Phintella africana is a species of jumping spider in the genus Phintella that lives in Ethiopia. The female of the species was first described in 2008 by Wanda Wesołowska and Beata Tomasiewicz. The spider, which is named after the continent where it was found, is small and brown, with a mottled brown and yellow abdomen 2.4mm long. It lives in grasslands.
Phintella africana is a jumping spider that was first identified in 2008 by Wanda Wesołowska and Beata Tomasiewicz. The spider was named after Africa, the continent in which it was first found. It is one of over 500 species identified by Wesołowska during her career. It was allocated to the genus Phintella, first raised in 1906 by Embrik Strand and W. Bösenberg. The genus name derives from the genus Phintia, which it resembles. The genus Phintia was itself renamed Phintodes, which was subsequently absorbed into Tylogonus. There are similarities between spiders within genus Phintella and those in Chira, Chrysilla, Euophrys, Icius, Jotus and Telamonia. Genetic analysis confirms that it is related to the genera Helvetia and Menemerus and is classified in the tribe Chrysillini.
The spider was described based on a specimen found by Anthony Russell-Smith between 1982 and 1988. Only the female has so far been described.[1] The species differs from other members of the genus by the fact that the copulatory openings are at the rear edge of the epigyne. Otherwise, it is typical of the genus. The spider has a brown carapace with black rings around its eyes. The clypeus is similarly brown. The abdomen is oval and mottled yellow and brown, and is 2.4mm long. The cephalothorax is smaller, measuring 1.5mm in length. The epigyne is rounded and has a single pocket.
The spider has been found in the Sidamo Province of Ethiopia, in grasslands.