''Architis spinipes'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of spider from the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Architis ''Architis'' is a genus of nursery web spiders that was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1898. Species it contains twenty-one species, found only in South America, Panama, and on Trinidad: *'' Architis altamira'' Santos, 2007 – Braz ...

''. The species was originally described as ''Ocyale spinipes'' in 1874 by

Władysław Taczanowski Władysław Taczanowski (; 17 March 1819, in Jabłonna, Lublin Voivodeship – 17 January 1890, in Warsaw) was a Polish zoologist and collector of natural history who explored the Russian Far East and northern Africa. He specialized mainly in orn ...

Description

''Architis spinipes'' is a spider with a yellowish, fleshy body with a yellow abdomen with white spots and its legs bear long spines. The spider measures approximately 7.5 mm. in length, with front legs spanning 11 mm. and back legs measuring 10 mm. Another variant of this species is smaller, less than 6 mm long, with front legs measuring 15 mm and back legs measuring 13.5 mm.

Range

When the spider was originally described, it was found in

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

. Later reports the species in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Observations from crowdsourcing initiatives suggest that the range of the ''A. spinipes'' covers the full tropical range of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Taxonomy

Originally ''Architis spinipes'' was named as ''Ocyale spinipes''. Due to similarities with the Władysław_Taczanowski provisionally categorized the spider as part of the ''Ocyale'' genus, but also hinted at classifying it as a distinct genus situated in proximity to Oxyopes. Currently ''Architis spinipes'' has various taxonomic synonyms: ''Architis aculeatus'' (Simon, 1898), ''Architis benoisti'' (Caporiacco, 1954), ''Architis lemoulti'' (Caporiacco, 1954), ''Architis spinipes'' (F.O.Pickard-Cambridge, 1903), ''Architis spinosa'' (Petrunkevitch, 1925), ''Ocyale spinipes'' Taczanowski, 1874, ''Staberius lemoulti'' Caporiacco, 1954, ''Thaumasia benoisti'' Caporiacco, 1954.

Look-a-likes

'' Architis spinipes'' resembles ''

Architis tenuipes ''Architis'' is a genus of nursery web spiders that was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1898. Species it contains twenty-one species, found only in South America, Panama, and on Trinidad: *'' Architis altamira'' Santos, 2007 – Braz ...

'' and '' Architis helveola''.

References

Pisauridae Spiders of South America Spiders of French Guiana Spiders of Suriname Spiders of Brazil {{Pisauridae-stub