''Penestomus'' is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
of African
araneomorph
The Araneomorphae (also called the Labidognatha) are an infraorder of spiders. They are distinguishable by chelicerae (fangs) that point diagonally forward and cross in a pinching action, in contrast to the Mygalomorphae (tarantulas and their ...
spiders in the family
Penestomidae, and was first described by
Eugène Louis Simon in 1902.
The genus was formerly included in the family
Eresidae, but was elevated to its own family in 2010. It is now considered closer to
Zodariidae
Ant spiders are members of the family Zodariidae. They are small to medium-sized eight-eyed spiders found in all tropical and subtropical regions of South America, Africa, Madagascar, Australia-New Guinea, New Zealand, Arabia and the Indian sub ...
.
Species
it contains nine species, found only in
Lesotho and
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
:
*''
Penestomus armatus''
( Lehtinen, 1967) – South Africa
*''
Penestomus croeseri''
Dippenaar-Schoeman, 1989 – South Africa
*''
Penestomus egazini''
Miller, Griswold & Haddad, 2010 – South Africa
*''
Penestomus kruger''
Miller, Griswold & Haddad, 2010 – South Africa
*''
Penestomus montanus''
Miller, Griswold & Haddad, 2010 – South Africa, Lesotho
*''
Penestomus planus''
Simon, 1902 (
type) – South Africa
*''
Penestomus prendinii''
Miller, Griswold & Haddad, 2010 – South Africa
*''
Penestomus stilleri''
(Dippenaar-Schoeman, 1989) – South Africa
*''
Penestomus zulu''
Miller, Griswold & Haddad, 2010 – South Africa
See also
*
List of Penestomidae species
References
Araneomorphae genera
Penestomidae
{{Araneomorphae-stub