''Langelurillus primus'' is the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

for the

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 ...

Langelurillus ''Langelurillus'' is a spider genus (biology), genus of the family Salticidae (jumping spiders). All the described species occur only in Africa. Species , the World Spider Catalog accepted the following species: *''Langelurillus alboguttatus'' ...

''. It is a

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 ...

that is

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 ...

in Kenya first described in 1994 by Maciej Próchniewicz, the species name denoting its position as first to be identified. The spider is small, with an orange-brown or dark brown

carapace A carapace is a dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the unde ...

that is between long and a dark yellow, greyish-brown or yellowish-green

abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the gut, belly, tummy, midriff, tucky, or stomach) is the front part of the torso between the thorax (chest) and pelvis in humans and in other vertebrates. The area occupied by the abdomen is called the abdominal ...

between long. The female is longer than the male. The abdomen often has a pattern of spots. It has hairy legs. The male has three tibial apophyses, or spikes, a short pointed

embolus An embolus (; : emboli; from the Greek ἔμβολος "wedge", "plug") is an unattached mass that travels through the circulatory system, bloodstream and is capable of creating blockages. When an embolus Vascular occlusion, occludes a blood vess ...

and a large ovoid tegulum. The female has a very small

epigyne The epigyne or epigynum is the external genital structure of female spiders. As the epigyne varies greatly in form in different species, even in closely related ones, it often provides the most distinctive characteristic for recognizing species. ...

that has a single pocket. The species can be distinguished from the related '' Langelurillus kenyaensis'' and '' Langelurillus krugeri'' by the design of the female copulatory organs, particularly the length of the seminal ducts.

Taxonomy

''Langelurillus primus'' 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), ...

first described by Maciej Próchniewicz in 1994. Próchniewicz allocated it as the

of the

'', raised at the same time. The species name is based on the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word for first, as it was the first to be identified and listed. The genus is related to '' Aelurillus'' and ''

Langona ''Langona'' is a genus of spiders in the family Salticidae (jumping spiders). ''Langona'' species are similar to those of the genus ''Aelurillus''. In 2015, it was listed in the subtribe Aelurillina. The subtribe is allocated to the Tribe (biolog ...

'' but the spiders are smaller and, unlike these genera and '' Phlegra'', they lack the parallel stripes on the back of the body that is feature of the majority of these spiders. In 2015,

Wayne Maddison Wayne Paul Maddison (born 1958) is a Canadian evolutionary biologist, arachnologist, and biological illustrator. He is Canada Research Chair in Biodiversity and a professor at the departments of zoology and botany at the University of British ...

listed the genus in the

subtribe Subtribe is a taxonomic category ranking which is below the rank of tribe and above genus. The standard suffix for a subtribe is -ina (in animals) or -inae (in plants). The first use of this word dates back to the late 19th century. An example of ...

Aelurillina, which also contains ''Aelurillus'', ''Langona'' and ''Phlegra'', in the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

Aelurillini, within the subclade Saltafresia in the

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

Salticoida. In 2016,

Jerzy Prószyński Jerzy Prószyński (born 1935 in Warsaw) is a Polish arachnologist specializing in systematics of jumping spiders (family Salticidae). He is a graduate of the University of Warsaw, a long-term employee of the Siedlce University of Natural Sc ...

placed the same genera in a group named Aelurillines based on the shape of the spiders' copulatory organs.

Description

''Langelurillus primus'' is a small spider. The male has an orange-brown

that is typically long and wide and has an orange pattern on its

thorax The thorax (: thoraces or thoraxes) or chest is a part of the anatomy of mammals and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main di ...

. The eye field is brownish-black. The clypeus is yellowish-orange and slightly narrower than the diameter of some of the eyes. The

chelicerae The chelicerae () are the arthropod mouthparts, mouthparts of the subphylum Chelicerata, an arthropod group that includes arachnids, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. Commonly referred to as "jaws", chelicerae may be shaped as either articulated ...

is yellowish-orange and toothless. The labium and

sternum The sternum (: sternums or sterna) or breastbone is a long flat bone located in the central part of the chest. It connects to the ribs via cartilage and forms the front of the rib cage, thus helping to protect the heart, lungs, and major bl ...

are also yellowish-orange. The yellowish-green

is typically long has a pattern of greyish spots its back and rectangular scutum. It has black stripes on its

spinneret A spinneret is a silk-spinning organ of a spider or the larva of an insect. Some adult insects also have spinnerets, such as those borne on the forelegs of Embioptera. Spinnerets are usually on the underside of a spider's opisthosoma, and ar ...

s. The legs have brown hairs and spines. The

pedipalp Pedipalps (commonly shortened to palps or palpi) are the secondary pair of forward appendages among Chelicerata, chelicerates – a group of arthropods including spiders, scorpions, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. The pedipalps are lateral to ...

is hairy and has a large ovoid tegulum. It has three tibial apophyses, or spikes, and a prolateral tibial process that is shaped like a triangle. The

is short and pointed. The female is slightly longer than the male. It has an orange-brown or dark brown pear-shaped carapace that is between long and wide and has a stripe down the middle made of white hairs. The clypeus is similar but covered in white hairs. The chelicerae are orange-brown or light brown with one small tooth towards the back in some examples. It has a less orange in its yellow labium and sternum, while the legs are short and orange-yellow or dark yellow and covered with dense brown hairs. The abdomen is greyish-brown or yellowish with brown spots and measures between long and typically wide. The underside is light. The

is very small and has a single pocket and long tube-like seminal ducts that lead to multi-chambered and highly sclerotised oval

spermatheca The spermatheca (pronounced : spermathecae ), also called ''receptaculum seminis'' (: ''receptacula seminis''), is an organ of the female reproductive tract in insects, e.g. ants, bees, some molluscs, Oligochaeta worms and certain other in ...

e. The spider is similar to others in the genus. The female can be distinguished from '' Langelurillus kenyaensis'' by its shorter and less looped seminal ducts. The related '' Langelurillus krugeri'' can be identified by its shorter seminal ducts and the way that the spermathecae are placed perpendicular, rather than parallel, to the epigastric furrow.

Distribution

Almost all, if not all, ''Langelurillus'' spiders live in sub-Saharan Africa. ''Langelurillus primus'' is

to Kenya. The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

was discovered in 1975 in Meru National Park. It was also found near Lake Bogoria in 1971 and has only been identified in those areas of the country.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{taxonbar, from1=Q2277439 Fauna of Kenya Salticidae Spiders described in 1994 Spiders of Africa