Scelidocteus Simon, 1907

Oketch, Ambata D., Zonstein, Sergei, Kioko, Esther N. & Li, Shuqiang, 2020, Description of a new genus and three new species of the family Palpimanidae (Arachnida, Araneae) from Kenya, African Invertebrates 61 (2), pp. 93-106 : 93

Genus Scelidocteus Simon, 1907

Type species.

Scelidocteus pachypus Simon, 1907, by subsequent designation.

Notes.

All seven described species of this genus are endemic to Africa, the majority of them in West and Central African countries. Scelidocteus taitave sp. nov. is the first species to be recorded from Kenya and East Africa ( WSC 2020). Scelidocteus resembles Scelidomachus and Chedima Simon, 1873 in general appearance, especially in having an anteriorly blunt (not rounded) carapace with pronounced, obtuse anterolateral corners, but can be distinguished from Chedima by the uniformly colored abdomen (vs. spotted) with short gray setae and the eye shape and arrangement (MOQ in Chedima is longer than wide, whereas it is subquadrate in Scelidocteus ).