Peplometus oyo

Peplometus oyo is a species of jumping spider that looks like a beetle. Originally described in 2011 with the name Pachyballus oyo, it was given its current name in 2022. It was first found in Oyo State, after which it is named, and lives in Southern Nigeria. A member of the genus Peplometus, it is a small spider with a forward section, known as a cephalothorax, that is between 1.2 and 1.4 mm long and, behind that, an abdomen that is between 1.7 and 2.1 mm long. The spider is generally brown. Younger spiders have an abdomen with two hard plates called scuta on the top. These fuse as they grow up into a single plate. On the bottom, females have another plate that is heart-shaped. Males also have two other smaller plates, one round and the other wedge-shaped. The males can be distinguished from others in the genus by its legs, particularly the presence of a large bulge on its front legs. The females can be identified by the shape of their abdomen, which is flatter than most of the species in the genus.