Aelurillus
| Aelurillus | |
|---|---|
| |
| male A. v-insignitus | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Chelicerata |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Order: | Araneae |
| Infraorder: | Araneomorphae |
| Family: | Salticidae |
| Subfamily: | Salticinae |
| Genus: | Aelurillus Simon, 1885[1] |
| Type species | |
| Araneus litera v-insignitus Clerck, 1757
| |
| Species | |
|
See text | |
| Diversity | |
| 72 species | |
Aelurillus is a genus of spiders in the family Salticidae (jumping spiders).
Distribution
[edit]Species of the genus Aelurillus occur 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.[1]
Description
[edit]Species of the genus 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
[edit]Spiders in this genus mainly catch and feed on ants (myrmecophagy).
A Southeast Asian species of the genus Aelurillus 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]
Species
[edit]As of October 2025[update], this genus includes 72 species and two subspecies:[1]
- Aelurillus aeruginosus (Simon, 1871) – Mediterranean
- Aelurillus afghanus Azarkina, 2006 – Afghanistan, Pakistan
- Aelurillus alboclypeus Azarkina & Komnenov, 2015 – Turkey
- Aelurillus ambiguus (Denis, 1966) – Libya
- Aelurillus andreevae Nenilin, 1984 – Turkmenistan, Tajikistan
- Aelurillus angularis Prószyński, 2000 – Israel
- Aelurillus ater (Kroneberg, 1875) – Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
- Aelurillus balearus Azarkina, 2006 – Canary Islands, Spain (Balearic Is.)
- Aelurillus basseleti (Lucas, 1846) – Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia
- Aelurillus blandus (Simon, 1871) – Portugal, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Morocco
- Aelurillus bokerinus Prószyński, 2003 – Israel
- Aelurillus bosmansi Azarkina, 2006 – Spain
- Aelurillus brutus Wesołowska, 1996 – Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan
- Aelurillus catherinae Prószyński, 2000 – Egypt
- Aelurillus catus Simon, 1886 – Senegal
- Aelurillus cognatus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872) – Lebanon
- Aelurillus concolor Kulczyński, 1901 – Greece, North Macedonia, Turkey, Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Iran, Central Asia
- Aelurillus conveniens (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872) – Egypt, Israel, Syria
- Aelurillus cretensis Azarkina, 2002 – Greece (Crete)
- Aelurillus cristatopalpus Simon, 1902 – South Africa
- Aelurillus cypriotus Azarkina, 2006 – Cyprus
- Aelurillus deltshevi Azarkina & Komnenov, 2015 – North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan
- Aelurillus desertus (Wesołowska & van Harten, 2010) – United Arab Emirates
- Aelurillus dubatolovi Azarkina, 2003 – Kazakhstan, Central Asia
- Aelurillus faragallai Prószyński, 1993 – Saudi Arabia, Yemen
- Aelurillus galinae Wesołowska & van Harten, 2010 – United Arab Emirates
- Aelurillus gershomi Prószyński, 2000 – Israel, Jordan
- Aelurillus guecki Metzner, 1999 – Greece, Turkey
- Aelurillus helvenacius Logunov, 1993 – Mongolia
- Aelurillus hirtipes Denis, 1960 – North Africa
- Aelurillus improvisus Azarkina, 2002 – India
- Aelurillus jerusalemicus Prószyński, 2000 – Israel
- Aelurillus khorasanicus Azarkina & Mirshamsi, 2014 – Iran
- Aelurillus kochi Roewer, 1951 – Greece, Israel, Syria, United Arab Emirates
- Aelurillus kopetdaghi Wesołowska, 1996 – Turkmenistan
- Aelurillus kronestedti Azarkina, 2004 – India, Sri Lanka
- Aelurillus laniger Logunov & Marusik, 2000 – North Macedonia, Kazakhstan
- Aelurillus latebricola Spassky, 1941 – Tajikistan
- Aelurillus leipoldae (Metzner, 1999) – Greece (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 (Tystshenko, 1965) – Russia (Europe, Caucasus), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
- Aelurillus m-nigrum Kulczyński, 1891 – South-eastern Europe, Russia (Europe to Central Asia), Caucasus, Iran, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, China
- Aelurillus madagascariensis Azarkina, 2009 – Madagascar
- Aelurillus marusiki Azarkina, 2002 – Iran
- Aelurillus minimontanus Azarkina, 2002 – India
- Aelurillus minutus Azarkina, 2002 – Syria, Eritrea
- Aelurillus mirabilis Wesołowska, 2006 – Namibia
- Aelurillus monardi (Lucas, 1846) – Mediterranean
- Aelurillus murphyorum Azarkina, 2022 – Kenya
- Aelurillus nabataeus Prószyński, 2003 – Israel, Jordan
- Aelurillus nenilini Azarkina, 2002 – Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
- Aelurillus numidicus (Lucas, 1846) – Algeria
- Aelurillus plumipes (Thorell, 1875) – Algeria, Tunisia
- Aelurillus politiventris (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872) – Greece to Israel
- Aelurillus quadrimaculatus Simon, 1889 – India, Sri Lanka
- Aelurillus quercussuber Wunderlich, 2023 – Portugal
- Aelurillus rugatus (Bösenberg & Lenz, 1895) – Tanzania
- Aelurillus russellsmithi Azarkina, 2009 – Ivory Coast, Ghana
- Aelurillus schembrii Cantarella, 1982 – Italy (mainland, Sicily), Malta
- Aelurillus simplex (Herman, 1879) – Hungary
- Aelurillus spinicrus (Simon, 1871) – Morocco
- Aelurillus steinmetzi Metzner, 1999 – Croatia, Greece
- Aelurillus subaffinis Caporiacco, 1947 – Eritrea
- Aelurillus subfestivus Saito, 1934 – Japan
- Aelurillus thailandicus Azarkina, 2019 – Thailand
- Aelurillus tumidulus Wesołowska & Tomasiewicz, 2008 – Ethiopia
- Aelurillus unitibialis Azarkina, 2002 – Iran
- Aelurillus v-insignitus (Clerck, 1757) – Europe, Turkey, Caucasus, Russia (Europe to Far East), Kazakhstan, Central Asia, China (type species)
- A. v. morulus (Simon, 1937) – France
- A. v. obsoletus Kulczyński, 1891 – Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania
- Aelurillus westi Azarkina & Zamani, 2019 – Iran
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Gen. Aelurillus Simon, 1885". World Spider Catalog. doi:10.24436/2. Retrieved 2025-10-07.
- ^ a b Murphy & Murphy 2000: 273
- ^ 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
[edit]- 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
External links
[edit]
- Short description of Aelurillus (with drawings)
- Redescription of Aelurillus subaffinis Caporiacco, 1947 (PDF)
- Photographs of A. monardi Archived 2011-07-06 at the Wayback Machine
- Photograph of A. aeruginosus