The Dendryphantinae includes many genera typical of New World jumping spiders. Subfamily characteristics are males with longitudinal stripes and large jaws (chelicerae) and females with paired abdominal spots. Maddison’s Pelegrina revision redefined the previously large, “catch-all” Dendryphantinae genus Metaphidippus, in part, by moving a number of species to the genus Phanias. A characteristic trait of this genus, and one that contrasts with other spiders in the subfamily, is the pattern formed by the light scales around the posterior median eyes (PME). White scales enclose the PME in Phanias harfordi but are restricted to the area below the eye in typical dendryphantines such as Pelegrina spiders.
Maddison, 1996