Afraflacilla braunsi

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Afraflacilla braunsi
A spider of the genus Afraflacilla
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Salticidae
Subfamily: Salticinae
Genus: Afraflacilla
Species:
A. braunsi
Binomial name
Afraflacilla braunsi
Synonyms[1]
  • Afraflacilla tripunctatus (Prószyński, 1989)
  • Icius braunsi (G. W. Peckham & E. G. Peckham, 1903)
  • Pseudicius braunsii G. W. Peckham & E. G. Peckham, 1903
  • Pseudicius braunsi (G. W. Peckham & E. G. Peckham, 1903)
  • Pseudicius tripunctatus Prószyński, 1989

Afraflacilla braunsi is a species of jumping spider in the genus Afraflacilla. First found in South Africa, the spider was subsequently observed living in Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, although it is likely to have a wider distribution. First described in 1903 by George and Elizabeth Peckham, it was originally allocated to the genus Pseudicius with the name Pseudicius braunsii. After being renamed Icius braunsi in 1987, it was finally given its current name by Jerzy Prószyński in 2017. Pseudicius tripunctatus, now called Afraflacilla tripunctatus, is a synonym.

A small to medium-sized spider, Afraflacilla braunsi has a

apophysis, extending from the palpal tibia. The female has very long and coiled insemination ducts that lead to large spermathecae
.

Taxonomy

Afraflacilla braunsi is a jumping spider that was first described by George and Elizabeth Peckham in 1903.[1] The holotype was found by Dr Brauns.[2] They allocated it to the genus Pseudicius with the name Pseudicius braunsii. First circumscribed by Eugène Simon in 1885, the genus Pseudicius has a name that is related to two Greek words that can be translated false and honest.[3] In the 1980s, it was noted that there were many similarities between species in Pseudicius and others in the genus Icius. Indeed, Ekaterina Andreeva, Stefania Hęciak and Prószyński had looked to combine the genera in 1984.[4] The two have similar spermathecal structure but work by Wayne Maddison in 1987 demonstrated that they have sufficiently different DNA to be considered different genera.[5] In the specific case of Pseudicius braunsii, however, there was sufficient similarity between the species and those in Icius that Jerzy Prószyński moved the species to that genus with the name Icius braunsi in that year.[5]

In 2016, Prószyński moved the species to the genus Afraflacilla on the basis of the shape of the copulatory organs, and the species finally gained the name by which it is now known. It was one of more than 40 species that were transferred between the two genera at the time.

Heliophaninae, which is ubiquitous across most continents of the world.[8] Wayne Maddison renamed the monotypic tribe Chrysillini in 2015.[9][10] The tribe is a member of the clade Saltafresia within the subfamily Salticoida.[10]

In 2017, Prószyński allocated the genus to the Pseudiciines group of genera, which he named after the genus Pseudicius.[11] They can be distinguished from other jumping spiders by their flattened and elongated body and characteristic colour patterns.[12]

Synonyms

Since it was first described, the spider has been synonymised with other species names.[13] In 1989, Prószyński described a new species that he named Pseudicius tripunctatus based on an example found in Saudi Arabia.[14] He noted that it had different copulatory organs to Pseudicius bipunctatus, Pseudicius tamaricis and Pseudicius wadis, but did not give a comparison to P. braunsi.[15] In 1996, Wanda Wesołowska identified an example of the species in Saudi Arabia. Based on similarities between this male and a study of the related Afraflacilla arabica, she named that species as a synonym of P. braunsi.[13][16]

In 2005, Dmitri Logunov and Mehrdad Zamanpoore separated A. arabica from P. braunsi on the basis of the structure of the spiders' copulatory organs. While recognising difficulties with this, including the fact that they did not have access to a male and female found together, they saw sufficient difference between the examples they did have access to, particularly the female, to make A. arabica its own species again. They also proposed that P. tripunctatus be synonymised with Pseudicius spiniger.[17] Two years later, Wesołowska and Antonius van Harten rejected this relationship with P. spiniger and synonymised P. tripunctatus with P. braunsi on the basis of the male's copulatory organs.[18] In 2017, Prószyński moved P. tripunctatus to the new genus, renaming it Afraflacilla tripunctata respectively.[6] Afraflacilla tripunctatus is recognised as a synonym for Afraflacilla braunsi.[1]

