''Langelurillus squamiger '' 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), ...

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

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'' ...

'' that lives in South Africa. The species was first described in 2018 by

Wanda Wesołowska Wanda Wesołowska (born 11 August 1950) is a Polish zoologist known for her work with jumping spiders. She has described more species of jumping spider than any contemporary writer, and is second only to Eugène Simon in the history of arachnolo ...

and Charles Haddad. It is small, the male being slightly smaller than the female, with a

cephalothorax The cephalothorax, also called prosoma in some groups, is a tagma of various arthropods, comprising the head and the thorax fused together, as distinct from the abdomen behind. (The terms ''prosoma'' and ''opisthosoma'' are equivalent to ''cepha ...

that is between long and an

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. It is generally dark brown, with an orange pattern on the abdomen. It is very similar to other spiders in the genus, but differs in the shape of the male's tibial apophysis and the way that the female has both lobes at the back of the

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. ...

and short seminal ducts. The spider lives in leaves and eats '' Odontotermes''

termite Termites are a group of detritivore, detritophagous Eusociality, eusocial cockroaches which consume a variety of Detritus, decaying plant material, generally in the form of wood, Plant litter, leaf litter, and Humus, soil humus. They are dist ...

s alongside '' Stenaelurillus guttiger'' and '' Stenaelurillus modestus''.

Taxonomy

''Langelurillus squamiger '' was first described by

and Charles Haddad in 2018. It was one of over 500

identified by the Polish

arachnologist Arachnology is the scientific study of arachnids, which comprise spiders and related invertebrates such as scorpions, pseudoscorpions, harvestmen, ticks, and mites. Those who study spiders and other arachnids are arachnologists. More narrowly ...

Wesołowska during her career. The species is named for 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 scaly. They allocated it to the

'', which had been raised by Maciej Próchniewicz in 1994. 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 ...

placed 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 contained ''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 squamiger '' is a small spider. The male has a

that is between long and between wide. It has a 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 ...

, rather high and covered with short white hairs, with a black eye field. 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 ...

are brown and toothless. The labium is light brown. The

is smaller than the carapace, between long and between wide. It is rounded and brown, with a pattern made up of yellow patches. The underside is yellowish-grey. The

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 are black and yellow. The spider has yellowish-brown and very hairy legs. 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 ...

s are brown and also very hairy, with a very convex tegulum with small toothlike appendages or spikes. The spider has a number of tibial apophysis, or spikes. The

palpal bulb The two palpal bulbs – also known as palpal organs and genital bulbs – are the copulatory organs of a male spider. They are borne on the last segment of the pedipalps (the front "limbs" of a spider), giving the spider an appearance often descr ...

has an

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 ...

that coils around its tip. The embolus is hidden behind a shield. The female is larger than the male, with a carapace typically long and between wide and an abdomen measuring between in length and in width. The carapace is similar to colour and the abdomen darker. The spider has a broad

with a strongly sclerotised plate on the back half and two distinctive lobes. Internally, it has short seminal ducts leading to 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 related spiders, particularly '' Langelurillus orbicularis'', but can be distinguished by the shape of the male's tibial apophysis and the morphology of the female's copulatory organs. The particular, the female of the two species have a very similar epigyne but ''Langelurillus orbicularis'' is less sclerotised and lacks the two lobes. Lobes can also be found on ''

Langelurillus manifestus ''Langelurillus manifestus'' is a species of jumping spider in the genus ''Langelurillus'' that lives in Tanzania. It was first described in 2000 by Wanda Wesołowska and Anthony Russell-Smith. The spider is small, with a carapace that is between ...

'', but this species has much longer looping seminal ducts.

Distribution and habitat

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

to South Africa. 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 the Tembe Elephant Park in 2015. It lives in leaf litter. The spider was found living near, and eating, '' Odontotermes''

s. The spider was found alongside the jumping spiders '' Stenaelurillus guttiger'' and '' Stenaelurillus modestus''; both also are known to eat termites.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q67960475 Endemic spiders of South Africa Salticidae Spiders described in 2018 Spiders of South Africa Taxa named by Wanda Wesołowska