In April 2025 I
had the opportunity to search for pholcids in Tunisia. Before the trip,
it was quite unclear if anything interesting would be found. The
current species list of Tunisia includes only a few widespread
Mediterranean pholcids such as Spermophora
senoculata, Holocnemus reini,
and Holocnemus pluchei, and
some introduced synanthropic species such as Artema atlanta and Pholcus phalangioides. The only
indication I had that a more interesting undiscovered fauna may be
present in Tunisia were a couple of poorly preserved specimens
deposited in the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. Their
poor condition allowed no identification, but my guess was that they
might represent the genus Spermophorides.
This genus has only once been recorded from Northern Africa (Algeria),
but this record is more than 100 years old.
We collected at about 30 localities in the Provinces Bizerte,
Béja, Jendouba, Kef, Siliana, Gafsa, Tozeur, Sidi Bouzid,
Kebili, Kairouan, Zaghouan, Nabeul, Ben Arous, and Tunis. This means we
covered a wide range of ecosystems, illustrated by the two photos
above. We found Pholcidae in almost every locality, including several
new species, such as the ones shown below. In only two weeks we thus
assembled not only the by far largest collection of Tunisian Pholcidae
but also the most diverse one.
Some new species discovered in Tunisia, in the genera Micropholcus (top) and Spermophorides (bottom).
I thank Ghassen
Khmira for accompanying me on this trip, and Jamila Bouayed for
organizing the permits.
Tunisians seem to like blue and yellow doors...
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