Palystes lunatus

Murraysburg rain spider
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Sparassidae
Genus: Palystes
Species:
P. lunatus
Binomial name
Palystes lunatus
Pocock, 1896

Palystes lunatus is a spider species in the family Sparassidae. It is endemic to South Africa and is commonly known as the Murraysburg rain spider.

Distribution

Palystes lunatus was originally described with the type specimen only labelled as South Africa. According to Croeser, the species may be restricted to a relatively small locality, probably somewhere in the montane interior of the Eastern Cape Province.

Habitat and ecology

Nothing is known about the habitat or ecology of this species.

Description

Conservation

Palystes lunatus is listed as Data Deficient by the South African National Biodiversity Institute. The species is known only from a single unspecified site in South Africa. The status of the species remains obscure. Some more sampling is needed to collect the male and to determine the species' range.

Taxonomy

Palystes lunatus was originally described by Pocock in 1896. The species was revised by Croeser in 1996, and is known from only the female.

References

  1. ↑ Pocock, R.I. (1896). "Descriptions of some new South African spiders of the family Heteropodidae". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 6. 17 (97): 55–64. doi:10.1080/00222939608680323.
  2. ↑ "Palystes lunatus Pocock, 1896". World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Dippenaar-Schoeman, A.S.; Haddad, C.R.; Foord, S.H.; Lotz, L.N. (2022). The Sparassidae of South Africa. Version 2. South African National Survey of Arachnida Photo Identification Guide. p. 44. doi:10.5281/zenodo.6614498. This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.