Stenaelurillus brandbergensis

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Stenaelurillus brandbergensis
The related Stenaelurillus termitophagus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Salticidae
Subfamily: Salticinae
Genus: Stenaelurillus
Species:
S. brandbergensis
Binomial name
Stenaelurillus brandbergensis
(Wesołowska, 2006)
Synonyms[1]
  • Mashonarus brandbergensis (Wesołowska, 2006)

Stenaelurillus brandbergensis,

Mashonarus but was moved to its current genus in 2018. The spider is medium-sized and black, with a cephalothorax between 1.7 and 2.0 mm (0.067 and 0.079 in) in length and an abdomen between 1.6 and 2.9 mm (0.063 and 0.114 in) long. It is distinguished from other members of the genus by having two broad white stripes that mark both the abdomen and carapace. The epigyne in the female also has shorter insemination ducts than the otherwise similar, though larger, Stenaelurillus guttatus
.

Taxonomy

Mashonarus brandbergensis is a

Mashonarus, which had been created by Wesołowska and Meg S. Cumming in 2002.[3] The genus name was derived from Mashonaland, the area where it was first found.[4] The spiders in the genus were medium-sized, between 4.2 and 7.0 mm (0.17 and 0.28 in) in length, and were differentiated by their sexual organs. At the time, the species was seen as very similar to Stenaelurillus, particularly in the structure of the epigyne and the shield-like shape of and patterns on the abdomen.[5]

The species was moved to Stenaelurillus by Dmitri Logunov and Galina N. Azarkina in 2018.

clade Saltafresia.[9] The species name is derived from the place where it was first found, the Brandberg Mountain.[10]

Description

The spider is medium-sized and generally similar to

spinnerets are long and yellow, and the legs are light brown. The pedipalps are small, dark brown or black with some small white hairs. The palpal bulb is elongated and the embolus is thin and hidden with only the tip visible.[10]

The female is similar to the male in shape but slightly larger. It has an cephalothorax 1.9 to 2.0 mm (0.075 to 0.079 in) long and 1.4 to 2.1 mm (0.055 to 0.083 in) wide and an abdomen that is between 1.8 and 2.9 in (46 and 74 mm) long and 1.4 to 2.2 mm (0.055 to 0.087 in) wide. The colouring is similar. The epigyne is small with lateral copulatory openings and very short insemination ducts.[10] Apart from the striped pattern, it is the very short insemination ducts that most distinguish the species from Stenaelurillus guttatus.[11]

Distribution

The species was first identified in the area around the Brandberg Mountain in Namibia.[12] It is endemic to the country.[13]

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b World Spider Catalog (2017). "Stenaelurillus brandbergensis (Wesolowska, 2006)". World Spider Catalog. 18.0. Bern: Natural History Museum. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  2. ^ Wiśniewski 2020, p. 6.
  3. ^ a b Logunov 2020, p. 202.
  4. ^ Wesołowska & Cumming 2002, p. 165.
  5. ^ Wesołowska & Cumming 2002, pp. 166–167.
  6. ^ Logunov & Azarkina 2018, p. 46.
  7. ^ Fernández-Rubio 2013, p. 125.
  8. ^ Prószyński 2017, p. 95.
  9. ^ Maddison 2015, p. 279.
  10. ^ a b c d Wesołowska 2006, p. 243.
  11. ^ a b Logunov & Azarkina 2018, p. 28.
  12. ^ Logunov & Azarkina 2018, p. 31.
  13. ^ Logunov & Azarkina 2018, p. 14.

Bibliography