Chalcoscirtus lepidus

Chalcoscirtus lepidus
	The related species Chalcoscirtus infimus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Salticidae
Subfamily:	Salticinae
Genus:	Chalcoscirtus
Species:	C. lepidus
Binomial name
	Chalcoscirtus lepidus; Wesołowska, 1996

Chalcoscirtus lepidus is a

embolus on the male and the position of the copulatory openings on the female epigyne, which differ from the otherwise similar Chalcoscirtus infimus

.

Taxonomy

Chalcoscirtus lepidus is a

embolus and spermathecae as distinguishing signs for the group.^[7] Euophryines is itself placed within a supergroup named Euophryoida.^[8]

Description

Chalcoscirtus lepidus is a small spider.

embolus that curves into the bulb.^[11]

The female is larger than the male. It has a fawn-brown carapace that is between 1.1 and 1.2 mm (0.04 and 0.05 in) long and typically 0.8 mm (0.03 in) wide. The eye field is short, nearly black with a blue metallic tint and has a sparse covering of white hairs. The chelicerae are brown with two small teeth to the front and none to the back. The yellow elongated abdomen is significantly larger, between 2.1 and 2.2 mm (0.08 and 0.09 in) long and 1.3 mm (0.05 in) wide, with a pattern of three parallel narrow brown stripes on the top. The spinnerets and legs are yellow like the male.[12] The epigyne has two round barely visible copulatory openings that lead to twisted insemination ducts and bean-shaped receptacles.^[9]

The spider is similar to others in the genus. The female can be distinguished from the related Chalcoscirtus infimus by the position of the copulatory ducts.^[12] Chalcoscirtus kamchik is similar except that the abdomen has brown stripes on a yellow background while the other species has them reversed, yellow stripes on a brown background.^[13] It has similarities to Chalcoscirtus zyuzini, but differs in the lack of stripes on the topside of the carapace, the scutum on the abdomen and curved embolus.^[11]

Distribution

Chalcoscirtus species are mostly found in Central Asia. Chalcoscirtus lepidus lives in Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.^[1] The holotype, a female, was collected from the Chilmamedkum Desert near Türkmenbaşy, Turkmenistan, in 1987.^[12] Other examples, including the first male to be identified, were found approximately 20 km (12 mi) southeast of Pulikhatum in the Gezgyadyk Mountain Range at altitudes between 1,000 and 1,100 m (3,300 and 3,600 ft) above sea level in 1993, although they were not described until 1999. Others live in the Zulfagar Mountain Range and Badhyz State Nature Reserve. Meanwhile, the first examples living in Tajikistan had been discovered in 1991 in Khatlon Region and in Uzbekistan in 1986 near Samarkand.^[14] The species range was later extended to include Iran, particularly an area 50 km (31 mi) north-northeast of Shiraz.^[15] The first example from Afghanistan was found in 1963 in Uaidan-Täl at an altitude of 2,560 m (8,400 ft) above sea level but was not identified until 2005.^[16]