Thyenula armata

Thyenula are medium to large spiders. They have a body that is divided into two main parts: a rounded cephalothorax and a more bulbous abdomen.

Male. The male Thyenula armata has an oval carapace, the hard upper part of its cephalothorax, that is between 1.9 and 2.1 mm (0.07 and 0.08 in) long, between 1.4 and 1.5 mm (0.06 and 0.06 in) wide and between 0.8 and 0.9 mm (0.03 and 0.04 in) high. It is particularly high at the back. It is generally dark brown with a black eye field and two orange to light brown streaks on its thorax. There are greyish-flaxen hairs and long brown bristles around the spider's eyes. The underside of its cephalothorax, or sternum, is brown. The part of the spider's face known as its clypeus is low and covered in grey hairs. Its chelicerae are brown with two teeth at the front and one at the back. With regard to its remaining mouthparts, its labium is also brown while its maxillae is lighter and has light ends. The male's abdomen is smaller than its carapace, measuring 1.8 and 2.0 mm (0.07 and 0.08 in) long and between 1.3 and 1.5 mm (0.05 and 0.06 in) wide. It is a dark brown oval marked with an irregular russet streak running from the front to the back and a fawn-greyish underside with a pattern of small dark patches. It is covered in brown hairs, which are longer and bushier at the front, apart from the very back, which has white hairs. …

Thyenula spiders are only found in southern Africa. Thyenula armata lives in Lesotho and South Africa. Spiders that live in Lesotho are generally darker than those in South Africa. The spider has been found in grassland living under rocks and in evergreen trees of the genus Leucosidea.

Thyenula armata is a species of jumping spider, a member of the family Salticidae, that was first described by the Polish arachnologist Wanda Wesołowska in 2001. It was one of over 500 species that she identified during her career, more than any other contemporary writer and second only to the French arachnologist Eugène Simon. She allocated it to the genus Thyenula, which had been first circumscribed by Simon in 1902. The spider's specific name is the Latin word for 'armed' and relates to the thick shield-like scutum on the spider's abdomen. In 2015, the evolutionary biologist Wayne Maddison undertook a phylogenetic classification that showed that the genus is a member of tribe Euophryini. First circumscribed by Simon in 1901, the tribe has also been known as Euophrydinae, but the original name is now more prevalent. It is a member of the clade Saltafresia. The genus was part of a proposed clade named after it alongside the related genus Rumburak. In 2017, the arachnologist Jerzy Prószyński added the genus to a group of genera named Euopherines.