''Aelurillus'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...

s in the family

Salticidae Jumping spiders are a group of spiders that constitute the family (biology), family Salticidae. , this family contained over 600 species description, described genus, genera and over 6,000 described species, making it the largest family of spide ...

(jumping spiders).

Description

Species of the genus ''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.Murphy & Murphy 2000: 273

Habits

Spiders in this genus mainly catch and feed on ants (

myrmecophagy Myrmecophagy is a feeding behavior in animals, defined by the consumption of termites or ants—particularly as pertaining to those animal species whose diets are largely, or completely, composed of these insect types. Notable myrmecophages inclu ...

). A Southeast Asian species of the genus ''Aelurillus'' has been observed to jump around 30-40 times its body length straight onto the back of a large gnaphosid spider and kill it. They like hot, dry, stony places or small bare open areas with dead twigs or similar amongst low vegetation.

Distribution

Species of the genus ''Aelurillus'' occur in the

Palaearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

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

The following species are recognised in the genus ''Aelurillus'': * '' Aelurillus aeruginosus'' (Simon, 1871) – Mediterranean * '' Aelurillus afghanus'' Azarkina, 2006 – Afghanistan * '' Aelurillus alboclypeus'' Azarkina & Komnenov, 2015 – Turkey * '' Aelurillus ambiguus'' (Denis, 1966) – Libya * '' Aelurillus andreevae'' Nenilin, 1984 – Central Asia * '' Aelurillus angularis'' Prószynski, 2000 – Israel * '' Aelurillus ater'' (Kroneberg, 1875) – Central Asia * '' Aelurillus balearus'' Azarkina, 2006 –

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago forms a Provinces of Spain, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain, ...

* '' Aelurillus basseleti'' (Lucas, 1846) – Algeria, Tunisia * '' Aelurillus blandus'' (Simon, 1871) – Greece,

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

* '' Aelurillus bokerinus'' Prószynski, 2003 – Israel * '' Aelurillus bosmansi'' Azarkina, 2006 – Spain * '' Aelurillus brutus'' Wesołowska, 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 deltshevi'' Azarkina & Komnenov, 2015 – North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan * '' Aelurillus desertus'' (Wesołowska & van Harten, 2010) – United Arab Emirates * '' Aelurillus dorthesi'' ( Audouin, 1826) – Egypt * '' Aelurillus dubatolovi'' Azarkina, 2003 – Central Asia * '' Aelurillus faragallai'' Prószynski, 1993 – Saudi Arabia, Yemen * '' Aelurillus galinae'' Wesołowska & van Harten, 2010 – United Arab Emirates * '' 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 khorasanicus'' Azarkina & Mirshamsi, 2014 – Iran * '' Aelurillus kochi'' Roewer, 1951 – Greece, Israel, Syria * '' Aelurillus kopetdaghi'' Wesołowska, 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'' Wesołowska, 2006 – Namibia * '' Aelurillus m-nigrum'' Kulczynski, 1891 –

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

* '' Aelurillus madagascariensis'' Azarkina, 2009 – Madagascar * '' Aelurillus marusiki'' Azarkina, 2002 – Iran * '' Aelurillus minimontanus'' Azarkina, 2002 – India * '' Aelurillus minutus'' Azarkina, 2002 – Syria, Eritrea * '' Aelurillus mirabilis Wesołowska, 2006'' Wesołowska, 2006 – Namibia * '' Aelurillus monardi'' (Lucas, 1846) – Mediterranean * '' Aelurillus murphyorum'' Azarkina, 2022 – Kenya * '' 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 rugatus'' (Bösenberg & Lenz, 1895) – Tanzania * '' Aelurillus russellsmithi'' Azarkina, 2009 – Ivory Coast * '' Aelurillus schembrii'' Cantarella, 1982 –

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

* '' Aelurillus simplex'' (Herman, 1879) – Hungary * ''

Aelurillus spider monkey ''Aelurillus'' is a genus of spiders in the family Salticidae (jumping spiders). Description Species of the genus ''Aelurillus'' are typically about 7 mm long in females, and up to five mm in males. They are stout, squat-shaped and rather f ...

'' – Asia * '' Aelurillus spinicrus'' (Simon, 1871) – Morocco * '' Aelurillus steinmetzi'' Metzner, 1999 – Greece * '' Aelurillus subaffinis'' Caporiacco, 1947 – Ethiopia * '' Aelurillus subfestivus'' Saito, 1934 – Japan * '' Aelurillus thailandicus'' Azarkina, 2019 – Thailand * '' Aelurillus tumidulus'' Wesołowska & 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 * '' Aelurillus westi'' Azarkina & Zamani, 2019 – Iran

References

* Murphy, Frances & Murphy, John (2000): An Introduction to the Spiders of South East Asia. ''Malaysian Nature Society'', Kuala Lumpur.

External links

(with drawings)
Redescription of Aelurillus subaffinis Caporiacco, 1947
(PDF)

{{Taxonbar, from=Q117413 Salticidae genera Spiders of Asia Spiders of Africa Salticidae