Asemesthes modestus
species of arachnid
Asemesthes modestus is a species of spider in the family Gnaphosidae. It is endemic to South Africa.
Distribution
Asemesthes modestus is known only from its type locality at Makapan in Limpopo province at an altitude of 1,417 m above sea level.
Habitat and ecology
The species is a free-living ground dweller found in the Savanna biome.
Description
Asemesthes modestus is known only from the male.
Conservation
Asemesthes modestus is listed as Data Deficient due to taxonomic reasons, as too little is known about the location, habitat and threats to this taxon for an assessment to be made. Placement of the species is also problematic. More sampling is needed to collect the female and determine the species' range.
Taxonomy
The species was originally described by R. de Dalmas in 1921 from Makapan in Limpopo. It has not been revised since its original description and no additional collecting has been undertaken.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Asemesthes modestus” is species of arachnid. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Asemesthes, modestus and species, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “species of arachnid” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2232981. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1921.
A general summary may omit uncertainty, sample limits or methodological disagreement that is explicit in the technical record. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Asemesthes modestus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.