Brown Hyllus Jumping Spider

Hyllus brevitarsis is distributed across multiple African countries including Botswana, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Namibia, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. In South Africa, the species has been recorded from Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West.

H. brevitarsis sits still and pressed against the substrate, resembling a honey bee both in size and in its striped orange and black abdomen. It has only been collected in late spring and summer. In South Africa, Hyllus brevitarsis has been sampled from multiple biomes including Fynbos, Forest, Grassland, Indian Ocean Coastal Belt, Savanna and Thicket, at altitudes ranging from 7 to 1303 m. The species has also been sampled from avocado, lemon and macadamia orchards. This medium-sized spider is occasionally collected by beating foliage of shrubs and trees in various savannah and floodplain habitats. Some specimens have been extracted from retreats constructed on the ventral side of leaves of Sansevieria hyacinthoides plants. One female was extracted from a silk retreat constructed in a grass inflorescence.