Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 June 2024 | 16(6): 25492–25494

 

 

ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) 

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9108.16.6.25492-25494

#9108 | Received 19 April 2024 | Final received 04 May 2024 | Finally accepted 18 May 2024

 

 

New distribution records of two jumping spiders of the genus Stenaelurillus Simon, 1886 (Araneae: Salticidae) from Gujarat, India

 

Subhash I. Parmar 1, Pranav J. Pandya 2  & Dhruv A. Prajapati 3

 

1,2 Shri R.R. Lalan College, Bhuj, Kachchh, Gujarat 370001, India.

3 Web Of Nature (WON) Research Foundation, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380058, India.

1 parmarsubhash329@gmail.com, 2 pranavpandya1@yahoo.com, 3 dhruvspidy215@gmail.com (corresponding author)

 

 

Editor: John T.D. Caleb, SIMATS, Saveetha University, Chennai, India.         Date of publication: 26 June 2024 (online & print)

 

Citation: Parmar, S.I., P.J. Pandya & D.A. Prajapati (2024). New distribution records of two jumping spiders of the genus Stenaelurillus Simon, 1886 (Araneae: Salticidae) from Gujarat, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 16(6): 25492–25494. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9108.16.6.25492-25494

  

Copyright: © Parmar et al. 2024. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.  JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.

 

Funding: Crowd funding.

 

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

 

Acknowledgements: The first author is thankful to UGC (University Grants Commission) for providing Junior Research fellowship (award no. 231610067756) for the doctoral research. We are also thankful to Mrs Priyal Patel (WON Research Foundation, Ahmedabad) for her generous help in preparation of images.

 

 

 

 

The jumping spider genus Stenaelurillus Simon, 1886, belonging to the tribe Aelurillini (Maddison 2015), is widely distributed and currently comprises 59 known species (World Spider Catalog 2024). Among these, 20 species have been documented in India (Caleb & Sankaran 2024). Of these, two species, S. arambagensis Biswas & Biswas, 1992 and S. gabrieli Prajapati, Murthappa, Sankaran & Sebastian, 2016, are recorded in Gujarat. Through recent investigations, we identified two additional species of the genus Stenaelurillus that have not been documented in Gujarat State till date. This paper presents new records and documentation of S. marusiki Logunov, 2001, and S. vyaghri Sanap, Joglekar & Caleb, 2022, marking their first appearance in Gujarat, India.

The specimens were hand-collected and studied under a Leica M205 A stereomicroscope and microphotographic images were taken by a Leica DFC2900 digital camera attached to the stereomicroscope and enabled with the software package Leica Application Suite (LAS), version 4.5.0. The epigyne was dissected and the soft tissues were cleared using 10% KOH. Left palps and epigyne were studied and photographed by placing them in a cavity block filled with ethanol. The species were identified based on Logunov (2001) and Marathe et al. (2022). The examined specimens have been deposited in the reference collection of the Web of Nature (WON) Research Foundation, Gujarat, India (curator: Dhruv A. Prajapati).

 

Family Salticidae Blackwall, 1841

Genus Stenaelurillus Simon, 1886

Type species: Stenaelurillus nigricaudus Simon, 1886

Stenaelurillus marusiki Logunov, 2001

(Image 1, 4–5)

Stenaelurillus marusiki Logunov, 2001: 66, fig. 27–30

Stenaelurillus marusiki Marathe et al. 2022: 4, fig. 1–27

Material examined: WON103574A, 13.iii.2017, 1 male, India, Gujarat, Meva Village (23.3255 0N, 69.2738 0E), 162 m, leg. D. Prajapati; 21.v.2021, 1 male, India, Gujarat, Taranga (23.9694 0N, 72.7444 0E), 366 , leg. S. Parmar.

Diagnosis: The species can be easily distinguished by the following characters: embolus short, distal tegular projection cone shaped and as long as embolus (Image 5). RTA simple, slightly curved (Image 4).

Distribution: Iran and India (Logunov 2001; Marathe et al. 2022).

Distribution in India: Maharashtra (Marathe et al. 2022) and Gujarat (new record).

 

Stenaelurillus vyaghri Sanap, Joglekar & Caleb, 2022

(Image 2–3, 6–9)

Stenaelurillus vyaghri Sanap, Joglekar & Caleb, in Marathe et al., 2022: 14, fig. 94–114

Material examined: WON100351, 21.v.2021, 1 male & 1 female, India, Gujarat, Danta Village (24.1925°N, 72.783333°E), 327 m , from rocky patches, leg. S. Parmar.

Diagnosis: The species can be easily distinguished by following characters: male with short, thick and hook shaped embolus, RTA long with pointed tip (Image 6–7). Female with spherical spermathecae, epigynal pocket well-developed, narrowed and deep (Image 8–9) (Marathe et al. 2022).

Distribution: India (WSC 2024)

Distribution in India: Maharashtra (Marathe et al. 2022) and Gujarat (new record).

 

For images - - click here for full PDF

 

 

References

 

Biswas, B. & K. Biswas (1992). Araneae: Spiders. State Fauna Series 3: Fauna of West Bengal 3: 357–500.

Caleb, J.T.D. & P.M. Sankaran (2024). Araneae of India, Version 2024. http://www.indianspiders.in. Accessed on 31 March 2024.

Logunov, D.V. (2001). New and poorly known species of the jumping spiders (Aranei: Salticidae) from Afghanistan, Iran and Crete. Arthropoda Selecta 10: 59–66.

Maddison, W.P. (2015). A phylogenetic classification of jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae). Journal of Arachnology 43(3): 231–292. https://doi.org/10.1636/arac-43-03-231-292

Marathe, K., R. Sanap, A. Joglekar, J.T.D. Caleb & W.P. Maddison (2022). Three new and notes on two other jumping spider species of the genus Stenaelurillus Simon, 1886 (Salticidae: Aelurillina) from the Deccan Plateau, India. Zootaxa 5125(1): 1–19. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5125.1.1

Prajapati, D.A., P.S. Murthappa, P.M. Sankaran & P.A. Sebastian (2016). Two new species of Stenaelurillus Simon, 1886 from India (Araneae: Salticidae: Aelurillina). Zootaxa 4171(2): 321–334. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4171.2.5

World Spider Catalog (2024). World Spider Catalog. Version 25. Natural History Museum Bern. http://wsc.nmbe.ch. Accessed on 31 March 2024. https://doi.org/10.24436/2