Tusitala

This article is about the genus of spiders. For the writer known to the Samoans as Tusitala, see Robert Louis Stevenson.

Tusitala is a genus of jumping spiders that was first described by George and Elizabeth Peckham in 1902.^[2] The name is Samoan, meaning "writer of stories". It is considered a senior synonym of Blaisea.^[3]

Tusitala
female T. barbata
female T. barbata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Salticidae
Subfamily:	Salticinae
Genus:	Tusitala Peckham & Peckham, 1902[1]
Type species
T. barbata Peckham & Peckham, 1902
Species
13, see text
Synonyms[1]
Blaisea Simon, 1903 Monclova G. W. Peckham & E. G. Peckham, 1902

Distribution

All but one described species are found in Africa, with T. yemenica endemic to nearby Yemen.^[1]

Species

• 
  female T. barbata
• 
  T. hirsuta

As of October 2025^[update], this genus includes thirteen species:^[1]

• Tusitala ansieae Azarkina & Foord, 2015 – Botswana
• Tusitala bandama Wesołowska & Russell-Smith, 2022 – Ivory Coast
• Tusitala barbata G. W. Peckham & E. G. Peckham, 1902 – Guinea, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa (type species)
• Tusitala cornuta Wesołowska & Russell-Smith, 2022 – Ivory Coast
• Tusitala discibulba Caporiacco, 1941 – Ethiopia
• Tusitala guineensis Berland & Millot, 1941 – Guinea, Ivory Coast
• Tusitala hirsuta G. W. Peckham & E. G. Peckham, 1902 – Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa
• Tusitala lutzi Lessert, 1927 – Ivory Coast, DR Congo
• Tusitala lyrata (Simon, 1903) – Guinea, DR Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Mozambique
• Tusitala proxima Wesołowska & Russell-Smith, 2000 – Tanzania
• Tusitala ugandensis Wiśniewski & Wesołowska, 2024 – Uganda
• Tusitala unica Wesołowska & Russell-Smith, 2000 – Tanzania
• Tusitala yemenica Wesołowska & van Harten, 1994 – Yemen