Description

Afraflacilla braunsi is a small to medium-sized slender and long spider with unique physical features. The male of the species has a

stridulatory apparatus that include short hairs situated under the eyes.[23]

The male spider's

apophysis.[24][25]

The female is very similar to the male. The carapace is roughly the same size, between 1.7 and 1.9 mm (0.07 and 0.07 in) long and 1.1 and 1.3 mm (0.04 and 0.05 in) wide, and the abdomen is larger, between 2.7 and 3.2 mm (0.11 and 0.13 in) long and typically 1.5 mm (0.06 in) wide.[19] The female carapace looks externally like the male but lighter. In contrast, the abdomen is fawn with a pattern of yellowish patches that is more pronounced than the male. Like the male, the female spider rubs its front legs against a row of fine hairs located under the eyes to create sounds.[23] The rear, towards the spinnerets, is much darker. The pedipalps are yellow and have a dense covering of long white hairs. The copulatory organs are, again, distinctive. There are two pockets located close to each other to the front of the epigyne. The copulatory openings lead to long coiled insemination ducts and unusually large spermathecae, or receptacles. There are also long accessory glands.[26]

Similar spiders

The species is similar to others in the genus, many of which were also previously allocated to the genus Pseudicius. In fact, the similarity between this species, then termed Pseudicius braunsii, and Afraflacilla bamakoi was one of the reasons given for synonymising the two genera.[27] It can be distinguished by its copulatory organs. It differs from Afraflacilla altera in the shape of its palpal bulb and for morphology of its apophysis.[28] It is similar to Afraflacilla asorotica in having a triangular lateral protuberance on its palpal bulb, but it is larger in this species.[29] It differs from Afraflacilla bamakoi in its longer embolus, the structure of the tegular apophysis and the position of the bulge on the tegulum.[27]

Distribution and habitat

Afraflacilla braunsi lives in Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Al Wathba Wetland Reserve in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.[30]

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d World Spider Catalog (2017). "Afraflacilla braunsi (G. W. Peckham & E. G. Peckham, 1903)". World Spider Catalog. 23.0. Bern: Natural History Museum. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  2. ^ a b Peckham & Peckham 1903, p. 212.
  3. ^ Fernández-Rubio 2013, p. 129.
  4. ^ Andreeva, Hęciak & Prószyński 1984, p. 349.
  5. ^ a b Maddison, Bodner & Needham 2008, p. 56.
  6. ^ a b Prószyński 2017, p. 43.
  7. ^ Wesołowska & van Harten 1994, p. 7.
  8. ^ Maddison & Hedin 2003, p. 541.
  9. ^ Maddison 2015, pp. 247, 252.
  10. ^ a b Maddison 2015, p. 278.
  11. ^ Prószyński 2017, p. 36.
  12. ^ Prószyński 2017, p. 42.
  13. ^ a b Wesołowska & van Harten 2007, p. 190.
  14. ^ a b Prószyński 1989, p. 53.
  15. ^ Prószyński 1989, p. 54.
  16. ^ Wesołowska 1996, p. 38.
  17. ^ Logunov & Zamanpoore 2005, p. 228.
  18. ^ Wesołowska & van Harten 2007, p. 253.
  19. ^ a b c Wesołowska & van Harten 2007, p. 252.
  20. ^ a b Wesołowska & van Harten 2007, p. 248.
  21. ^ Peckham & Peckham 1903, p. 211.
  22. ^ a b Logunov 1995, p. 240.
  23. ^ a b c Wesołowska & van Harten 2007, p. 250.
  24. ^ Logunov 1995, p. 241.
  25. ^ Prószyński 1987, p. 52.
  26. ^ Wesołowska & van Harten 2007, p. 251.
  27. ^ a b c Logunov 1995, p. 242.
  28. ^ Wesołowska 2000, p. 169.
  29. ^ Prószyński 1993, p. 51.
  30. ^ a b Wesołowska & van Harten 2020, p. 608.
  31. ^ Wesołowska & van Harten 2007, p. 266.

Bibliography

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