Plexippus tsholotsho is a species of jumping spider in the genus Plexippus (family Salticidae) that occurs in South Africa and Zimbabwe. It was first described in 2011 by the Polish arachnologist Wanda Wesołowska.
Taxonomy
The species was first formally described by Wanda Wesołowska in 2011, and it is one of more than 500 jumping spider species identified by her. It was assigned to the genus Plexippus, which was first established by Carl Ludwig Koch in 1846. The genus name derives from Greek and can be translated as "striking" or "driving horses," and it was also the name of several heroes in Homer's Iliad. The specific epithet, tsholotsho, refers to Tsholotsho, the district in Zimbabwe where the spider was first discovered. In 2015, Wayne Maddison placed the genus within the subtribe Plexippina and tribe Plexippini, part of the clade Saltafresia. In a 2017 study, arachnologist Jerzy Prószyński noted that the species' placement within the genus was uncertain, though he still recognized it as one of the distinct species within Plexippus.
Description
Plexippus tsholotsho is a relatively large spider. The cephalothorax typically measures about 4 mm (0.16 in) in length and 3.1 mm in width, while the abdomen is typically about 5.2 mm (0.20 in) long and 3.7 mm wide. It has a dark brown, oval carapace covered in brown hairs, which is darker toward the front and fades to a brownish-orange color toward the rear. The ovoid abdomen is also dark brown, with white hairs and a wide white stripe running down its middle. Long brown bristles are present on the carapace near the eyes and scattered along the edge of the abdomen. The chelicerae are brown, the clypeus is darker, and the spinnerets are greyish brown. The spider has brown, hairy legs. Only the female has been described.
The species is distinguished from the similar Plexippus paykulli by differences in the shape of the copulatory ducts in the epigyne and by the presence of significant sclerotization around the gonopores.
Distribution and habitat
The female holotype was collected in 2003 in the Tsholotsho district of Zimbabwe. The species has subsequently been recorded in Nwambiya and in Marakele National Park in Limpopo, South Africa. It inhabits savannah environments.
