Mar. 6,
2013 — The species from the genus Copa are very common spiders found in
the leaf litter of various habitats. Being predominantly ground-living, they
occur widely in savanna woodlands but also occasionally in forests, where they
are well camouflaged. They usually share the litter microhabitats with several
other species of the family Corinnidae. The spiders from this cryptic,
ground-dwelling genus in the continental Afrotropical Region are revised in a
study published in the open access journal Zookeys.
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This is a picture of a male Copa kei
from Cwebe Nature Reserve,
(Credit: Charles Richard Haddad/CC-BY 3.0)
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The number of
continental species in the Afrotropical Region has been reduced from four to
two, one of which is newly described. While C. flavoplumosa is
widespread throughout the region (from Guineé in the west to Tanzania in the east, and from Nigeria in the north to South Africa in the south), the new species, C.
kei, is endemic to southeastern South
Africa
The two
species represent extremes regarding both vagility and ecological flexibility. C.
flavoplumosa provides a useful example of extreme habitat flexibility,
occupying habitats from forests to semi-deserts. It is particularly prevalent
in savanna habitats on the continent, but also occurs in various forest types
and grasslands. They have been occasionally collected in agroecosystems,
specifically from the canopies of orchard crops in South Africa
The newly
described species, C. kei, is very closely associated and believed to be
endemic to the Afromontane and coastal forests in South Africa South Africa
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