Heliocapensis

Heliocapensis
female H. capensis
female H. deserticola
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Salticidae
Subfamily: Salticinae
Genus: Heliocapensis
Wesołowska, 1986
Type species
Heliocapensis peckhami
Simon, 1902
Species

See text.

Synonyms

Heliophanus

Heliocapensis is a mainly South African genus of the spider family Salticidae (jumping spiders).

Distribution

Most species in this genus are endemic to South Africa, with a few found in .

Life style

These are free-living spiders found on the ground or plant-dwellers collected from various habitat types.

Description

These are small salticids, measuring between 3.0 and 4.5 mm in length.

Males are characterized by black coloration with distinctive white markings. A thin line traverses the anterior region of the abdomen, accompanied by two or three pairs of rounded or obliquely-oriented white markings. These markings consist of white setae or microscopic scales and tend to fade as the specimen ages.

Taxonomy

The genus Heliocapensis was elevated from a subgenus of Heliophanus C. L. Koch, 1833 by Wesołowska in 2024.

Species

As of October 2025, this genus includes fourteen species:

References

  1. ↑ Wesołowska, W. (1986). "A revision of the genus Heliophanus C. L. Koch, 1833 (Aranei: Salticidae)". Annales Zoologici, Warszawa. 40: 1–254.
  2. 1 2 3 "Gen. Heliocapensis Wesołowska, 1986". World Spider Catalog. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2025-10-15.
  3. 1 2 3 Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S.; Walt, V. van der; Haddad, C.R.; Foord, S.H.; Lotz, L.N. (2025). The Salticidae of South Africa. Part 3 (He-Iran). Version 1. South African National Survey of Arachnida Photo Identification Guide. p. 1. doi:10.5281/zenodo.17103454. This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
  4. ↑ Wesołowska, W. (2024). "Taxonomic notes on the genus Heliophanus C.L. Koch, 1833, with description of three additional genera (Araneae: Salticidae: Chrysillini)". Zootaxa. 5405 (1): 80–92. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5405.1.3.