A review of the synanthropic spiders from South Africa (Arachnida: Araneae). SANSA Newsletter 46(2023): 35–43

Spiders are frequently encountered in houses and outbuildings in South Africa. With the warm subtropical climate, houses, windows, and security doors are frequently left open, allowing spiders to enter freely. Data for this review were obtained from museum databases and primary specimen data were collected with specimens and extracted from published revisions. A total of 86 synanthropic species from 22 spider families have so far been recorded from buildings in South Africa, of which 17 species are hemisynanthropic and 56 are asynanthropic species that are accidentally recorded from buildings but only 13 species are eusynanthropic species living exclusively in buildings. Many of the species regularly found associated with buildings are introduced species.