''Cyrba algerina'', the Algerian jumping spider, is a
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of
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 ...
in the subfamily
Spartaeinae
The Spartaeinae are a subfamily of the spider family Salticidae (jumping spiders). The subfamily was established by Fred R. Wanless in 1984 to include the groups Boetheae, Cocaleae, Lineae, Codeteae and Cyrbeae, which in turn were defined by Eu ...
.
Females grow to 4.2 to 6 millimeters, males 3.5 to 4 millimeters in size. It is the only species of
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 ...
found in Europe.
Ecology
''Cyrba algerina'' is
araneophagic and feeds on web-building spiders, but given a lengthy enough fasting period it will practice
entomophagy
Entomophagy (, from Greek wikt:ἔντομον, ἔντομον ', 'insect', and wikt:φαγεῖν, φαγεῖν ', 'to eat') is the practice of eating insects. An alternative term is insectivory. Terms for organisms that practice entomophagy ...
.
It has also displayed web-invading
kleptoparasitism
Kleptoparasitism (originally spelt clepto-parasitism, meaning "parasitism by theft") is a form of feeding in which one animal deliberately takes food from another. The strategy is evolutionarily stable when stealing is less costly than direct f ...
and
oophagy
Oophagy ( ) or ovophagy, literally "egg eating", is the practice of
embryos feeding on eggs produced by the ovary while still inside the mother's uterus. The word oophagy is formed from the classical Greek (, "egg") and classical Greek (, "to ...
.
References
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