Armed Crab Spider Stephanopis armata L. Koch, 1874

(after Machado et al. 2019): Females of S. armata resemble those of S. monulfi by the strong anterior legs bearing robust and acute projections on the dorsal surface of their patellae and tibiae I and median spire on thoracic portion of prosoma. However, they can be distinguished by their reduced body size and wider anterior femora covered by dorsal and prolateral setiferous tubercles. Also, the epigynal plate of S. armata possesses a pair of C-shaped copulatory openings placed in a flattened atrium instead of the remarkable septum seen in S. monulfi. In addition, the anterior chambers are wider than the spermathecae in S. armata. The males of S. armata are similar to those of S. bicornis and S. lata by their robust form, rough tegument and trapezoid opisthosoma, but unlike S. bicornis, S. armata do not have acute projections above the anterior lateral eyes, and different from S. lata by the leg projections on the dorsal surface of patellae and tibiae being are discrete. Also, S. armata have strikingly enlarged femora I. Males of S. armata have similar pedipalps to both S. bicornis and S. lata, with slight differences. The retrolateral tibial apophysis of S. armata is curved, pointing ventrally before it becomes laterally oriented.

• native

• New South Wales
• Queensland