Tanzania striatus sp. nov.

Figs 161–169

Holotype: male, SOUTH AFRICA, Western Cape Province, Cape Town, Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, 33°59'S: 18°26'E, fynbos, leaf litter, 12 September 2008, leg. C. Uys (NCA 2011 /892).

Paratype: SOUTH AFRICA, Western Cape Province, Cape Town, Table Mountain National Park, 33°58′S 18°25′E, fynbos, leaf litter, 1 female, 4 October 2008, leg. C. Uys (NCA 2013 /2361).

Diagnosis. The species is similar to T. parvulus described above. The male may be recognized by the shape of the embolus, which is large, clearly wider and has a forked tip, the female has oval spermathecae (rounded in T. parvulus).

Etymology. The specific name is Latin for striped, referring to the abdominal pattern.

Description. Measurement (male/female). Cephalothorax: length 0.9/0.9, width 0.7/0.7, height 0.3/0.4. Abdomen: length 0.8/1.3, width 0.6/0.9. Eye field: length 0.3/0.4, anterior and posterior width 0.5/0.6.

Male. General appearance as in Figs 161, 162. Very small spider, only a little larger than T. parvulus. Carapace moderately high, flat area extends half way the thorax, posterior slope steep. Eye field short, black; thoracic part dark yellow with wide median brown streak and dark margins, small irregular brownish marks on slopes. Hairs covering carapace brown and colourless, some long bristles near eyes, light hairs in vicinity of anterior eyes. Clypeus low, with single long protruding seta. Mouth parts yellowish, sternum yellow with brown marginal ring. Abdomen striped, with three brown streaks on yellow background (Fig. 161). Venter light, thin brown lines along sides of abdomen. Light hairs cover abdomen, among them some long brown bristles. Spinnerets blackish. Femora of legs yellow, other segments with brown rings. Leg hairs brown, spines lighter. Pedipalps orange, without tibial apophysis. Bulb oval, sperm duct meandering, embolus large, spirally twisted as in corkscrew, bifurcated at tip (Figs 163–167).

Female. Coloration as in male. Eye field clothed in dense short grey hairs, anterior eyes surrounded by light scales. Legs yellow with black rings. Epigyne relatively large, with two rounded depressions (Fig. 168). Internal structure as in Fig. 169, seminal ducts short, spermathecae oval, accessory glands in walls of spermathecae.

Distribution. Known only from the type locality.

Genus Thyenula Simon, 1902

Type species: Thyenula juvenca Simon, 1902

Description. Medium sized to large spiders (length 4–11 mm), usually dark coloured with light markings on the abdomen. The tibial apophysis of the male palp is relatively long and tapering, in the majority of species with a series of minute teeth on inner margin near the tip. The embolus is coiled through 360° and the diameter of the embolic spiral is large, greater than half the width of the bulb, its plane parallel to the long axis of the bulb. The bulb has a proximal lobe in the majority of species. Males of some species have the patella and tibia of the first leg decorated with dense long hairs ventrally. In some cases, the retromarginal tooth of chelicerae has a distinctive shape, being elongated or very wide or bicuspid. The epigyne has enlarged shallow pits, occupying much of epigynal area. The seminal ducts are long, usually looped; the spermathecae are bean-shaped and two-chambered in some species. The sclerotized flanges encircling the epigynal pits form a pattern characteristic for each species.

Redescription of the type species is given in Wesołowska (2012).

Distribution. Species of the genus are known only from South Africa and Zimbabwe.