''Metaltella simoni'' is a species of

spider Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species d ...

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and enterta ...

to South America (

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

), and introduced into the United States and Canada. Left palp of male, ventral view

Description

Females are about 8 to 9 mm long, males about 7 to 8.5 mm long. Both sexes are brown, with some darker parts, such as of the front of the carapace (the upper surface of the

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 ''ceph ...

), the ends of the legs and the

chelicerae The chelicerae () are the 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 fangs, or simila ...

. The abdomen (

opisthosoma The opisthosoma is the posterior part of the body in some arthropods, behind the prosoma ( cephalothorax). It is a distinctive feature of the subphylum Chelicerata (arachnids, horseshoe crabs and others). Although it is similar in most respects ...

) is mottled grey or grey–black, with indistinct paler chevrons towards the rear. Males have an orange-yellow area towards the back of the carapace, darkening to brown at the front. The lateral eyes of both sexes are larger than the median eyes.

Taxonomy

''Metaltella simoni'' was first described as ''Amaurobius simoni'' by

Eugen von Keyserling Eugen von Keyserling (22 March 1833 in Pockroy, Lithuania – 4 April 1889 in Dzierżoniów, Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and G ...

in 1878. It was transferred to the genus ''Metaltella'' by

Pekka T. Lehtinen Pekka T. Lehtinen (born 1934) is a Finnish arachnologist and taxonomist. He is known for his works in systematics and for the many expeditions in which he has participated. Biography Lehtinen was born on 5 April 1934 in a small village, Pargas, ...

in 1967.

Distribution and habitat

The species is native to South America (

and

). It was first collected in North America in Louisiana in 1944. In 1971, it was described as "common in Mississippi and parts of Louisiana" where it was found under logs at ground level. By 2008, it was described as "widespread in coastal southern California".

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6483003 Desidae Spiders of South America Spiders described in 1878