Allocosa is a spider genus of the wolf spider family, Lycosidae. The more than hundred recognized species are spread worldwide.

Description

The carapace is sometimes dark but usually has a pale median band and pale submarginal bands, with setae usually restricted to the eye area and mid-dorsal line. Viewed from above, the carapace is convex at the lateral margins and narrowed at the level of legs I.

The anterior eye row is slightly procurved, equal in length to the middle row or somewhat shorter, with anterior median eyes larger than anterior laterals and slightly closer to anterior laterals than to each other. The anterior median eyes are located on a small prominence. The sternum is yellow, orange, brown, or black.

The chelicerae have 2 or 3 promarginal and 3 retromarginal teeth. The legs are usually dark orange or red-brown with notched trochanters. The abdomen is ovoid with the dorsum usually dull yellow with fine to dense black spots or reticulation. The venter is dull yellow or orange, sometimes with small black spots or paired longitudinal dark bands. The anterior end has a cluster of dark, curved, erect setae.

Lifestyle

female A. funerea with egg sac

Species in this genus are free running ground dwellers.

Taxonomy

The genus Allocosa was described by Nathan Banks in 1900 with the type species Allocosa funerea (Hentz, 1844). Roewer in 1959 and the World Spider Catalog list numerous species of this genus from Africa.

However, Dondale and Redner in 1983 revised the genus in North and Central America and found one of the important characters to be a bifid median apophysis of the male palp.

According to Russell-Smith, he has never observed this character in the thousands of African lycosids he has examined, including South African specimens, and is reasonably convinced that the genus is confined to the Americas.

The true placement of the African species assigned to Allocosa remains uncertain and would require re-examination of all the species assigned to the genus by Roewer.

Species

  • male A. brasiliensis
  • female A. subparva
  • female A. testacea

As of October 2025[update], this genus includes 130 species.

These species have articles on Wikipedia:

