Taxon:
- Class: Arachnida
- Order: Araneae
- Infra-Order: Araneamorph (true spiders)
- Family: Cithaeronidae
- Genus: Cithaeron
- Species: C. contentum
Female
Unknown.
Male
Around 5mm in body length. Leg span of approximately 20mm diagonally.
Cephalothorax:
Carapace roundish and tapers anterior with raised cephalic region, light brown with dark line along margin either side and darker border on cephalic region. Sternum roun and “bloated”, greenish light brown. Pedipalps light with long swollen tapered tarsi.
Abdomen:
Abdomen thin and flat oval, tapered to prominent spinnerets. Dark dorsal and “hairy”. Ventral pale, darker spinnerets.
Legs:
Legs light brown, long thin, plain. 1, 2, 4, 3.
ABOUT THE GENUS
These spiders, while looking like flat-bellied ground spiders, are unique to their own. They are commonly known as swift ground spiders, precisely due to their long legs making them fast runners, and are often found in dry and hot areas with plenty of stones under which they can spin their retreats. These spiders, like many ground spiders, are nocturnal. Only this species from this family has been recorded in South Africa.
Spiders in & around Orania 