Thiratoscirtus efik

Thiratoscirtus efik is a medium-sized spider. The spider's body is divided into two main parts:a cephalothorax and an abdomen. The cephalothorax measures typically between 2.4 and 2.5 mm (0.09 and 0.10 in) in length and 2 mm (0.08 in) in width. The carapace, the hard upper part of the cephalothorax, is a broad oval that is high with a sloping rear. It is generally brown and covered in fine colourless hairs with black rings and long bristles around its eyes. The sternum, the underside of the cephalothorax, is brown. Its face, or clypeus, is very low. Its mouthparts are brown, with a triangular lobe on the outside of the maxillae, and its chelicerae have two teeth at the front and one at the back. The spider's abdomen is a small oval that measures typically 2.2 mm (0.09 in) long and between 1.1 and 1.4 mm (0.04 and 0.06 in) wide. It is brownish-grey and covered in fine hairs, with few brown bristles at its edges. The spider's spinnerets are greyish and its legs are dark brown with pronounced spines scattered on the first pair. The pedipalps, sensory organs near the mouth, are small and covered in long dense dark hairs. The male copulatory organs include a rounded hairy cymbium that surrounds the smaller palpal bulb, which has a noticeable bulge on its top accompanied by a fine embolus that curves up towards the edge of the cymbium. …

Thiratoscirtus spiders generally live in Africa and are particularly common in the forests of Central and West Africa. Thiratoscirtus efik is endemic to Nigeria. The female holotype was found outside Calabar in Cross River State near the road at the edge of rainforest.