Complete species list as of October 2025[update]
Allocosa abmingani (Hickman, 1944) – Australia (South Australia) Allocosa absoluta (Gertsch, 1934) – United States, Mexico Allocosa adolphifriederici (Strand, 1913) – Central, East Africa, Zanzibar Allocosa albiconspersa Roewer, 1959 – Rwanda Allocosa algoensis (Pocock, 1900) – South Africa Allocosa alticeps (Mello-Leitão, 1944) – Argentina Allocosa apora (Gertsch, 1934) – USA to Costa Rica Allocosa aurata (Purcell, 1903) – South Africa Allocosa aurichelis Roewer, 1959 – South Africa Allocosa bersabae Roewer, 1959 – Namibia Allocosa biserialis Roewer, 1959 – DR Congo Allocosa brasiliensis (Petrunkevitch, 1910) – Brazil Allocosa caboverdensis Schmidt & Krause, 1995 – Cape Verde Allocosa calamarica (Strand, 1914) – Colombia Allocosa cambridgei (Simon, 1876) – Turkey, Syria Allocosa chamberlini (Gertsch, 1934) – United States Allocosa clariventris (Guy, 1966) – Morocco Allocosa comotti (Thorell, 1887) – Myanmar Allocosa danneili (Dahl, 1908) – Papua New Guinea (Bismarck Arch.) Allocosa delagoa Roewer, 1959 – Mozambique Allocosa delesserti (Caporiacco, 1941) – Ethiopia Allocosa deserticola (Simon, 1898) – Egypt Allocosa dingosaeformis (Guy, 1966) – Morocco Allocosa dubia (Walckenaer, 1837) – Brazil Allocosa edeala Roewer, 1959 – Cameroon Allocosa efficiens Roewer, 1959 – Congo, Rwanda Allocosa excusor (L. Koch, 1867) – Australia (Queensland) Allocosa exserta Roewer, 1959 – Namibia, Botswana, South Africa Allocosa faberrima (Simon, 1910) – Namibia, Botswana, South Africa Allocosa finkei (Hickman, 1944) – Australia (South Australia) Allocosa flavisternis (L. Koch, 1877) – Australia (Queensland, New South Wales) Allocosa floridiana (Chamberlin, 1908) – United States Allocosa funerea (Hentz, 1844) – United States (type species) Allocosa furtiva (Gertsch, 1934) – United States Allocosa gabesia Roewer, 1959 – Tunisia Allocosa glochidea Roewer, 1959 – Namibia Allocosa gorontalensis (Merian, 1911) – Indonesia (Sulawesi) Allocosa gracilitarsis (Purcell, 1903) – Namibia, South Africa Allocosa guianensis (Caporiacco, 1947) – Guyana Allocosa halei (Hickman, 1944) – Australia (Northern Territory) Allocosa handschini (Schenkel, 1937) – Morocco Allocosa hasselti (L. Koch, 1877) – Australia (Queensland, South Australia) Allocosa hirsuta (Bösenberg & Lenz, 1895) – Central, East Africa Allocosa hostilis (L. Koch, 1877) – Fiji Allocosa hugonis (Strand, 1911) – Indonesia (Aru Is.) Allocosa illegalis (Strand, 1906) – Ethiopia Allocosa ituriana (Strand, 1913) – Central Africa Allocosa iturianella Roewer, 1959 – Kenya, Uganda Allocosa kalaharensis (Simon, 1910) – Botswana, South Africa Allocosa karissimbica (Strand, 1913) – Central, East Africa Allocosa kazibana Roewer, 1959 – Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania Allocosa laetella (Strand, 1907) – Indonesia (Moluccas) Allocosa lawrencei (Roewer, 1951) – South Africa, Eswatini Allocosa leucotricha Roewer, 1959 – Congo Allocosa lombokensis (Strand, 1913) – Indonesia (Lombok) Allocosa mafensis (Lawrence, 1927) – Namibia Allocosa mahengea Roewer, 1959 – Tanzania Allocosa manmaka Roewer, 1960 – Afghanistan Allocosa marindia Simó, Lise, Pompozzi & Laborda, 2017 – Brazil, Uruguay Allocosa maroccana Roewer, 1959 – Morocco Allocosa marshalli (Pocock, 1901) – Zimbabwe Allocosa martinicensis (Strand, 1910) – Martinique Allocosa marua Roewer, 1959 – Cameroon Allocosa mascatensis (Simon, 1898) – Oman Allocosa mexicana (Banks, 1898) – Mexico Allocosa millica (Strand, 1906) – United States Allocosa mirabilis (Strand, 1906) – Ethiopia Allocosa mogadorensis (Simon, 1909) – Morocco Allocosa mokiensis Gertsch, 1934 – United States, Mexico Allocosa molicola (Strand, 1906) – Ethiopia Allocosa montana Roewer, 1959 – Tanzania, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa Allocosa morelosiana (Gertsch & Davis, 1940) – United States, Mexico Allocosa mossambica Roewer, 1959 – Mozambique Allocosa mossamedesa Roewer, 1959 – Angola Allocosa mulaiki (Gertsch, 1934) – United States Allocosa mutilata Mello-Leitão, 1937 – Brazil Allocosa nanahuensis (Badcock, 1932) – Paraguay Allocosa nebulosa Roewer, 1959 – DR Congo, Namibia, South Africa Allocosa nigella (Caporiacco, 1940) – Ethiopia Allocosa nigripes (Guy, 1966) – Morocco Allocosa nigriventris (Guy, 1966) – Morocco Allocosa nigrofulva (Caporiacco, 1955) – Venezuela Allocosa noctuabunda (Montgomery, 1904) – United States, Mexico Allocosa obscuroides (Strand, 1906) – Indonesia (Java), Australia Allocosa obturata (Lawrence, 1928) – Namibia Allocosa olivieri (Simon, 1876) – Syria, Israel Allocosa orinus (Chamberlin, 1916) – Peru Allocosa otavia Roewer, 1959 – Namibia Allocosa palabunda (L. Koch, 1877) – Australia, New Caledonia Allocosa pallideflava (Lawrence, 1936) – Namibia Allocosa panamena Chamberlin, 1925 – Mexico to Ecuador Allocosa paraguayensis (Roewer, 1951) – Paraguay Allocosa pardala (Strand, 1909) – Brazil Allocosa parva (Banks, 1894) – USA to Costa Rica Allocosa parvivulva (Lawrence, 1927) – Namibia Allocosa pellita Roewer, 1960 – Afghanistan Allocosa perfecta Roewer, 1959 – Namibia Allocosa pistia (Strand, 1913) – Central, East Africa Allocosa plumipes Roewer, 1959 – Tanzania Allocosa pugnatrix (Keyserling, 1877) – Central America, Caribbean Allocosa pulchella Roewer, 1959 – Namibia Allocosa pylora Chamberlin, 1925 – United States Allocosa quadrativulva (Caporiacco, 1955) – Venezuela Allocosa retenta (Gertsch & Wallace, 1935) – United States Allocosa ruwenzorensis (Strand, 1913) – East Africa Allocosa samoana (Roewer, 1951) – Samoa Allocosa sangtoda Roewer, 1960 – Afghanistan Allocosa schoenlandi (Pocock, 1900) – South Africa Allocosa schubotzi (Strand, 1913) – Rwanda Allocosa sefrana (Schenkel, 1937) – Algeria Allocosa senex (Mello-Leitão, 1945) – Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay Allocosa sennaris Roewer, 1959 – Sudan Allocosa sjostedti (Lessert, 1926) – East Africa, Rwanda Allocosa soluta (Tullgren, 1905) – Bolivia Allocosa sublata (Montgomery, 1902) – United States Allocosa subparva Dondale & Redner, 1983 – United States, Mexico Allocosa tagax (Thorell, 1897) – Myanmar Allocosa tangana Roewer, 1959 – Tanzania Allocosa tarentulina (Audouin, 1826) – North Africa Allocosa tenebrosa (Thorell, 1897) – Myanmar Allocosa testacea Roewer, 1959 – South Africa Allocosa thieli (Dahl, 1908) – Papua New Guinea (Bismarck Arch.) Allocosa tremens (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1876) – Tunisia, Libya, Egypt Allocosa tuberculipalpus (Caporiacco, 1940) – Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa Allocosa umtalica (Purcell, 1903) – Tanzania, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Eswatini Allocosa utahana Dondale & Redner, 1983 – United States Allocosa venezuelica (Caporiacco, 1955) – Venezuela Allocosa veracruzana (Gertsch & Davis, 1940) – Mexico Allocosa wittei Roewer, 1959 – Congo Allocosa yurae (Strand, 1908) – Peru, Chile

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