Callitrichia Fage 1936

Callitrichia Fage, 1936

Type species: Callitrichia hamifera Fage, in Fage & Simon, 1936, by original designation.

Previously considered as a small Afrotropical genus, Callitrichia has recently been revised based on a morphological cladistic analysis by Lin et al. (2022), resulting in a significant expansion of its composition to 56 species. The genus is characterized by an elongated palpal tibia carrying teeth apically, a massive paracymbium, the embolic division with a small embolus, totally reduced radix and a large convector. Convector with two distal apophyses (see UDA and LDA in Figs 2F, 4B), of which the lower one (LDA) is usually long and protruding from the bulb. As the shape of the embolic division is extremely similar in most congeners, the species mainly differ in details of the shape of the palpal tibia and carapace in the male. For more information see Lin et al. (2022: 458). Since the structure of the epigynum in the female is also very similar, reliable differences between congeners are only possible to reveal in the presence of the corresponding male.

Distribution. The genus mainly occurs in the eastern part of the Afrotropical Region: chiefly in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, thus being new to be recorded from Ethiopia.

Two species described below can easily be assigned to Callitrichia, being very similar to other congeners in showing the same chaetotaxy (2.2.1.1) and trichobothriotaxy (Tm I–IV present), a similar conformation of the male palp, namely, the modified palpal tibia, a short embolus with a large convector furnished with two distal apophyses, as well as by a similarly shaped epigynum plate.