Asemonea pallida

Asemonea pallida is a jumping spider that was first described by the Polish arachnologist Wanda Wesołowska in 2001, one of over 500 species she identified during her career.{{cite web|author=World Spider Catalog|year=2017|title=Asemonea pallida Wesolowska, 2001|website=World Spider Catalog|publisher=Natural History Museum|place=Bern|url=http://www.wsc.nmbe.ch/species/28188|version=18.0|accessdate=13 May 2017}}{{sfn|Wiśniewski|2020|page=6}} The species was allocated to the genus Asemonea, first raised by Octavius Pickard-Cambridge in 1869.{{sfn|Wesołowska|2001|page=577}} The genus is related to Lyssomanes.{{sfn|Jackson|1990|page=1}} Molecular analysis demonstrates that the genus is similar to Goleba and Pandisus.{{sfn|Maddison|2015|page=236}} In Wayne Maddison's 2015 study of spider phylogenetic classification, the genus Asemonea was the type genus for the subfamily Asemoneinae.{{sfn|Maddison|2015|page=235}} A year later, in 2016, Jerzy Prószyński named it as the type genus for the Asemoneines group of genera, which was also named after the genus.{{sfn|Prószyński|2017|page=122}} The species itself has a name that is derived from the Latin for pale and relates to its coloration.{{sfn|Wesołowska|2001|page=582}}

The spider is small. The female has a moderately high elongated carapace that is between {{convert|1.9|and|2.2|mm|in|abbr=on}} long and between {{convert|1.4|and|1.8|mm|in|abbr=on}} wide. It is very light, a whitish-yellow with an even lighter eye field. Black rings surround the eyes. Typically for the genus, the eyes arranged in two rows. It has a whitish clypeus. The chelicerae are light yellow, with two small teeth visible at the front and three at the back. The abdomen is yellower and slightly broader than the carapace, between {{convert|3.0|and|3.1|mm|in|abbr=on}} long and between {{convert|1.5|and|1.8|mm|in|abbr=on}} wide. It has light spinnerets and long thin yellow legs. The pedipalps are light brown. There are spines on the palpal tibia.The epigyne is an oval with two large rounded depression towards the middle, with a raised bridge in between them. This is a distinguishing feature of the species. The seminal ducts are shorter than the similar Asemonea flava. They are initially very wide, narrowing as the wend their way to the receptacles.{{sfn|Wesołowska|2001|page=581}} The male has not been described.

The spider is typical of the genus.{{sfn|Wesołowska|2001|page=581}} Asemonea spiders rarely jump. Instead, they generally walk and run. The y spin sheet webs on the underside of leaves, where they also lay their eggs.{{sfn|Jackson|1990|page=2}} Although predominantly a diurnal hunter, the spider is also likely to eat nectar.{{sfn|Richman|Jackson|1992|page=33}}{{sfn|Jackson|Pollard|Nelson|Edwards|2001|page=28}}

The species is endemic to Kenya. The holotype was found in the Cherangany Hills in 1966 at an altitude of {{convert|1880|m|ft|abbr=on}} above sea level. Examples have been found on vegetation near water.{{sfn|Wesołowska|2001|page=581}} It thrives in mountainous areas.{{sfn|Dawidowicz|Wesołowska|2016|page=464}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite journal | last1=Dawidowicz | first1=Angelika | last2=Wesołowska | first2=Wanda | year=2016 | title=Jumping Spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) of Kenya Collected by Åke Holm | journal=Annales Zoologici | volume=66 | number=3 | pages=437–466 | doi=10.3161/00034541ANZ2016.66.3.010 | s2cid=89556915 | author-link2=Wanda Wesołowska}}
• {{cite journal | last=Jackson | first=Robert R. | title=Comparative study of lyssomanine jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae): Silk use and predatory behaviour of Asemonea, Goleba, Lyssomanes, and Onomastus | journal=New Zealand Journal of Zoology | year=1990 | volume=17 | number=1 | pages=1–6 | doi=10.1080/03014223.1990.1042257}}
• {{cite journal | last1=Jackson | first1=Robert R. | last2=Pollard | first2=Simon D. | last3=Nelson | first3=Ximena J. | last4=Edwards | first4=G. B. | first5=Alberto T. | last5=Barrion | title=Jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) that feed on nectar | journal=Journal of Zoology | volume=255 | number=1 | year=2001 | pages=25–29 | doi=10.1017/S095283690100108X}}
• {{cite journal | last=Maddison | first=Wayne P. |title=A phylogenetic classification of jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) | journal=The Journal of Arachnology | year= 2015 | volume=43 | number=3 | pages=231–292 | doi=10.1636/arac-43-03-231-292|s2cid=85680279 | author-link=Wayne Maddison}}
• {{cite journal | last1=Maddison | first1=Wayne P. | first2=Marshal C. | last2=Hedin | title=Jumping spider phylogeny (Araneae: Salticidae) | journal=Invertebrate Systematics | volume=17 | number=4 | year=2003 | pages=529–549 | doi=10.1071/IS02044}}
• {{cite journal | last=Prószyński | first=Jerzy | year=2017 | title=Pragmatic classification of the World's Salticidae (Araneae) | journal=Ecologica Montenegrina | volume=12 | pages=1–133 | doi=10.37828/em.2017.12.1 | author-link=Jerzy Prószyński| doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal | last1=Richman | first1=David B. | last2=Jackson | first2=Robert R. | title=A review of the ethology of jumping spiders (Araneae, Salticidae) | journal= Bulletin of the British Arachnology Society | year=1992 | volume= 9 | number=2 | pages=33–37}}
• {{cite journal | last=Wesołowska | first=Wanda | year=2001 | title=New and rare species of the genus Asemonea O. P.-Cambridge, 1869 from Kenya (Araneae: Salticidae) | journal=Genus | volume=12 | pages=577–584 | url=http://www.biol.uni.wroc.pl/cassidae/Asemonea.pdf | access-date=13 May 2017}}
• {{cite journal | last=Wiśniewski | first=Konrad | title=Over 40 years with jumping spiders: on the 70th birthday of Wanda Wesołowska | journal=Zootaxa | volume=4899 | number=1 | year=2020 | pages=5–14 | doi=10.11646/zootaxa.4899.1.3 | pmid=33756825 | s2cid=232337200}}

{{refend}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q2254030}}

Category:Endemic fauna of Kenya

Category:Fauna of Kenya

Category:Salticidae

Category:Spiders of Africa

Category:Spiders described in 2001

Category:Taxa named by Wanda Wesołowska