// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Caponia say to its date? You capon my heart.
| Caponia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Caponia sp. from Little Eden | |
 | |
| C. capensis | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Caponiidae |
| Genus: | Caponia Simon, 1887[1] |
| Type species | |
| C. natalensis (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1874) | |
| Species | |
|
10, see text | |
Caponia, also called eight-eyed orange lungless spiders, is an Afrotropical genus of araneomorph spiders in the family Caponiidae, first described by Eugène Simon in 1887.[2]
As the common name implies, these spiders have a tightly arranged set of eight eyes, as opposed to the related two-eyed genus Diploglena, and breathe using two pairs of tracheae rather than book lungs. They are agile, nocturnal hunters, that hide by day in a variety of silk-lined retreats.[3]
Species
[edit]
male C. hastifera
C. chelifera
As of September 2025[update] it contains ten species:[1]
- Caponia braunsi Purcell, 1904 – South Africa
- Caponia capensis Purcell, 1904 – South Africa, Mozambique
- Caponia chelifera Lessert, 1936 – Mozambique
- Caponia forficifera Purcell, 1904 – South Africa
- Caponia hastifera Purcell, 1904 – South Africa, Mozambique
- Caponia karrooica Purcell, 1904 – South Africa
- Caponia natalensis (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1874) (type) – Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa
- Caponia secunda Pocock, 1900 – South Africa
- Caponia simoni Purcell, 1904 – South Africa
- Caponia spiralifera Purcell, 1904 – South Africa
References
[edit]- 1 2 "Gen. Caponia Simon, 1887". World Spider Catalog Version 20.0. Natural History Museum Bern. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2025-09-19.
- ↑ Simon, E. (1887). "Observation sur divers arachnides: synonymies et descriptions". Annales de la Société Entomologique de France. 7 (6): 193–195.
- ↑ Leroy, Astri; Leroy, John (2003). Spiders of Southern Africa. Struik. p. 83. ISBN 9781868729449.
External links
[edit]