''Stenaelurillus kavango'' 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 ...

'' Stenaelurillus'' that lives in Namibia. It was first described in 2014 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 ...

from a

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 ...

specimen found in the

Kavango Region Kavango (before 1998: Okavango) was one of the thirteen regions of Namibia until it was split into the Kavango East and Kavango West Regions in 2013. Its capital was Rundu. In the north, Kavango bordered the Cuando Cubango Province of Angola, an ...

, after which it takes its name. Only the female has been identified. The spider is small, with a brown

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 ...

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 ...

long. The

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 ...

is hairy, dark brown, and has four white streaks, while the abdomen is brown-black with light stripes. It can be distinguished from other members of the genus by the design 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. ...

, which is oval, and its bean-shaped

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 ...

Taxonomy

''Stenaelurillus kavango'' was first described by

in 2014. It is 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 ...

. She placed it in the

'' Stenaelurillus'', first raised 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 1886. The name relates to the genus name '' Aelurillus'', which itself derives from the Greek word for cat, with the addition of a Greek stem meaning narrow. The species name is taken from the

, where it was first found. In 2015, the genus was placed in the subtribe 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 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 ...

Saltafresia 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 ...

. Two years later, in 2017, it was grouped with nine other genera of jumping spiders under the name Aelurillines.

Description

Only the female has been described. The spider is small and has an overall shape that is typical for the genus. The

is typically long and wide, while the

is long and wide. The spider has an almost oval

and abdomen. The dark brown carapace is covered with hair and has two lateral white streaks with two more crossing the

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 abdomen is brown-black with a light coloured stripe across the middle. 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 ...

and legs are light brown. The eye field is very short and black covered in dense brown bristles and thick short setae. Some of the eyes are circled with short white hairs. The

is oval and has central copulatory openings. The epigyne is larger than the otherwise similar '' Stenaelurillus latibulbis'' but has bean-shaped

e. It also very similar to the species ''

Stenaelurillus furcatus ''Stenaelurillus furcatus'' is a species of jumping spider in the genus '' Stenaelurillus'' that lives in Namibia. It was first described in 2014 by Wanda Wesołowska. The spider is small, with a brown cephalothorax between in length and a blac ...

'' and '' Stenaelurillus guttiger'', distinguished only by the shape and proportions of the insemination ducts and primary spermathecae.

Distribution

The species 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 Namibia. The

was identified in the

based on a specimen collected in 1984. It is known only from that local area.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q27505139 Endemic fauna of Namibia Fauna of Namibia Salticidae Spiders described in 2014 Spiders of Africa Taxa named by Wanda Wesołowska