Nigorella hirsuta

Nigorella hirsuta is a jumping spider species first described by Wanda Wesołowska in 2009.[1] It is one of over 500 species identified by the Polish scientist.[2] She allocated it to the genus Nigorella, raised by Wesołowska and Tomasiewicz in 2008. The genus name is described by Wanda Wesołowska and Beata Tomasiewicz as an arbitrary arrangement of letters.[3] Medium-sized to large, the spiders resemble Hyllus, but differs in the design of the copulatory organs.[4] In 2015, Wayne Maddison listed the genus in the subtribe Plexippina in the tribe Plexippini. Previously termed Plexippeae, by Eugène Simon in 1901, this tribe is part of the clade Saltafresia.[5] In 2017, the genus was grouped with seven other genera of jumping spiders under the name Evarchines, named after the genus Evarcha, by Jerzy Prószyński.[6] The species name recalls the hairy body of the spider.[4]

Nigorella hirsuta is a medium-sized spider. The male has an oval dark brown carapace that is covered in scales that is typically between 3.5 and 3.7 mm (0.14 and 0.15 in) long and 2.7 and 2.9 mm (0.11 and 0.11 in) wide. It is covered in dense dark hairs. The eye field is short and black. The abdomen is slightly narrower, between 3.2 and 3.5 mm (0.13 and 0.14 in) long and between 2.1 and 2.3 mm (0.083 and 0.091 in) wide. It is oval and dark brown with dense long dark hairs. There are traces of lighter patches vissible. The chelicerae are unidentate. The clypeus is low and dark with black hairs. The spinnerets are dark and the legs are dark brown. The pedipalps are dark with a round tegulum and straight appendage, or apophysis, attached to the tibia and extending from the palpal bulb. The embolus has an attached tegular apophysis.[4]

The female is similar in shape to the male but significantly larger. It has a carapace that measures between 4.4 and 4.7 mm (0.17 and 0.19 in) in length and between 3.1 and 3.7 mm (0.12 and 0.15 in) in width and an abdomen that is between 6.4 and 6.6 mm (0.25 and 0.26 in) long and between 4.2 and 4.7 mm (0.17 and 0.19 in) wide.[7] The carapace is dark brown with dark hairs like the male. The abdomen is dark grey on top and dark with four rows of white dots on the bottom. The epigyne has marked sclerotization, with are two widely spaced depressions and a broad pocket visible on it. The internal structure is relatively simple with the seminal ducts having limited loops.[8]

The spider is similar to others in the genus. It can be distinguished by its longer embolus and the strongly sclerotized cups in the female that hide the gonopores.[4] It has been confused with the related Nigorella plebeja, with examples of this species being initially incorrectly allocated.[9] The pocket in the epigyne is smaller than Nigorella albimana, which helps distinguish the species.[10]

Nigorella hirsuta lives in South Africa and Zimbabwe.[1] It is known to have a range that stretches across central and eastern South Africa.[11] The holotype was collected from the Sengwa Wildlife Research Area in Zimbabwe in 2001 by Meg Cumming. It has also been found in the Sandveld Nature Reserve in Free State, Ndumo Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, Thabela Thabeng Mountain Retreat near Potchefstroom in North West province, all in South Africa, and near Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The species prefers woodland areas populated with species like Searsia lancea. It is a ground-dwelling spider often found at the bottom of grass tussocks.[12][13] It can also be found near rivers.[14]