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Ammoxenus amphalodes
Ammoxenus amphalodes is a species of spider in the family Gnaphosidae. It is endemic to South Africa, where it is commonly known as the common termite feeding spider.
From the article Ammoxenus amphalodes on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
Like other Ammoxenus species, A. amphalodes has modified chelicerae with horn-like setae that curve downward and are covered with obtuse spines used for sand-diving.
Range & habitat
A. amphalodes is widespread in South Africa, occurring in six of the nine provinces: Free State, Gauteng, Limpopo, North West, KwaZulu-Natal, and Mpumalanga. The species is found at elevations ranging from 54 to 2,302 meters above sea level.
Wikipedia: “Distribution”
What it does
This species is a free-running ground dweller that lives in sand mounds left by Hodotermes mossambicus termites. The spiders are very agile and when disturbed will dive head-first into sand. They are specialist predators of harvester termites, particularly H. mossambicus and Psammotermes species, with their activity density closely coupled to termite activity.
A. amphalodes is a univoltine species with a wide reproductive period corresponding to the seasonal occurrence of termites. The species occurs in Grassland, Savanna, Nama Karoo, and Succulent Karoo biomes. They can be easily sampled with pitfall traps and occasionally occur in agricultural areas, having been recorded from cotton fields.
Wikipedia: “Habitat and ecology”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Ammoxenus amphalodes in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 649189.