Aelurillus
| Aelurillus | |
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| male A. v-insignitus | |
| Scientific classification | |
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| Genus: | Aelurillus Simon, 1884
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| Type species | |
| Araneus litera v insignitus Clerck, 1757
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| Species | |
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see text | |
| Diversity | |
| 68 species | |
Aelurillus is a genus of the spider family Salticidae (jumping spiders).
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]
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]
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.
Species
- Aelurillus aeruginosus (Simon, 1871) — Mediterranean
- Aelurillus afghanus Azarkina, 2006 — Afghanistan
- Aelurillus andreevae Nenilin, 1984 — Central Asia
- Aelurillus angularis Prószynski, 2000 — Israel
- Aelurillus ater (Kroneberg, 1875) — Central Asia
- Aelurillus balearus Azarkina, 2006 — Canary Islands, Balearic Islands
- Aelurillus basseleti (Lucas, 1846) — Algeria, Tunisia
- Aelurillus blandus (Simon, 1871) — Greece, Crete
- Aelurillus bokerinus Prószynski, 2003 — Israel
- Aelurillus bosmansi Azarkina, 2006 — Spain
- Aelurillus brutus Wesolowska, 1996 — Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan
- Aelurillus catherinae Prószynski, 2000 — Egypt
- Aelurillus catus Simon, 1886 — Senegal
- Aelurillus cognatus (O. P.-Cambridge, 1872) — Lebanon
- Aelurillus concolor Kulczynski, 1901 — Macedonia, Iran, Central Asia
- Aelurillus conveniens (O. P.-Cambridge, 1872) — Egypt, Israel, Syria
- Aelurillus cretensis Azarkina, 2002 — Crete
- Aelurillus cristatopalpus Simon, 1902 — South Africa
- Aelurillus cypriotus Azarkina, 2006 — Cyprus
- Aelurillus dorthesi (Audouin, 1826) — Egypt
- Aelurillus dubatolovi Azarkina, 2003 — Central Asia
- Aelurillus faragallai Prószynski, 1993 — Saudi Arabia, Yemen
- Aelurillus gershomi Prószynski, 2000 — Israel
- Aelurillus guecki Metzner, 1999 — Greece
- Aelurillus helvenacius Logunov, 1993 — Mongolia
- Aelurillus hirtipes Denis, 1960 — North Africa
- Aelurillus improvisus Azarkina, 2002 — India
- Aelurillus jerusalemicus Prószynski, 2000 — Israel
- Aelurillus kochi Roewer, 1951 — Greece, Israel, Syria
- Aelurillus kopetdaghi Wesolowska, 1996 — Turkmenistan
- Aelurillus kronestedti Azarkina, 2004 — Sri Lanka
- Aelurillus laniger Logunov & Marusik, 2000 — Macedonia, Kazakhstan
- Aelurillus latebricola Spassky, 1941 — Tajikistan
- Aelurillus leipoldae (Metzner, 1999) — Crete
- Aelurillus logunovi Azarkina, 2004 — Afghanistan, Pakistan
- Aelurillus lopadusae Cantarella, 1983 — Italy, Algeria
- Aelurillus lucasi Roewer, 1951 — Canary 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 mirabilis Wesolowska, 2006 — Namibia
- Aelurillus m-nigrum Kulczynski, 1891 — Palearctic
- Aelurillus monardi (Lucas, 1846) — Mediterranean
- Aelurillus muganicus Dunin, 1984 — Azerbaijan
- 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, 1941 — Mali
- Aelurillus schembrii Cantarella, 1982 — Sicily, Malta
- Aelurillus simoni (Lebert, 1877) — Switzerland
- Aelurillus simplex (Herman, 1879) — Hungary
- Aelurillus spinicrus (Simon, 1871) — Morocco
- Aelurillus stanislawi (Prószynski, 1999) — Israel, Syria, Ethiopia
- Aelurillus steinmetzi Metzner, 1999 — Greece
- Aelurillus steliosi Dobroruka, 2002 — Crete
- Aelurillus subaffinis Caporiacco, 1947 — Ethiopia
- Aelurillus subfestivus Saito, 1934 — Japan
- Aelurillus tumidulus Wesolowska & Tomasiewicz, 2008 — Ethiopia
- Aelurillus unitibialis Azarkina, 2002 — Iran
- Aelurillus v-insignitus (Clerck, 1757) — Palearctic
- Aelurillus v-insignitus morulus (Simon, 1937) — France
- Aelurillus v-insignitus obsoletus Kulczynski, 1891 — Eastern Europe
Footnotes
References
- Murphy, Frances & Murphy, John (2000): An Introduction to the Spiders of South East Asia. Malaysian Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur.
- Platnick, Norman I. (2009): The world spider catalog, version 9.5. American Museum of Natural History.
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
External links
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