South African National Survey of Arachnida Photo Identification Guide: The Scytodidae of South Africa. Version1: 1-41 (2021)

The family Scytodidae is a small family represented by 5 genus and 245 species and has a worldwide distribution. From South Africa a single genus Scytodes represented by 30 species are known. Twenty-three of the species are South African endemics but 16 of these species are known only from one sex and seven are known only from the type locality this resulted in 37% of the species being listed as Data Deficient. Two species are introduced Scytodes fusca Walckenaer, 1837 and Scytodes thoracica (Latreille, 1802) and two are African endemics and two southern African endemics. A large percentage (57%) are listed as Least Concern and only two species are presently of special concern. Scytodes gooldi Purcell, 1904 known from a small area in the Western Cape is experiencing ongoing loss of habitat to crop cultivation and housing development therefore listed as Vulnerable under criterion B. Scytodes montana Purcell, 1904 only known from one sex has a restricted distribution and is listed as Rare. The African species of the genus has not yet been revised and more species are expected