Life on leaves

Many tropical pholcid spider species are morphologically and behaviourally adapted to life on the underside of green leaves. The taxonomy of these cryptic spiders is mostly poorly known, and almost nothing is known about their biology. The present paper deals with seven West African leaf-dwelling pholcid species. Two of them are new to science: Pholcus kakum n. sp. and Spermophora dieke n. sp.; of three further species, the males are newly described: Crossopriza cylindrogaster Simon, 1907, Leptopholcus tipula (Simon, 1907), and L. guineensis Millot, 1941. Crossopriza cylindrogaster is remarkable for its inverted resting position (dorsal side pressed against the leaf), modifications of the lateral eyes that appear like additional lenses, lampshade webs with or without “ornaments” (puffs of silk), and tetrahedral egg-sacs. Finally, new morphological data and records are provided for Pehrforsskalia conopyga Deeleman-Reinhold and van Harten, 2001; Nyikoa limbe Huber, 2007 is newly recorded from Guinea.