About Palystes castaneus (Latreille, 1819)
Palystes castaneus is a species of huntsman spider first described by Pierre André Latreille in 1819. It is the type species for the genus Palystes. This spider has a recorded distribution across Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. Within South Africa, it is common between Cape Town and Heidelberg in the Western Cape province, where it is protected in seven protected areas including De Hoop Nature Reserve and Table Mountain National Park. Notable locations where it is found in the Western Cape are Cape Town, Hermanus, Stellenbosch, and Swellendam. It is especially common in forested areas in this region; in scrub habitats outside of forests, this species is replaced by the related species Palystes superciliosus. Palystes castaneus occurs mainly on plants, where it hunts insects. Its body length ranges from 17 to 22 mm.
