''Langona manicata'' 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 ...

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 ...

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

Eugène Simon Eugène Louis Simon (; 30 April 1848 – 17 November 1924) was a French naturalist who worked particularly on insects and spiders, but also on birds and plants. He is by far the most prolific spider Taxonomy (biology), taxonomist in history, ...

in 1901. It is large, between long, the female larger than the male. The female has a white-grey

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 ...

with a stripe down the middle while the male has a black cephalothorax. The female also has a stripe of its abdomen, which the male lacks. It is hard to differentiate from other ''Langona'' spiders, particularly ''

Langona avara ''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 Aelur ...

''. The main distinguishing characteristic is the colour of the hairs on the single apophysis on the male

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 ...

Taxonomy

''Langona manicata'' is a

first described by

in 1901. He placed the

in the

'', which he also first described at the same time. The genus was listed 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 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 by

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 ...

in 2015. These were allocated to 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 ...

Saltafresia. In 2017, the genus was grouped with nine other genera of jumping spiders under the name Aelurillines. It is particularly closely related to the genus ''

Aelurillus ''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 ...

'', after which the subtribe, tribe and group are named. The different ''Langona'' species generally cannot be distinguished from each other or from other members of the group by either their colours or the patterns that appear on their bodies, but by the structure of the copulatory organs.

Description

The spider is large and hairy. The male measures about long. It has a black

that is covered with black, red and yellow hairs. The eye field is large and the uppermost eyes are fringed with red hairs. The

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 ...

is short and also black, with a white line down the middle that has whitish-red hairs. The underside is yellow-white. Whitish-red hairs can also be found on the short

legs A leg is a weight-bearing and locomotive anatomical structure, usually having a columnar shape. During locomotion, legs function as "extensible struts". The combination of movements at all joints can be modeled as a single, linear element cap ...

. The tibial apophysis, or appendage, has a curved tip. Like other ''Lagona'' spiders, the chelicerae are toothless and there is a single apophysis on the

tibia, which enables it to be distinguished from other Aelurillinae. The female is larger than the male, typically long. It has a white-grey cephalothorax than is marked with a wide band down the middle and black edges. The abdomen similarly has a stripe, although it is greyish-red and thinner. The species is very similar to ''

'', but differs in the colours of the hairs on the male pedipalp.

Distribution

''Langona manicata'' 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 found in Makapan near

Mokopane Mokopane, formerly known as Potgietersrus, is a town in the Limpopo province of South Africa. The town name was changed to Mokopane in 2003 in honour of a local Ma Nrebele leader, King Mghombane Gheghana, who ruled the area before being conquer ...

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q2193865 Endemic spiders of South Africa Salticidae Spiders of South Africa Spiders described in 1901