Langona improcera
{{Short description|Species of spider}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Langona tigrina 118236617.jpg
| image_caption = A spider of the genus Langona
| taxon = Langona improcera
| authority = Wesołowska & Russell-Smith, 2000
}}
Langona improcera is a species of jumping spider in the genus Langona that lives in Tanzania. The male was first described by Wanda Wesołowska and Anthony Russell-Smith in 2000. The female has not been identified. The spider is large with a carapace between {{convert|2.2|and|2.4|mm|in|abbr=on}} long and an abdomen that is between {{convert|2.1|and|2.3|mm|in|abbr=on}} in length. There are traces of stripes on the reddish-brown carapace. The abdomen has a distinctive scutum that distinguishes it from related species. The palpal bulb is also unusually narrow and has a long lobe at the base which can also be used to tell the spider apart from others in the genus.
Taxonomy
Langona improcera is a jumping spider that was first described by Wanda Wesołowska and Anthony Russell-Smith in 2000.{{cite web|author=World Spider Catalog|year=2017|title=Langona improcera Wesolowska & Russell-Smith, 2000|website=World Spider Catalog|publisher=Natural History Museum|place=Bern|url=http://www.wsc.nmbe.ch/species/30322|version=18.0|accessdate=3 April 2017}} The species was placed in the genus Langona, first described by Eugène Simon in 1901.{{sfn|Wesołowska|2006|page=237}} The species is one of over 500 described by Wesołowska during her career.{{sfn|Wiśniewski|2020|page=6}} The genus was listed in the subtribe Aelurillina in the tribe Aelurillini by Wayne Maddison in 2015. These were allocated to the clade Saltafresia.{{sfn|Maddison|2015|page=279}} In 2017, the genus was grouped with nine other genera of jumping spiders under the name Aelurillines.{{sfn|Prószyński|2017|page=95}} It is particularly closely related to the genus Aelurillus, after which the subtribe, tribe and group are named.{{sfn|Wesołowska|2007|page=783}} The species name is related to the Latin word for modest.{{sfn|Wesołowska|Russell-Smith|2000|page=60}}
Description
The spider is large and hairy.{{sfn|Wesołowska|2006|page=237}} The male has a pear-shaped carapace that is between {{convert|2.2|and|2.4|mm|in|abbr=on}} in length and {{convert|2|and|2.1|mm|in|abbr=on}} in width. It is reddish-brown with a black eye field and has traces of stripes along its back. The abdomen is yellow and between {{convert|2.1|and|2.3|mm|in|abbr=on}} long and between {{convert|1.8|and|2|mm|in|abbr=on}} wide. It has a distinctive scutum on its back. The chelicerae is toothless apart from two small teeth on the edge of front. The spinnerets are long and beige. The legs are yellow and have brown hairs and spines. The pedipalps are orange with hairy cymbium. The palpal bulb is comparatively narrow with a long lobe at the base and a bump in the femur.{{sfn|Wesołowska|Russell-Smith|2000|page=61}} There is a single appendage, or apophysis, on the tibia of the pedipalps.{{sfn|Hęciak|Prószyński|1983|page=207}} The female has not been described.
The spider can be distinguished from other members of the genus by the scutum on its abdomen.{{sfn|Wesołowska|Russell-Smith|2000|page=60}} It differs from Langona warchalowskii in the narrowness of the palpal bulb and the size of the lobe at its base.{{sfn|Wesołowska|2007|page=784}}
Distribution and habitat
References
=Citations=
{{Reflist|30em}}
=Bibliography=
{{refbegin}}
- {{cite journal | last1=Hęciak | first1=Stefania | last2=Prószyński | first2=Jerzy | year=1983 | title=Remarks on Langona Simon (Araneae, Salticidae) | journal=Annales Zoologici, Warszawa | issue=37 | pages=207–233 | author-link=Jerzy Prószyński}}
- {{cite journal | last1=Maddison | first1=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 | 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| doi-access=free |author-link=Jerzy Prószyński}}
- {{cite journal | last=Wesołowska | first=Wanda | year=2006 | title=Jumping spiders from the Brandberg massif in Namibia (Araneae: Salticidae) | journal=African Entomology | volume=14 | pages=225–256 | author-link=Wanda Wesołowska}}
- {{cite journal | last=Wesołowska | first=Wanda |year=2007 | title=A new species of Langona from South Africa (Araneae: Salticidae: Aelurillinae) | journal=Genus | volume=18 | pages=783–786 | url=http://www.biol.uni.wroc.pl/cassidae/Wesolowska_Langona%20warchalowskii.pdf}}
- {{cite journal | last1=Wesołowska | first1=Wanda | last2=Russell-Smith | first2=Anthony | year=2000 | title=Jumping spiders from Mkomazi Game Reserve in Tanzania (Araneae Salticidae) | journal=Tropical Zoology | volume=13 | number=1 | pages=11–127 | doi=10.1080/03946975.2000.10531126 | doi-access=free}}
- {{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=Q2904139}}
Category:Endemic fauna of Tanzania