''Myrmarachne'' is a

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 ...

of ant-mimicking

jumping spiders Jumping spiders are a group of spiders that constitute the family Salticidae. , this family contained over 600 described genera and over 6,000 described species, making it the largest family of spiderscomprising 13% of spider species. Jumping s ...

that was first described by W. S. MacLeay in 1839. They are commonly called ant-mimicking spiders, but they are not the only spiders that have this attribute. The name is a combination of

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

('' myrmex''), meaning "ant", and (''

arachne Arachne (; from , cognate with Latin ) is the protagonist of a tale in classical mythology known primarily from the version told by the Roman poet Ovid (43 BCE–17 CE). In Book Six of his epic poem ''Metamorphoses'', Ovid recounts how ...

''), meaning "spider". This genus has undergone many changes, and is still under review as more information becomes available. In 2016, several genera were split off, including ''

Helicius ''Helicius'' is a genus of the spider family Salticidae (jumping spiders). Species As of May 2017, the World Spider Catalog lists the following species in the genus: * ''Helicius chikunii'' (Logunov & Marusik, 1999) – Russia * ''Helicius cylin ...

'' and the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

genus '' Panachraesta''. The genus ''

Emertonius ''Emertonius'' is a genus of spiders in the jumping spider family Salticidae. Taxonomy ''Emertonius'' was first described by George and Elizabeth Peckham in 1892. It was variously treated as a synonym of ''Myrmarachne'' or a separate genus from ...

'' was revalidated in 2018 after being synonymized with ''Myrmarachne'' for nearly thirty years.

Description

''Myrmarachne'' have an elongated

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 relatively long

chelicera 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 as a type ...

e that projects forward in males. The chelicerae of males can lack venom glands. The cephalothorax has a waist, and the

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 ...

often has one too. The colors can vary from black to yellow, depending on ant species it is mimicking, and can change over the course of its life. For example, one African species was observed to mimic a certain species of ants as a juvenile, and another ant species as an adult. They tend to wave their front legs in the air to simulate antennae, and many have bodies that also closely resemble ants. It was assumed they didn't use their front legs for locomotion at all, but high-speed cameras have shown that they move around using all eight legs, raising their forelimbs only when stationary.Making eight legs look like six - Study untangles mystery of how jumping spiders mimic ants’ movement
/ref> The genus '' Bocus'' is so similar to ''Myrmarachne'' that it cannot be distinguished without the help of a microscope.

Species

With about 80 described and many undescribed southeast Asian species, ''Myrmarachne'' is the most diverse genus of jumping spider in this region. A few species, such as the

palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

'' M. formicaria'', occur in temperate regions. it contains 195 species and three subspecies found in the tropics from

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, with some species found in the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

Description

Species

References

Further reading