Aelurillus kopetdaghi

Aelurillus kopetdaghi
The related Aelurillus v-insignitus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Salticidae
Subfamily: Salticinae
Genus: Aelurillus
Species:
A. kopetdaghi
Binomial name
Aelurillus kopetdaghi

Aelurillus kopetdaghi is a species of jumping spider that lives in the mountains of Turkmenistan. A member of the genus Aelurillus, it was first described in 1996 by Wanda Wesołowska. A dark brown and medium-sized spider, it has a bristly carapace that is between 3.4 and 3.5 mm (0.13 and 0.14 in) long and a hairy abdomen that is between 3.2 and 4.1 mm (0.13 and 0.16 in) long. Its hairy legs are orange or orange-brown. The female is larger than the male. They also differ in details, such as the colour of the pedipalps, which are orange and brown respectively. The copulatory organs of the female are superficially similar to other species in the genus, like Aelurillus v-insignitus, but the internal structure is more complex. This makes them hard to distinguish from other species in the genus.

Taxonomy and etymology

Aelurillus kopetdaghi is a species of jumping spider, a member of the family Salticidae, that was first described by the arachnologist Wanda Wesołowska in 1996.[1] It is one of over 500 species identified by the Polish arachnologist during her career.[2] She placed it in the genus Aelurillus, first described by Eugène Simon in 1885.[3] The name of the genus derives from the Greek word for 'cat' and the specific name is derived from the location where it was first found.[4][3]

The genus Aelurillus was placed in the subtribe Aelurillina in the tribe Aelurillini, both named after the genus, by Wayne Maddison in 2015. These were allocated to the clade Saltafresia.[5] The In 2017, Jerzy Prószyński grouped the genus with nine other genera of jumping spiders under the name Aelurillines.[6]

Description

Spiders of the Aelurillus genus are medium to large hairy spiders. Their body is divided into two main parts: a forward section known as a cephalothorax and, behind that, another section called an abdomen.[7] Aelurillus kopetdaghi is medium-sized. The male has a dark brown, nearly black, carapace, the hard upper side of its cephalothorax, that is 3.4 mm (0.13 in) long and 2.1 mm (0.083 in) wide, that has many long brown bristles. The bristles are especially common on the eye field. The under side of its cephalothorax, its sternum, is black. Its mouthparts, including its chelicerae, labium and maxilae, are brown, The spider has a two small teeth visible at the front of its chelicerae and another at the back.[8]

The male's abdomen is dark brown like its carapace. It is elongated, 3.2 mm (0.13 in) long and 2.4 mm (0.094 in) wide and covered with dense long brown hairs. The base of the abdomen is darker than the top. The spider's spinnerets vary in colour, with the forward ones darker than those towards the back. Its legs are orange and hairy, and its pedipalps are brown and hairy.[8]

The male's copulatory organs include a hairy cymbium that I attached to a rounded palpal bulb. The palpal bulb consists of a bulbous tegulem that has a large pointy bulge that projects downwards to lie beside the palpal tibia. There is a smaller bulge at the top that finishes in a small straight embolus. The spider's palpal tibia has clumps of long hairs and three hooked spikes, or tibial apophyses.[9] The shape of the copulatory organs differentiate the species from others in the genus.[7]

The female is similar to the male in shape but slightly larger. It has a carapace 3.5 mm (0.14 in) long and 2.3 mm (0.091 in) wide and an abdomen that is 4.1 in (100 mm) long and 31 mm (1.2 in) wide. Its carapace is higher and has a darker eye field. Its sternum is yellowish-orange. The spider has similar mouthparts to the male. The abdomen is more rounded, with a pointed end, with golden hairs visible amongst the darker ones as found in the male. It is dark brown on top and lighter underneath. Its legs are orange-brown with patches of darker hues and longer hairs. Its pedipalps are orange. It has many similarities to the related Aelurillus affinis and Aelurillus v-insignitus, particularly in the shape of the epigyne. This is rounded with two diagonal copulatory openings. However, the internal structure is more complex than either the other two species, with very clear accessory glands.[8]

Distribution

Aelurillus spiders have a wide distribution, mainly in the Palearctic realm.[10] The spider is endemic to central Asia.[11] It has only been seen in Turkmenistan.[1] The holotype was found iaround the mountains of the Kopetdagh in 1985, along with other examples.[3] It was subsequently identified in the Magtymguly District, particularly the Karaelchi Mountain Range, in 1992, typically living at an altitude of 500 m (1,600 ft) above sea level.[11]

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b World Spider Catalog (2017). "Aelurillus kopetdaghi Wesolowska, 1996". World Spider Catalog. 18.0. Bern: Natural History Museum. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  2. ^ Wiśniewski 2020, p. 6.
  3. ^ a b c Wesołowska 1996, p. 24.
  4. ^ Fernández-Rubio 2013, p. 125.
  5. ^ Maddison 2015, p. 279.
  6. ^ Prószyński 2017, p. 95.
  7. ^ a b Wesołowska 2006, pp. 226.
  8. ^ a b c Wesołowska 1996, pp. 24–25.
  9. ^ Wesołowska 1996, p. 20.
  10. ^ Azarkina, Zoumides & Hadjiconstantis 2018, p. 49.
  11. ^ a b Logunov & Ponomarev 2020, p. 70.

Bibliography

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