| Pachyballus miniscutulus | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Salticidae |
| Subfamily: | Salticinae |
| Genus: | Pachyballus |
| Species: | P. miniscutulus
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| Binomial name | |
| Pachyballus miniscutulus Wesołowska, Azarkina & Wiśniewski, 2020
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Pachyballus miniscutulus is a species of jumping spider that is native to Ivory Coast and South Africa. It lives in open grassland and in vegetation near to streams. A very small spider, it has a cephalothorax that is ranges from 1 to 1.3 mm long and an abdomen that is between 1.7 and 1.9 mm long. The spider is generally dark brown on top. The bottom of its cephalothorax is yellowish-brown and its abdomen is grey-brown and has a distinctive scutum. This scutum is referenced in the species name, which is derived from the Latin words that mean "small shield". The spider has a dark brown clypeus and yellowish-brown spinnerets. Apart from the scutum, the spider can be identified by its copulatory organs. The male has a palpal bulb that has bulges that extend below its cymbium and the female has a heart-shaped epigyne that contains a spade-like or circular section and longer insemination ducts than Pachyballus mombasensis. A member of the genus Pachyballus, the species was first described in 2020 by Wanda Wesołowska, Galina Azarkina and Konrad Wiśniewski.