Thiratoscirtus elgonensis
Taxonomy
Thiratoscirtus elgonensis is a species of jumping spider that was first described by Angelika Dawidowicz and Wanda Wesołowska in 2016.[1] One of over 500 different species identified by Wesołowska in her career, it is named for the Mount Elgon, where t was first found.[2][3] They allocated the spider to the genus Thiratoscirtus, first circumscribed in 1909 by Eugène Simon. The genus is very diverse and contains many monophyletic groups.[4]
Thiratoscirtus is a member of the subtribe Thiratoscirtina in the tribe Aelurillini.[5] The genus is closely related to Nimbarus.[6] In 2016, Mellissa Bodner and Wayne Maddison proposed a subfamily Thiratoscirtinae for the genus and its related genera.[7] This overlapped with a group of genera named Thiratoscirtines after the genus, created by Jerzy Prószyński in 2017.[8] Phylogenetic analysis has shown that the genus is related to the genera Alfenus, Bacelarella, Longarenus and Malloneta.[9] It is likely to have diverged between 16.3 and 18.7 million years ago.[10] Maddison allocated the tribe to the subclade Simonida in the clade Saltafresia in the clade Salticoida.[11]
Description
Thiratoscirtus elgonensis is a medium-sized spider. The spider's body is divided into two main parts:a cephalothorax and an abdomen.[12] The male has a cephalothorax that measures typically between 2.0 and 2.5 mm (0.08 and 0.10 in) in length and 1.6 and 1.9 mm (0.06 and 0.07 in) in width. The carapace, the hard upper part of the cephalothorax, is a moderately high oval that is generally brown and covered in brown hair. It is marked with a light band across the middle and white streaks formed by hairs on the sides. There is a furrow-like depression in the centre of carapace. A black field surrounds the eyes that is covered in black hairs, with a few longer brown bristles visible particularly around the forward eyes. The sternum, the underside of the cephalothorax, is brown. Its face, or clypeus, is low and light brown with light hairs. Its mouthparts are brown, with paler tips on the labium and maxillae while chelicerae are marked by having a single tooth at the back.[3]
The spider's abdomen is a small oval that measures between 2.1 and 2.7 mm (0.08 and 0.11 in) long and between 1.4 and 1.8 mm (0.06 and 0.07 in) wide. It is a generally brown oval with a pattern of yellowish chevrons towards the rear. The chevrons are covered in yellowish hairs, the remainder of the abdomen with brown hairs. The sides are whitish and the underside yellowish and marked with brown markings. The spider's spinnerets are light brown, as are its legs. The legs have long thin brown hairs and a single spine.[3]
The pedipalps, sensory organs near the mouth, are small and covered in long dense hairs. The male copulatory organs include a rounded hairy cymbium that surrounds the smaller bean-like palpal bulb. A relatively long embolus extends from the middle of the bulb and curves around towards th top of the cymbium but finishes in a point before it reaches that point. Its palpal tibia is small and has a small single slightly curved spike, or tibial apophysis, extending from one side and a clump of long hairs on the other. The pedipalp is very similar to the related Thiratoscirtus efik, but the embolus is longer and the tibial apophysis is larger.[3]
The female is similar to the male in size with a cephalothorax that is measures typically between 1.8 and 2.7 mm (0.07 and 0.11 in) in length and a similar range of widths.[3] The carapace is generally lighter but has a similar pattern, with a lighter streak running down the middle.[12] Between {2.0 and 2.5 mm long and 1.5 mm (0.06 in) and 2.0 wide, is abdomen is brown with a single light irregularly-shaped streak running down the middle, finishing in a pattern of chevrons towards the rear.[13] The legs are a similar brown to the majority of the body.[12]
The female's copulatory organs are distinctive with an epigyne that is unique in having a depression in the middle that is heart-shaped and two extremely wide insemination ducts. There is also a single spine evident on the palpal tarsus.[3] The openings are fissured and the insemination ducts lead to spermathecae, or receptacles, that have strong sclerotization, each with two chambers. The first chamber is curved and the second spherical.[14]
Distribution
Thiratoscirtus spiders generally live in Africa and are particularly common in the forests of Central and West Africa.[4]
References
Citations
- ^ World Spider Catalog (2021). "Thiratoscirtus elgonensis Dawidowicz & Wesołowska, 2016". World Spider Catalog. 22.5. Bern: Natural History Museum. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
- ^ Wiśniewski 2020, p. 6.
- ^ a b c d e f Dawidowicz & Wesołowska 2016, p. 457.
- ^ a b Pett, Iyomi & Mbende 2024, p. 155.
- ^ Maddison 2015, p. 280.
- ^ Szűts & Maddison 2021, p. 124.
- ^ Prószyński 2017, p. 109.
- ^ Prószyński 2017, p. 105.
- ^ Bodner & Maddison 2016, p. 219.
- ^ Bodner & Maddison 2016, p. 224.
- ^ Maddison 2015, p. 278.
- ^ a b c Dawidowicz & Wesołowska 2016, p. 463.
- ^ Dawidowicz & Wesołowska 2016, pp. 457–458.
- ^ Dawidowicz & Wesołowska 2016, p. 458.
Bibliography
- Bodner, Melissa R.; Maddison, Wayne P. (2016). "The biogeography and age of salticid spider radiations (Araneae: Salticidae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 65 (1): 213–240. Bibcode:2016MolPE..65..213B. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2016.06.005. PMID 22735169.
- Dawidowicz, Angelika; Wesołowska, Wanda (2016). "Jumping Spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) of Kenya Collected by Åke Holm". Annales Zoologici. 66 (3): 437–466. doi:10.3161/00034541ANZ2016.66.3.010. S2CID 89556915.
- Maddison, Wayne P. (2015). "A phylogenetic classification of jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae)". The Journal of Arachnology. 43 (3): 231–292. doi:10.1636/arac-43-03-231-292. S2CID 85680279.
- Pett, Brogan L.; Iyomi, Dieu Merci Mpongo; Mbende, Menard (2024). "Discovery of three new species of Thiratoscirtus (Araneae: Salticidae: Thiratoscirtinae) from Central African rainforest". Zootaxa. 5399 (2): 155–162. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5399.2.4. PMID 38221167.
- Prószyński, Jerzy (2017). "Pragmatic classification of the World's Salticidae (Araneae)". Ecologica Montenegrina. 12: 1–133. doi:10.37828/em.2017.12.1.
- Szűts, Tamás; Maddison, Wayne P. (2021). "New species of the monotypic thiratoscirtine genera Ajaraneola and Nimbarus (Araneae: Salticidae: Aelurillini: Thiratoscirtina)". Zootaxa. 4915 (1): 119–126. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4915.1.8. PMID 33756588.
- Wiśniewski, Konrad (2020). "Over 40 years with jumping spiders: on the 70th birthday of Wanda Wesołowska". Zootaxa. 4899 (1): 5–14. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4899.1.3. PMID 33756825. S2CID 232337200.