Aelurillus

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Aelurillus
male A. v-insignitus
male A. v-insignitus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Family: Salticidae
Subfamily: Aelurillinae
Genus: Aelurillus
Simon, 1884
Diversity
65 species
Type species
Araneus litera v insignitus
Clerck, 1757
Species

see text

Aelurillus is a genus of the spider family Salticidae (jumping spiders).

Contents

[edit] Description

Aelurillus are typically about 7 mm long in females, and up to five mm in males. They are stout, squat-shaped and rather furry, with females often uniformly mottled sandy brown, while males are often black, sometimes with a pattern and with light, annulated legs.[1]

[edit] Habits

Spiders in this genus mainly catch and feed on ants (myrmecophagy).

A Southeast Asian Aelurillus species has been observed to jump around 30-40 times its body length straight onto the back of a large gnaphosid spider and kill it.[2]

They like hot, dry, stony places or small bare open areas with dead twigs or similar amongst low vegetation.[1]

[edit] Distribution

Aelurillus occurs in the Palaearctic and Africa, with a few species known from India (A. improvisus, A. minimontanus) and Sri Lanka (A. kronestedti, A. quadrimaculatus). Aelurillus subfestivus is found in Japan.

[edit] Species

  • Aelurillus aeruginosus (Simon, 1871)Mediterranean
  • Aelurillus andreevae Nenilin, 1984Central Asia
  • Aelurillus angularis Prószynski, 2000Israel
  • Aelurillus ater (Kroneberg, 1875) — Central Asia
  • Aelurillus basseleti (Lucas, 1846)Algeria, Tunisia
  • Aelurillus blandus (Simon, 1871)Greece, Crete
  • Aelurillus bokerinus Prószynski, 2003 — Israel
  • Aelurillus brutus Wesolowska, 1996Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan
  • Aelurillus catherinae Prószynski, 2000Egypt
  • Aelurillus catus Simon, 1885Senegal
  • Aelurillus cognatus (O. P.-Cambridge, 1872)Lebanon
  • Aelurillus concolor Kulczynski, 1901Macedonia, Iran, Central Asia
  • Aelurillus conveniens (O. P-Cambridge, 1872) — Egypt, Israel, Syria
  • Aelurillus cretensis Azarkina, 2002 — Crete
  • Aelurillus cristatopalpus Simon, 1902South Africa
  • Aelurillus dorthesi (Audouin, 1826) — Egypt
  • Aelurillus dubatolovi Azarkina, 2003 — Central Asia
  • Aelurillus faragallai Prószynski, 1993Saudi Arabia, Yemen
  • Aelurillus gershomi Prószynski, 2000 — Israel
  • Aelurillus guecki Metzner, 1999 — Greece
  • Aelurillus helvenacius Logunov, 1993Mongolia
  • Aelurillus hirtipes Denis, 1960North Africa
  • Aelurillus improvisus Azarkina, 2002India
  • Aelurillus jerusalemicus Prószynski, 2000 — Israel
  • Aelurillus kochi Roewer, 1951 — Greece, Israel, Syria
  • Aelurillus kopetdaghi Wesolowska, 1996 — Turkmenistan
  • Aelurillus kronestedti Azarkina, 2004Sri Lanka
  • Aelurillus laniger Logunov & Marusik, 2000 — Kazakhstan
  • Aelurillus latebricola Spassky, 1941Tajikistan
  • Aelurillus leipoldae (Metzner, 1999) — Crete
  • Aelurillus logunovi Azarkina, 2004Afghanistan, Pakistan
  • Aelurillus lopadusae Cantarella, 1983Italy, Algeria
  • Aelurillus lucasi Roewer, 1951Canary Islands, Salvages
  • Aelurillus luctuosus (Lucas, 1846) — Mediterranean to Turkmenistan
  • Aelurillus lutosus (Tyschchenko, 1965) — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
  • Aelurillus marusiki Azarkina, 2002 — Iran
  • Aelurillus minimontanus Azarkina, 2002 — India
  • Aelurillus minutus Azarkina, 2002 — Syria
  • Aelurillus m-nigrum Kulczynski, 1891Palearctic
  • Aelurillus monardi (Lucas, 1846) — Mediterranean
  • Aelurillus muganicus Dunin, 1984Azerbaijan
  • Aelurillus nabataeus Prószynski, 2003 — Israel
  • Aelurillus nenilini Azarkina, 2002 — Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan
  • Aelurillus numidicus (Lucas, 1846) — Algeria
  • Aelurillus plumipes (Thorell, 1875) — Algeria, Tunisia
  • Aelurillus politiventris (O. P.-Cambridge, 1872) — Greece to Israel
  • Aelurillus quadrimaculatus Simon, 1889 — India, Sri Lanka
  • Aelurillus reconditus Wesolowska & van Harten, 1994 — Yemen
  • Aelurillus rugatus (Bösenberg & Lenz, 1895)Tanzania
  • Aelurillus sahariensis Berland & Millot, 1941Mali
  • Aelurillus schembrii Cantarella, 1982Sicily, Malta
  • Aelurillus simoni (Lebert, 1877)Switzerland
  • Aelurillus simplex (Herman, 1879)Hungary
  • Aelurillus spinicrus (Simon, 1871)Morocco
  • Aelurillus steinmetzi Metzner, 1999 — Greece
  • Aelurillus steliosi Dobroruka, 2002 — Crete
  • Aelurillus subaffinis Caporiacco, 1947Ethiopia
  • Aelurillus subfestivus Saito, 1934Japan
  • Aelurillus unitibialis Azarkina, 2002 — Iran
  • Aelurillus v-insignitus (Clerck, 1757) — Palearctic
    • Aelurillus v-insignitus morulus Simon, 1937France
    • Aelurillus v-insignitus obsoletus Kulczynski, 1891Eastern Europe

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Murphy & Murphy 2000: 273
  2. ^ Murphy & Murphy 2000: 344

[edit] References

  • Murphy, Frances & Murphy, John (2000): An Introduction to the Spiders of South East Asia. Malaysian Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur.
  • Platnick, Norman I. (2007): The world spider catalog, version 8.0. American Museum of Natural History.

[edit] Further reading

  • Li, D., Jackson, R.R. & Harland, D.P (1999). Prey-capture techniques and prey preferences of Aelurillus aeruginosus, A. cognatus and A. kochi , ant-eating jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) from Israel. Isr. J. Zool 45: 341-.
  • Azarkina, G.N. (2004): Two new species of the genus Aelurillus Simon, 1884 from Pakistan and Sri Lanka (Araneae: Salticidae). Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 13(2): 49-52
  • Szűts, T. & Azarkina, G. (2002): Redescription of Aelurillus subaffinis Caporiacco, 1947 (Araneae: Salticidae). Annales Historico-Naturales Musei Nationalis Hungarici 94: 209-216. PDF

[edit] External links

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