Journal of Threatened
Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 August 2025 | 17(8): 27391–27395
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9757.17.8.27391-27395
#9757 | Received 18 March 2025 | Final received 12 August 2025 | Finally
accepted 20 August 2025
New distribution record of two
jumping spider species of the genus Pellenes
Simon, 1876 and Thyene Simon, 1885 (Araneae: Salticidae) from
Gujarat, India
Subhash I. Parmar 1, Heena Prajapati 2 , Pranav J. Pandya 3 &
Dhruv A. Prajapati 4
1 Department of Earth and
Environmental Science, Krantiguru Shyamji
Krishna Verma Kachchh University, Bhuj, Gujarat
370001, India.
2 Department of Zoology, Government
Science College, Gandhingar, Gujarat 382015, India.
1,3 Department of Zoology, R.R. Lalan College, Bhuj, Gujarat 370001, India.
4 Sardar Patel Zoological Park,
Statue of Unity Road, Ektanagar, Gujarat 393151,
India.
1 parmarsubhash329@gmail.com, 2
heena1986prajapati@gmail.com, 3 pranavpandya1@yahoo.com,
4 dhruvspidy215@gmail.com
(corresponding author)
Editor: John T.D. Caleb, SIMATS, Saveetha
University, Chennai, India. Date of publication: 26 August 2025
(online & print)
Citation: Parmar,
S.I., H. Prajapati, P.J. Pandya & D.A. Prajapati (2025). New
distribution record of two jumping spider species of the genus Pellenes Simon, 1876 and Thyene
Simon, 1885 (Araneae: Salticidae)
from Gujarat, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 17(8): 27391–27395. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9757.17.8.27391-27395
Copyright: © Parmar et al. 2025. 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: Self-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. The authors are grateful to the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Krantiguru Shyamji Krishna Verma Kachchh University for providing necessary facilities for laboratory work. Also, thankful to Mr. Deep Dudiya for his generous help during this work.
Abstract: The discovery and records of two
species, Pellenes iva
Caleb, 2018 and Thyene bivittata
Xie & Peng, 1995 are documented for the first
time from Gujarat state.
Keywords: Arachnids, arid habitats,
biodiversity, first record, Kachchh, morphology, plexippini,
range extension, taxonomy, western India.
Indian Plexippini
is represented by 24 genera and 63 species (Maddison 2015; Basumatary
et al. 2021; Marathe et al. 2024; Caleb &
Sankaran 2025). Of these, nine genera and 14 species are reported from Gujarat
State: Epeus Peckham & Peckham, Bianor Peckham & Peckham, Harmochirus
Simon, Hyllus C.L. Koch, Modunda Simon,
Plexippus C.L. Koch, Telamonia Thorell, Thyene Simon, and Vailimia
Kammerer (Yadav et al. 2017; Parmar & Prajapati 2023).
The genus Pellenes
(Simon, 1876) is widespread, comprising 67 described species worldwide (WSC
2025). Among these, three species are found in India including, P. allegrii (Caporiacco,
1935) from Kashmir, P. himalaya (Caleb,
Sajan & Kumar, 2018) from Uttarakhand, and P. iva (Caleb, 2018) from Tamil Nadu (Caleb & Sankaran
2025).
The genus Thyene
(Simon, 1885) has a total of 59 described species around the world (WSC
2025). In India it is represented by three species, viz., T. bivittata (Xie & Peng,
1995) from Uttarakhand, T. calebi (Kanesharatnam & Benjamin, 2018) from Tamil Nadu, and T.
imperialis (Rossi, 1846) from Gujarat,
Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Tamil
Nadu (Caleb & Sankaran 2025).
During recent studies, we
identified two more plexippine jumping spider species
of the genus Pellenes (Simon, 1876) and Thyene (Simon, 1885), which are new to Gujarat
State. The present paper thus deals with the discovery and records of two
species Pellenes iva
(Caleb, 2018) and Thyene bivittata (Xie & Peng,
1995) for the first time from Kachchh, Gujarat.
Materials and Methods
The specimens were hand-collected
and studied under a Zeiss Stemi 508 stereomicroscope
and microphotographic images were taken by a Axiocam Erc 5s digital camera
attached to the stereomicroscope and enabled with the software Zeiss ZEN 2.6 lite, version 2.6.76.0. The Left palps were removed,
studied, and photographed by placing them in a cavity block filled with 70%
ethanol. All the measurements are in millimeters. The
species were identified based on Caleb & Kumar (2018) and Logunov (2021). The examined specimens have been deposited
in the reference collection of the Web of Nature (WON) Research Foundation,
Gujarat, India (curator: Dhruv A. Prajapati).
Abbreviations used in the text:
ALE—anterior lateral eye | AME—anterior median eye | PLE—posterior lateral eye
| PME—posterior median eye | RTA—retrolateral tibial
apophysis | CTA—compound terminal apophysis.
Family Salticidae
Blackwall, 1841
Genus Pellenes
Simon, 1876
Type species: Attus
cruciger Walckenaer,
1805
Pellenes iva Caleb, 2018
(Images 1–7)
Pellenes (Pelmultus)
iva Caleb, in Caleb & Kumar, 2018: 6, figs 1–29
Material examined: WON104450A,
4.iv.2022, two males, India, Gujarat, Danta Village
(24.1911° N, 72.770° E), 162 m, leg. S. Parmar; WON104450B, 4.x.2024, one male,
India, Gujarat, R.R. Lalan, college Campus-Bhuj
(23.236° N, 69.660° E), 155 m, from grassy patches, leg. S. Parmar; WON104450C,
21.vii.2024, one male, India, Gujarat, Aranya Park,
Gandhinagar (23.195° N, 72.673° E), 77 m, leg. D. Prajapati.
