Pachyballus Explained

Pachyballus is a genus of jumping spiders that was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1900.^[1] While most are found in Africa and nearby regions, one species is endemic to New Caledonia. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: παχύς ("pachys"), meaning "thick", and the salticid genus Ballus.

Pachyballus rotundus was transferred to its own genus Planiemen in 2007 and Pachyballus oyo was transferred to Peplometus in 2020.

Species

it contains nine species and one subspecies, found only in Africa and on New Caledonia:^[2]

• Pachyballus caelestis Wesołowska, Azarkina & Wiśniewski, 2020 – Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Pachyballus castaneus Simon, 1900 – South Africa
• Pachyballus flavipes Simon, 1910 – Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea (Bioko), Tanzania, Kenya
  • Pachyballus f. aurantius Caporiacco, 1949 – Kenya
• Pachyballus gambeyi (Simon, 1880) – New Caledonia
• Pachyballus miniscutulus Wesołowska, Azarkina & Wiśniewski, 2020 – South Africa
• Pachyballus mombasensis Wesołowska, Azarkina & Wiśniewski, 2020 – Kenya
• Pachyballus ornatus Wesołowska, Azarkina & Wiśniewski, 2020 – Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania
• Pachyballus transversus Simon, 1900 (type) – Guinea-Bissau, Congo, Zanzibar, South Africa
• Pachyballus variegatus Lessert, 1925 – Tanzania

External links

• Photograph of Pachyballus sp.

Notes and References

1. Simon. E.. 1900. Descriptions d'arachnides nouveaux de la famille des Attidae. Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique. 381–407. 44. Eugène Simon.
2. Gen. Pachyballus Simon, 1900. World Spider Catalog Version 22.0. 2021-04-12. 2021. Natural History Museum Bern. 10.24436/2.