reaching carapace dorsum. Mouthparts and sternum brown. Abdomen brownish-grey, with thin yellow line on anterior edge, dorsum speckled with bright dots, with yellowish median streak and pair of large round white spots near midpoint. Venter variegated, lighter medially. Spinnerets grey. Legs yellow, only femora brown. Epigyne with shallow oval depression ( Fig. 14C ). Strongly sclerotized atria hiding copulatory openings, seminal ducts form loop laterally, spermathecae question mark-shaped ( Fig. 14D ).

Distribution. The species was previously only known from the D.R. Congo and is recorded from Mozambique for the first time.

Remarks. This species was only known from the female holotype, so this is only the second known specimen.

Figures

FIGURE 14. Heliophanus difficilis Wesołowska, 1986, female. A. General appearance, dorsal view; B. Same, lateral view; C. Epigyne; D. Internal structure of epigyne.