''Thrandina'' is a genus of

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 ...

s, with three species found in

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

. It is unique among

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: ...

salticids in having strikingly large posterior median eyes.Maddison 2006

Description

''Thrandina'' and its sister genus '' Galianora'' share the ancestral salticid traits of a tarsal claw on the female palpus and a median apophysis on the male palp. This is rare among neotropical salticids. Both genera are informally grouped as "lapsiines", together with ''

Lapsias ''Lapsias'' is a spider genus (biology), genus of the jumping spider family, Salticidae. Phylogeny ''Lapsias'', ''Galianora'' and ''Thrandina'' are informally classified as "lapsiines". These are believed to be basal (phylogenetics), basal jump ...

''. However, the shared basal characteristics with ''Lapsias'' could be

symplesiomorphic In phylogenetics, a plesiomorphy ("near form") and symplesiomorphy are synonyms for an ancestral character shared by all members of a clade, which does not distinguish the clade from other clades. Plesiomorphy, symplesiomorphy, apomorphy, an ...

. Males of ''Thrandina parocula'' are about long. Their carapace is dark brown to black, except for a central pale longitudinal stripe on the thorax. The legs are pale to medium brown, with a darker femur I. The abdomen is medium brown with lighter chevrons above, and pale below with dark speckles. The female is slightly smaller with a bodylength of . It looks like the male, but with more annulate legs. ''Thrandina parocula'' was collected from moss-covered branches and tree-trunks in the understory of moist forests at elevations of and higher, up to . Males walk fluid but hesitantly, frequently pausing and then raising and lowering.their first two pairs of legs in synchrony. A similar gait is observed in

Spartaeinae The Spartaeinae are a subfamily of the spider family Salticidae (jumping spiders). The subfamily was established by Fred R. Wanless in 1984 to include the groups Boetheae, Cocaleae, Lineae, Codeteae and Cyrbeae, which in turn were defined by Eu ...

Species

* ''Thrandina bellavista'' (Maddison, 2012) * ''Thrandina cosanga'' (Maddison, 2012) * ''Thrandina parocula'' (Maddison, 2006)

Name

The genus is a contraction of

Thranduil Thranduil is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He first appears as a supporting character in ''The Hobbit'', where he is simply known as the Elvenking, the ruler of the Elf (Middle-earth), Elves who lived in ...

, the king of

Mirkwood Mirkwood is any of several great dark forests in novels by Sir Walter Scott and William Morris in the 19th century, and by J. R. R. Tolkien in the 20th century. The critic Tom Shippey explains that the name evoked the excitement of the wildness ...

elves in

J.R.R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

's mythology, which, as ''Thrandina'', inhabit shady forests, and ''andina'', referring to the

Andean The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...

habitat. The species name refers to the relatively equal sizes of the lateral and posterior eyes.

Footnotes

References

* (2006): New lapsiine jumping spiders from Ecuador (Araneae: Salticidae). ''Zootaxa'' 1255: 17–28
PDF
(with picture of male) * (2007)

version 8.0. ''American Museum of Natural History''.

External links

* Video of walking male
Thrandina parocula
' Salticidae Invertebrates of Ecuador Salticidae genera Spiders of South America {{Salticidae-stub