{{Short description|Genus of spiders}} {{Automatic taxobox | taxon = Psellocoptus | authority = Simon, 1896<ref name=NMBE /> | type_species = ''P. flavostriatus'' | type_species_authority = Simon, 1896 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = {{Specieslist | P. buchlii|<small>Reiskind, 1971</small> – Venezuela | P. flavostriatus|<small>Simon, 1896</small> – Venezuela | P. prodontus|<small>Reiskind, 1971</small> – Venezuela}} }}
'''''Psellocoptus''''' is a genus of South American running spiders first described by Eugène Simon in 1896.<ref name=Simo1896 /> When Eugène Simon discovered the first species (''P. flavostriatus''), he described it as a "beautiful and large species from the forests of Venezuela which [is] found running rapidly on the trunks of trees".<ref name=Simo1896>{{cite journal| last=Simon| first=E.| year=1896| title=Descriptions d'arachnides nouveaux de la famille des Clubionidae| journal=Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique| volume=40| page=404}}</ref> The species name ''flavostriatus'' means "striped yellow". ''P. buchlii'' is named after the late Harro Buchli, and the species name ''prodontus'' is from the Greek meaning "tooth in front".
Two other species were found in 1971, and are very similar to the first, though the genus as a whole is quite distinct from any other in general form and characteristics. It probably became isolated from the more widespread genera ''Myrmecium'' and ''Castianeira''. While the similar genera ''Myrmecium'' and ''Sphecotypus'' also have an indented carapace, ''Psellocoptus'' has a rounded anterior end and a relatively unsegmented red-brown, shiny, slightly granulated carapace.<ref>{{cite journal| last=Reiskind| first=J.| year=1971| title=The South American Castianeirinae. I. The Genus ''Psellocoptus'' (Araneae: Clubionidae)| journal=Psyche: A Journal of Entomology| volume=78| issue=3| pages=193–202| doi=10.1155/1971/69090| doi-access=free}}</ref>
==Species== {{as of|2019|04}} it contains only three species, all found in Venezuela.<ref name=NMBE>{{cite journal| title=Gen. Psellocoptus Simon, 1896| website=World Spider Catalog Version 20.0| accessdate=2019-05-22| year=2019| publisher=Natural History Museum Bern| url=http://www.wsc.nmbe.ch/genus/585| doi=10.24436/2| last1=Gloor| first1=Daniel| last2=Nentwig| first2=Wolfgang| last3=Blick| first3=Theo| last4=Kropf| first4=Christian}}</ref> *''P. buchlii'' <small>Reiskind, 1971</small> – Venezuela *''P. flavostriatus'' <small>Simon, 1896</small> – Venezuela *''P. prodontus'' <small>Reiskind, 1971</small> – Venezuela
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2608717}}
Category:Araneomorphae genera Category:Corinnidae Category:Spiders of South America Category:Taxa named by Eugène Simon
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