Diagnosis: The species can be
easily distinguished by the following characters: male pedipalp with thin
embolus accompanied with a CTA (Image 6). RTA strong, straight, broad at base
with a narrowed blunt tip, directed at 12 O’clock position, a faint ridge
concealed behind the RTA (Image 7) (Caleb & Kumar 2018).
Description: Male (Images 1–7),
total length 2.80; carapace length 1.47, width 1.15; abdomen length 1.40, width
0.93. Eye measurements: AME 0.27, ALE
0.13, AER 0.87, PME 0.03, PLE 0.13, PER 1.04. Leg measurements: I 3.20 (1.03,
0.66, 0.75, 0.45, 0.33); II 2.02 (0.65, 0.42, 0.35, 0.32, 0.27); III 2.95
(1.05, 0.51, 0.58, 0.45, 0.36); IV 2.36 (0.79, 0.39, 0.41, 0.42, 0.34).
Carapace black with a hairy white spot behind middle of AMEs and two hairy
white spots behind PLEs, a basal white stripe borders the outer edges
laterally; eyes surrounded by white orbital setae; clypeus blackish with a
basal transverse white stripe. Chelicerae dark brownish with vertical stripes
of white scales, with two fused teeth on promargin,
one tooth on retromargin. Sternum oval, brown. Abdomen ovoid, densely clothed with rusty brown hairs;
anterior margin adorned with white scales. A distinct
longitudinal mid-dorsal stripe present, accompanied by two pairs of
lateral white patches that appear to converge. Spinnerets brownish in color. Palps brownish; embolus slender, accompanied with a
CTA (Image 6). RTA strong, straight, broad at base with a narrowed blunt tip,
directed at 12 O’clock position, a faint ridge concealed behind RTA (Image 7).
Variation: The studied specimen has the
following variations when compared to the holotype male from Tamil Nadu: three
hairy white spots on carapace (one behind AMEs and one each behind PLEs) (Image 1–4),
while only two white spots on carapace behind PLEs are seen in the holotype
male of P. iva (Figure 1 in Caleb & Kumar
2018). The two pairs of small lateral white stripes do not touch the medial
stripe on abdomen (Images 1 & 5) whereas, lateral stripes almost touch the
medial stripe on abdomen in holotype (anterior), and paratype (both anterior
and posterior stripes) (Figure 5 in Caleb & Kumar 2018). Also, femur of leg
I is light brown (Images 1–5) (Dark brown in holotype male, Figure 1–5 in Caleb
& Kumar 2018).
Natural history: P.
iva was found in the arid and semi-arid, open
habitats with scattered grassy patches along with low shrubs nearby urban area
and individuals were mostly found on ground surfaces in direct sunlight.
Distribution: India (WSC 2025).
Distribution in India: Tamil Nadu
(Caleb & Kumar 2018) and Gujarat (new record) (Figure 1).
Genus Thyene
Simon, 1885
Type species: Attus
imperialis Rossi, 1846
Thyene bivittata
Xie & Peng, 1995
(Images 8, 9 & 10)
Thyene bivittata
Xie & Peng,
1995: 105, f. 1A-E
Thyene bivittata
Jastrzębski, 2006: 1, f. 1-5
Thyene bivittata
Logunov, 2021d: 357, f. 27-39
For a complete list of taxonomic
references refer WSC (2025).
Material examined: WON104622A,
21.v.2021, one male, India, Gujarat, Danta Village
(24.191° N, 72.770° E), 143 m, leg. S. Parmar; WON104622B, 12.vii.2024, one
male, India, Gujarat, Bhuj (23.238° N, 69.634° E), 209 m., leg. S. Parmar.
Diagnosis: The species can be
easily distinguished by the following characters: male pedipalp with slender
and long embolus encircling tegulum, bulbus rounded
with small finger-shaped membranous outgrowth on anterolateral position (Image
9). RTA simple, long, broad at the base and narrowed blunt tip, curved
dorsally, directed at 2 O’clock position (Image 10) (Logunov
2021).
Description: Male (Image 8–10),
total length 4.10; carapace length 2.02, width 1.46; abdomen length 2.08, width
1.15. Eye measurements: AME 0.50, ALE 0.27, AER 0.95, PME 0.07, PLE 0.25, PER
1.14. Leg measurements: I 3.72 (1.25, 0.58, 0.75, 0.56, 0.54); II 3.48 (1.18,
0.54, 0.72, 0.52, 0.51); III 3.92 (1.32, 0.51, 0.68, 0.77, 0.62); IV 4.07
(1.29, 0.63, 0.85, 0.64, 0.68). Carapace
darkish brown with a posterior-median whitish-orange patch. Anterior eyes
surrounded by white and reddish orange scales anterior, and posterior
respectively. Clypeus brown. white patch extends posteriorly along lateral
sides, from below ALEs to base of carapace. Chelicerae black with two teeth on promargin and one bifurcated tooth on retromargin.
Abdomen elongated, with a median yellowish band running longitudinally from
anterior to posterior end, lateral sides uniformly dark brown along entire
length. Spinnerets dark brown. Embolus slender and long, encircling tegulum, bulbus flat, rounded with small finger-shaped
membranous outgrowth on anterolateral position (Image 9). RTA simple, long,
broad at base and narrowed blunt tip, curved dorsally, directed at 2 O’clock
position (Image 10).
Natural history: Thyene bivittata
was observed inhabiting dry, open scrubland with sparse vegetation, often found
on low bushes, and leaf litter during daytime. Specimens collected by hand,
indicating diurnal activity, and ground associated microhabitat preference.
Distribution: Pakistan, India,
Nepal, China (WSC 2025)
Distribution in India:
Uttarakhand (Logunov 2021) and Gujarat (new record)
(Figure 1).
For
figure & images - - click here for full PDF
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