Stephanopis


Stephanopis is a genus of crab spiders first described by Octavius Pickard-Cambridge in 1869. The genus Stephanopis was erected for five newly described species, including S. altifrons, from Australia. Stephanopis was characterized by the high cephalic region with unequally sized anterior eyes disposed in a strongly recurved row, opisthosoma ending in several spiniform projections and dorsoventrally depressed habitus. According to Pickard-Cambridge, the single specimen used for the description of S. altifrons was dry-pinned. Therefore the specimen could not be properly examined, so it was not possible to determine if the specimen was adult. Moreover, he states his own sketch of the spider as “hasty”. This may explain why the somatic characters were inadequately described, genitalic features were not mentioned at all, and the illustrations were not detailed enough, making the species unidentifiable.

Species

, it the following species: