Aelurillus

Aelurillus is a genus of spiders in the family Salticidae (jumping spiders).

Aelurillus
male A. v-insignitus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Infraorder: Araneomorphae
Family: Salticidae
Genus: Aelurillus
Simon, 1884[1]
Type species
Araneus litera v-insignitus
Clerck, 1757
Species

See text.

Diversity
68 species

Description

Aelurillus are typically about 7 mm long in females, and up to five mm in males. They are stout, squat-shaped and rather furry, with females often uniformly mottled sandy brown, while males are often black, sometimes with a pattern and with light, annulated legs.[2]

Habits

Spiders in this genus mainly catch and feed on ants (myrmecophagy).

A Southeast Asian Aelurillus species has been observed to jump around 30-40 times its body length straight onto the back of a large gnaphosid spider and kill it.[3]

They like hot, dry, stony places or small bare open areas with dead twigs or similar amongst low vegetation.[2]

Distribution

Aelurillus occurs in the Palaearctic and Africa, with a few species known from India (A. improvisus, A. minimontanus) and Sri Lanka (A. kronestedti, A. quadrimaculatus). Aelurillus subfestivus is found in Japan.

Species
  • Aelurillus aeruginosus (Simon, 1871) – Mediterranean
  • Aelurillus afghanus Azarkina, 2006 – Afghanistan
  • Aelurillus andreevae Nenilin, 1984 – Central Asia
  • Aelurillus angularis Prószynski, 2000 – Israel
  • Aelurillus ater (Kroneberg, 1875) – Central Asia
  • Aelurillus balearus Azarkina, 2006 – Canary Islands, Balearic Islands
  • Aelurillus basseleti (Lucas, 1846) – Algeria, Tunisia
  • Aelurillus blandus (Simon, 1871) – Greece, Crete
  • Aelurillus bokerinus Prószynski, 2003 – Israel
  • Aelurillus bosmansi Azarkina, 2006 – Spain
  • Aelurillus brutus Wesołowska, 1996 – Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan
  • Aelurillus catherinae Prószynski, 2000 – Egypt
  • Aelurillus catus Simon, 1886 – Senegal
  • Aelurillus cognatus (O. P.-Cambridge, 1872) – Lebanon
  • Aelurillus concolor Kulczynski, 1901 – Macedonia, Iran, Central Asia
  • Aelurillus conveniens (O. P.-Cambridge, 1872) – Egypt, Israel, Syria
  • Aelurillus cretensis Azarkina, 2002 – Crete
  • Aelurillus cristatopalpus Simon, 1902 – South Africa
  • Aelurillus cypriotus Azarkina, 2006 – Cyprus
  • Aelurillus dorthesi (Audouin, 1826) – Egypt
  • Aelurillus dubatolovi Azarkina, 2003 – Central Asia
  • Aelurillus faragallai Prószynski, 1993 – Saudi Arabia, Yemen
  • Aelurillus gershomi Prószynski, 2000 – Israel
  • Aelurillus guecki Metzner, 1999 – Greece
  • Aelurillus helvenacius Logunov, 1993 – Mongolia
  • Aelurillus hirtipes Denis, 1960 – North Africa
  • Aelurillus improvisus Azarkina, 2002 – India
  • Aelurillus jerusalemicus Prószynski, 2000 – Israel
  • Aelurillus kochi Roewer, 1951 – Greece, Israel, Syria
  • Aelurillus kopetdaghi Wesołowska, 1996 – Turkmenistan
  • Aelurillus kronestedti Azarkina, 2004 – Sri Lanka
  • Aelurillus laniger Logunov & Marusik, 2000 – Macedonia, Kazakhstan
  • Aelurillus latebricola Spassky, 1941 – Tajikistan
  • Aelurillus leipoldae (Metzner, 1999) – Crete
  • Aelurillus logunovi Azarkina, 2004 – Afghanistan, Pakistan
  • Aelurillus lopadusae Cantarella, 1983 – Italy, Algeria
  • Aelurillus lucasi Roewer, 1951 – Canary Islands, Salvages
  • Aelurillus luctuosus (Lucas, 1846) – Mediterranean to Turkmenistan
  • Aelurillus lutosus (Tyschchenko, 1965) – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
  • Aelurillus marusiki Azarkina, 2002 – Iran
  • Aelurillus minimontanus Azarkina, 2002 – India
  • Aelurillus mirabilis Wesołowska, 2006 – Namibia
  • Aelurillus m-nigrum Kulczynski, 1891 – Palearctic
  • Aelurillus monardi (Lucas, 1846) – Mediterranean
  • Aelurillus muganicus Dunin, 1984 – Azerbaijan
  • Aelurillus nabataeus Prószynski, 2003 – Israel
  • Aelurillus nenilini Azarkina, 2002 – Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan
  • Aelurillus numidicus (Lucas, 1846) – Algeria
  • Aelurillus plumipes (Thorell, 1875) – Algeria, Tunisia
  • Aelurillus politiventris (O. P.-Cambridge, 1872) – Greece to Israel
  • Aelurillus quadrimaculatus Simon, 1889 – India, Sri Lanka
  • Aelurillus reconditus Wesołowska & van Harten, 1994 – Yemen
  • Aelurillus rugatus (Bösenberg & Lenz, 1895) – Tanzania
  • Aelurillus sahariensis Berland & Millot, 1941 – Mali
  • Aelurillus schembrii Cantarella, 1982 – Sicily, Malta
  • Aelurillus simoni (Lebert, 1877) – Switzerland
  • Aelurillus simplex (Herman, 1879) – Hungary
  • Aelurillus spinicrus (Simon, 1871) – Morocco
  • Aelurillus stanislawi (Prószynski, 1999) – Israel, Syria, Ethiopia
  • Aelurillus steinmetzi Metzner, 1999 – Greece
  • Aelurillus steliosi Dobroruka, 2002 – Crete
  • Aelurillus subaffinis Caporiacco, 1947 – Ethiopia
  • Aelurillus subfestivus Saito, 1934 – Japan
  • Aelurillus tumidulus Wesołowska & Tomasiewicz, 2008 – Ethiopia
  • Aelurillus unitibialis Azarkina, 2002 – Iran
  • Aelurillus v-insignitus (Clerck, 1757) – Palearctic
    • Aelurillus v-insignitus morulus (Simon, 1937) – France
    • Aelurillus v-insignitus obsoletus Kulczynski, 1891 – Eastern Europe

References
  1. "Gen. Aelurillus Simon, 1884", World Spider Catalog, Natural History Museum Bern, retrieved 2016-12-22
  2. Murphy & Murphy 2000: 273
  3. Murphy & Murphy 2000: 344
  • Murphy, Frances & Murphy, John (2000): An Introduction to the Spiders of South East Asia. Malaysian Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur.

Further reading
  • Li, D., Jackson, R.R. & Harland, D.P (1999). Prey-capture techniques and prey preferences of Aelurillus aeruginosus, A. cognatus and A. kochi, ant-eating jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) from Israel. Isr. J. Zool 45: 341-.
  • Azarkina, G.N. (2004): Two new species of the genus Aelurillus Simon, 1884 from Pakistan and Sri Lanka (Araneae: Salticidae). Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 13(2): 49-52
  • Szűts, T. & Azarkina, G. (2002): Redescription of Aelurillus subaffinis Caporiacco, 1947 (Araneae: Salticidae). Annales Historico-Naturales Musei Nationalis Hungarici 94: 209-216. PDF
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