''Stenaelurillus siyamae'' 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 ''Stenaelurillus'' is a genus of jumping spiders that was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1886. Most species live in Africa, with some species found in Asia, including China. All species have two white longitudinal stripes on the carapa ...

'' that lives in Sudan. It was first described in 2018 by Dmitri Logunov and Galina Azarkina 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 by a collector named Siyam in the

Dinder National Park Dinder National Park is a national park and biosphere reserve in eastern Sudan, and is connected to Ethiopia's Alitash National Park. Location Dinder lies approximately southeast of Khartoum, on either side of the Dinder River bounded to the n ...

. The species takes its name from the collector. Only the female has been identified. The spider is small, with a

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 ...

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 is hairy, brown and has four white streaks, two made of scales on the body and two made of hairs on the edges, while the abdomen is a mixture of grey, brown and yellow with two large brown stripes flanking a thinner white stripe, all made of hairs. It is similar to ''

Stenaelurillus sudanicus ''Stenaelurillus sudanicus'' is a species of jumping spider in the genus ''Stenaelurillus'' that lives in Sudan. It was first described in 2014 by Wanda Wesołowska. Only the female has been identified. The spider is small, with a brown cephalot ...

'' also found in the country but can be distinguished 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, its widely separated facing copulatory openings, and long, S-shaped insemination ducts.

Taxonomy

''Stenaelurillus siyamae'' was first described by Dmitri Logunov and Galina Azarkina in 2018. It was placed in the

'', 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 genus name relates to the genus name ''

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 ...

'', which itself derives from the Greek word for cat, with the addition of a Greek stem meaning narrow. It 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 ...

in 2015. Two years later, in 2017, it was grouped with nine other genera of jumping spiders under the name Aelurillines. The species name is taken from the collector of the first example of the spider to be identified, M. Siyam from

South Sudan South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the ...

Description

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

is typically long and wide. It has a pattern of two stripes that go from the front to the back made of white scales and additional stripes on the edges made of white hairs. The

is a combination of grey, yellow and brown with a stripe made of white hairs flanked by larger stripes made of brown hairs, with another white hairy stripe lining the sides. It is long and wide. 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 ...

, clypeus and legs are brown-yellow but the chelicerae are covered in white hairs while the clypeus and legs have dark brown hairs. There is a dark brown stripe on the clypeus from the carapace sides to the end. 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 similarly brown-yellow while 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 yellow with white hairs and brown bristles. The

is flat and round with large oval copulatory openings and a deep wide pocket. The

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 are bean-shaped. The spider is very similar to ''

'', especially in the colour and patterns on the spider's body. However, it can be distinguished by the design of the sexual organs. ''Stenaelurillus siyamae'' has widely separated and facing copulatory openings, and longer, S-shaped insemination ducts than the other species. Logunov and Azarkina thought that the male of the species could be one of those currently identified as ''

Stenaelurillus strandi ''Stenaelurillus'' is a genus of jumping spiders that was first described by Eugène Louis Simon in 1886. Most species live in Africa, with some species found in Asia, including China. All species have two white longitudinal stripes on the carapa ...

''.

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 Sudan. The

was identified in the

based on a specimen collected in 2013. It is known only from that local area. The similar ''Stenaelurillus sudanicus'' is found in the same country.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q56650822 Endemic fauna of Sudan Fauna of Sudan Salticidae Spiders described in 2018 Spiders of Africa