''Brettus'' 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 ...

jumping spider 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 ...

s. Its six described species are found in southern

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Sulawesi Sulawesi ( ), also known as Celebes ( ), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the List of islands by area, world's 11th-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Min ...

, with a single species

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. Two species in this genus, ''B. celebensis'' and ''B. madagascarensis'', were originally described as members of the genus '' Macopaeus''. According to Thorell, the genus name is taken from Greek mythology. Brettos (Βρεττος) was a son of

Heracles Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...

(appears at

Stephanus of Byzantium Stephanus or Stephen of Byzantium (; , ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD) was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethnica'' (). Only meagre fragments of the dictionary survive, but the epit ...

Diet and behaviour

At least 2 species, '' Brettus cingulatus'' and '' Brettus adonis'', feed on other spiders. Taking advantage of their ability to not adhere to any kind of

spider silk Spider silk is a protein fibre or silk spun by spiders. Spiders use silk to make webs or other structures that function as adhesive traps to catch prey, to entangle and restrain prey before biting, to transmit tactile information, or as nest ...

, they practise

aggressive mimicry Aggressive mimicry is a form of mimicry in which predation, predators, parasites, or parasitoids share similar signalling theory, signals, using a harmless model, allowing them to avoid being correctly identified by their prey or host (biolog ...

and pluck upon the webs of web-building spiders to lure them over to the ''Brettus'' at the edge of the web, where they capture/stab their victim. These two spider species also prefer web-building spiders to insects as prey. They are in these regards similar to the other Spartaeinae jumping spiders of

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

'' Portia,

Cyrba ''Cyrba'' is a genus of spiders in the family Salticidae (jumping spiders). The genus was erected by Hippolyte Lucas in 1846. Description ''Cyrba'' spiders are small to medium size spiders that are usually brightly colored. Their cephalothora ...

'' and ''

Gelotia ''Gelotia'' is a genus of jumping spiders that was first described by Tamerlan Thorell in 1890. Species It contains eleven species, found only in Asia and on New Britain: *'' Gelotia argenteolimbata'' ( Simon, 1900) – Singapore *'' Gelotia bim ...

''.

Species

* '' Brettus adonis'' Simon, 1900 —

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

* '' Brettus anchorum'' Wanless, 1979 — India,

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

* '' Brettus celebensis'' (Merian, 1911) —

* '' Brettus cingulatus'' Thorell, 1895 — India,

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

* '' Brettus madagascarensis'' ( Peckham & Peckham, 1903) —

* '' Brettus storki'' Logunov & Azarkina, 2008 — Borneo

Footnotes

References

* (2009)
The world spider catalog
version 9.5. ''American Museum of Natural History''.

Diet and behaviour

Species

Footnotes

References

External links

Further reading