Tibellus is a genus of slender crab spiders described by Simon in 1875, belonging to the order Araneae, family Philodromidae. Species of this genus are present in Eurasia, Africa, Americas and Australia.
Adult members of this genus can reach 4–15 millimetres (0.16–0.59 in) of length and can mostly be encountered above the soil surface (epigeal organism) on low vegetation, foliage or herbaceous plants, where they actively pursue their preys, as they do not make webs. This genus, which includes active hunters, was once considered a subfamily within the sedentary 'crab spiders' (Thomisidae species).
The basic color of the body is light brown or pale yellow. It is elongate and slender (hence the common name), the carapace (prosoma) and the cylindrical abdomen (opisthosoma) show a large brown stripe in the midline of the back. The long and thin legs are more or less equal in length and they usually are stretched out along grass stems or leaves, the first two pairs forwardly directed.
They generally have eight black equal-sized eyes in two horizontal rows of four each, with posterior median ones close to each other.
Species list
Tibellus affinis O. P.-Cambridge, 1898 — Mexico
Tibellus armatus Lessert, 1928 — Central, Southern Africa
Tibellus asiaticus Kulczynski, 1908 — Russia, North America
Tibellus aspersus Danilov, 1991 — Russia
Tibellus australis (Simon, 1910) — Botswana
Tibellus bruneitarsis Lawrence, 1952 — Zimbabwe, South Africa
Tibellus californicus Schick, 1965 — USA
Tibellus chamberlini Gertsch, 1933 — USA, Canada
Tibellus chaturshingi Tikader, 1962 — India
Tibellus chilensis Mello-Leitão, 1943 — Chile
Tibellus cobusi Van den Berg & Dippenaar-Schoeman, 1994 — East, Southern Africa
Tibellus cucurbitus Yang, Zhu & Song, 2005 — China
Tibellus demangei Jézéquel, 1964 — Ivory Coast, South Africa
Tibellus duttoni (Hentz, 1847) — USA, Mexico
Tibellus elongatus Tikader, 1960 — India
Tibellus fengi Efimik, 1999 — Russia, China, Japan
Tibellus flavipes Caporiacco, 1939 — East, Southern Africa
Tibellus gerhardi Van den Berg & Dippenaar-Schoeman, 1994 — East, Southern Africa
Tibellus hollidayi Lawrence, 1952 — East, Southern Africa
Tibellus insularis Gertsch, 1933 — Cuba
Tibellus jabalpurensis Gajbe & Gajbe, 1999 — India
Tibellus japonicus Efimik, 1999 — Russia, China, Japan
Tibellus katrajghatus Tikader, 1962 — India
Tibellus kibonotensis Lessert, 1919 — East, Southern Africa
Tibellus kimi Seong, 2013 — Korea, Republic of
Tibellus macellus Simon, 1875 — Europe to Central Asia
