Pseudicius wesolowskae is a species of jumping spider in the genus Pseudicius that lives in Hebei, China. The spider was first described in 2001 by Mingsheng Zhu and Daxiang Song. The spider is small, with a body length that is between 3.43 and 3.78 mm (0.135 and 0.149 in). The male is larger than the female. The spider has a light brown carapace with a black eye field. The abdomen is a dark brown on the top, marked by a pattern of white spots, and grey-yellow underneath, with a pattern of yellow-white spots. The copulatory organs enable the species to be distinguished from others in the genus. The male has a long embolus and unusual tibial apophyses. The female has a cross-shaped marking towards the rear of its epigyne. The species is named after the Polish arachnologist Wanda Wesołowska.
| Pseudicius wesolowskae | |
|---|---|
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| An example of the related species Pseudicius kulczynskii | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Salticidae |
| Subfamily: | Salticinae |
| Genus: | Pseudicius |
| Species: | P. wesolowskae
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| Binomial name | |
| Pseudicius wesolowskae Zhu & Song, 2001
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Taxonomy
editPseudicius wesolowskae is a jumping spider that was first described by Mingsheng Zhu and Daxiang Song in 2001.[1] They allocated the species to the genus Pseudicius, first raised by Eugène Simon in 1885.[2] The genus name is related to two Greek words that can be translated false and honest.[3] The genus was provisionally placed alongside Icius that, despite looking superficially similar, has a different etymology.[4][5] The two genera have similar spermathecal structure but work by Wayne Maddison in 1987 demonstrated that they have very different DNA.[5] They were placed in the tribe Heliophaninae alongside Afraflacilla and Marchena. The tribe is ubiquitous across most continents of the world.[6] Maddison renamed the tribe Chrysillini in 2015.[7] The tribe is a member of the clade Saltafresia within the subfamily Salticoida.[8] A year later, in 2016, Jerzy Prószyński allocated the genus to the Pseudiciines group of genera, named after the genus.[9] The spiders have flattened and elongated body and characteristic colour patterns.[10] The species is named after the Polish arachnologist Wanda Wesołowska.[11]
Description
editPseudicius wesolowskae is a small spider. The female has a typical body length of 3.43 mm (0.135 in). It has a cephalothorax that is typically 1.56 mm (0.061 in) long and typically 1.12 mm (0.044 in) wide.[12] It has a flat light brown carapace scattered in short white hairs and spines, with black edges. The labium and sternum are dark brown. The chelicerae is lighter with two teeth at the front and one to the rear and the eye field is black.[13] The abdomen is typically 1.87 mm (0.074 in) long and 1.29 mm (0.051 in) wide.[14] Oval, it is dark brown, with a white front edge and a pattern of four horizontal white spots, The underside is grey-yellow with white hairs and a pair of larger round yellow-white spots to the front. The spinnerets are light. The legs are yellowish-brown to the front and darker brown to the back. The spider has spines that it uses to stridulate. The epigyne has w-shaped pocket and two copulatory openings.[13] There long curved insemination ducts that lead to strongly sclerotised oval spermathecae.[15][16]
The male is larger than the female with a typical body length of 3.78 mm (0.149 in). The body is slightly flat. The cephalothorax is slightly larger, typically measuring 1.71 mm (0.067 in) long and 1.17 mm (0.046 in) wide. The carapace and the legs are similar to the female. The chelicerae, labium and sternum are all light brown, as is the clypeus. The abdomen is typically 2.07 mm (0.081 in) long and 1.26 mm (0.050 in) wide and has a similar pattern to the female.[12] The pedipalps are an unusual shape for the genus. There are two spines on the back tibia and the tibial apophyses consist of two fork-like appendages, one with ridges lining one side. The embolus is long and curved with a distinctive sharp end. There is a ridge to the base of the palpal bulb.[17]
The spider is superficially similar to others in the species. It can be distinguished by the male's small embolus and the female's cross-shaped marking towards the rear of the epigyne.[14]
Behaviour
editLike many jumping spiders, Pseudicius spiders do not spin webs to capture prey. Instead, they build silken cocoon-like retreats, in which they generally live solitarily.[18] They are mainly diurnal hunters that use their good eyesight to spot their prey.[19] Pseudicius spiders use visual displays during courtship and transmit vibratory signals through silk to communicate to other spiders.[20] Courtship is complex, and involves often flexible dance displays.[21] The spiders prey on ants, but also use the presence of ants nests as a decoy to predators.[22]
Distribution
editPseudicius spiders can be found across Afro-Eurasia and the Eastern hemisphere.[23] Pseudicius wesolowskae is endemic to China.[1] The holotype was found in Pingshan County during 1982.[12] It was found in Zhuolu County in 2004 and has a species distribution across the province of Hebei.[15]
References
editCitations
edit- ^ a b World Spider Catalog (2017). "Pseudicius wesolowskae Zhu & Song, 2001". World Spider Catalog. 18.0. Bern: Natural History Museum. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
- ^ Wesołowska & Haddad 2013, p. 213.
- ^ Fernández-Rubio 2013, p. 129.
- ^ Fernández-Rubio 2013, p. 127.
- ^ a b Maddison, Bodner & Needham 2008, p. 56.
- ^ Maddison & Hedin 2003, p. 541.
- ^ Maddison 2015, pp. 247, 252.
- ^ Maddison 2015, p. 278.
- ^ Prószyński 2017, p. 36.
- ^ Prószyński 2017, p. 42.
- ^ Wiśniewski 2020, p. 8.
- ^ a b c Song, Zhu & Chen 2001, p. 454.
- ^ a b Zhu & Zhang 2011, p. 508.
- ^ a b Peng 2020, p. 373.
- ^ a b Zhang, Peng & Zhang 2022, p. 364.
- ^ Song, Zhu & Chen 2001, p. 455.
- ^ Peng 2020, p. 374.
- ^ Nelson 2023, p. 139.
- ^ Richman & Jackson 1992, p. 33.
- ^ Richman & Jackson 1992, p. 34.
- ^ Nelson 2023, p. 143.
- ^ Nelson 2023, p. 146.
- ^ Haddad & Wesołowska 2011, p. 109.
Bibliography
edit- Fernández-Rubio, Fidel (2013). "La etimología de los nombres de las arañas (Araneae)" [The etymology of the names of spiders (Araneae)]. Revista ibérica de Aracnología (in Spanish) (22): 125–130. ISSN 1576-9518.
- Haddad, Charles R.; Wesołowska, Wanda (2011). "New species and new records of jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) from central South Africa". African Invertebrates. 52 (1): 51–134. doi:10.5733/afin.052.0105. S2CID 86586010.
- Maddison, Wayne P. (2015). "A phylogenetic classification of jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae)". The Journal of Arachnology. 43 (3): 231–292. doi:10.1636/arac-43-03-231-292. S2CID 85680279.
- Maddison, Wayne P.; Hedin, Marshal C. (2003). "Jumping spider phylogeny (Araneae: Salticidae)". Invertebrate Systematics. 17 (4): 529–549. doi:10.1071/IS02044.
- Maddison, Wayne P.; Bodner, Melissa R.; Needham, Karen M. (2008). "Salticid spider phylogeny revisited, with the discovery of a large Australasian clade (Araneae: Salticidae)". Zootaxa. 1893: 49–64. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1893.1.3.
- Nelson, Ximena J. (2023). "A road map of jumping spider behavior". The Journal of Arachnology. 51 (2): 139–154. doi:10.1636/JoA-S-22-011.
- Peng, Xianjin (2020). 中固功物志: 元香椎劫物第五十三卷: 蛛形鋼 蜘蛛目 跳蛛科 [Fauna Sinica, Invertebrata 53, Arachnida: Araneae: Salticidae] (in Chinese). Beijing: Science Press. ISBN 978-7-03063-853-3.
- Prószyński, Jerzy (2017). "Pragmatic classification of the World's Salticidae (Araneae)". Ecologica Montenegrina. 12: 1–133. doi:10.37828/em.2017.12.1.
- Richman, David B.; Jackson, Robert R. (1992). "A review of the ethology of jumping spiders (Araneae, Salticidae)". Bulletin of the British Arachnology Society. 9 (2): 33–37.
- Song, Daxiang; Zhu, Mingsheng; Chen, J Jun (2001). 河北动物志: 蜘蛛类 [The Fauna of Hebei, China: Araneae] (in Chinese). Shijiazhuang: Hebei University of Science and Technology Publishing House.
- Wesołowska, Wanda; Haddad, Charles R. (2013). "New Data on the Jumping Spiders of South Africa (Araneae: Salticidae)". African Invertebrates. 54 (1): 177–240. doi:10.5733/afin.054.0111.
- Zhang, Feng; Peng, Jinyou.; Zhang, Baoshi (2022). 小五台山蜘蛛 [Spiders of Mount Xiaowutai] (in Chinese). Vol. 3. Beijing: Science Press. ISBN 978-7-03072-464-9.
- Zhu, Mingsheng; Zhang, Baoshi (2011). 河南蜘蛛志: 蛛形纲:蜘蛛目 [Spider Fauna of Henan: Arachnida: Araneae] (in Chinese). Beijing: Science Press. ISBN 978-7-03031-139-9.
- Wiśniewski, Konrad (2020). "Over 40 years with jumping spiders: on the 70th birthday of Wanda Wesołowska". Zootaxa. 4899 (1): 5–14. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4899.1.3. PMID 33756825. S2CID 232337200.