Phintella brevis

Phintella brevis is a species of jumping spider, a member of the family Salticidae that was first described in 2022 by Wanda Wesołowska and Anthony Russell-Smith.{{cite web|author=World Spider Catalog|year=2023|title=Phintella brevis Wesolowska & Russell-Smith, 2022|website=World Spider Catalog|publisher=Natural History Museum|place=Bern|url=https://wsc.nmbe.ch/species/60708/Phintella_brevis|version=24.0|access-date=10 June 2023}} The species is one of more than 500 described by Wesołowska during her career.{{sfn|Wiśniewski|2020|page=6}} It was allocated to the genus Phintella, first raised in 1906 by Embrik Strand and W. Bösenberg.{{sfn|Prószyński|1983b|page=6}} The genus has a name that is derived from the genus Phintia, which it resembles.{{sfn|Bösenberg|Strand|1906|page=333}} The spider's specific name is the Latin word for short, and relates to the length of the embolus.{{sfn|Wesołowska|Russell-Smith|2022|page=75}} The genus Phintia was itself renamed Phintodes, which was subsequently absorbed into Tylogonus.{{sfn|Cameron|Wijesinghe|1993|page=16}} There are similarities between spiders within genus Phintella and those in Chira, Chrysilla, Euophrys, Icius, Jotus and Telamonia.{{sfn|Prószyński|1983a|page=43}} Genetic analysis confirms that it is related to the genera Helvetia and Menemerus and is classified in the tribe Chrysillini, named after the genus Chrysilla.{{sfn|Maddison|Hedin|2003|page=541}}{{sfn|Maddison|2015|page=231}} In 2017, Jerzy Prószyński grouped the genus with 32 other genera of jumping spiders under the name Chrysillines in the supergroup Chrysilloida.{{sfn|Prószyński|2017|pages=10, 13, 17}}

Phintella brevis is a small spider. The male has a cephalothorax that has a length between {{convert|2.0|and|2.1|mm|in|abbr=on}} and a width between {{convert|1.4|and|1.5|mm|in|abbr=on}}. It has a brown carapace with a lighter eye field, a cross made up of white hairs on the thorax and a white band towards the rear. The Chelicerae are long and brown, with two small teeth and the front and one at the back. The remainder of the mouthparts are lighter. The spinnerets are yellow. The abdomen is between {{convert|1.9|and|2.0|mm|in|abbr=on}} long and between {{convert|1.1|and|1.2|mm|in|abbr=on}} wide.{{sfn|Wesołowska|Russell-Smith|2022|page=75}} It is a yellow oval with a vague red pattern with a yellow-white underside.{{sfn|Wesołowska|Russell-Smith|2022|page=76}} The legs are yellow, with colourless hairs and brown spines.{{sfn|Wesołowska|Russell-Smith|2022|page=77}} The pedipalps are brown and have white hairs on the top side. The embolus is very short and spiked. The tibial apophysis, or spike, has a small jagged edge, shaped like a tooth, at its tip.{{sfn|Wesołowska|Russell-Smith|2022|page=78}} It has similar colouring to the related Phintella lucida but can be distinguished by the shape of the end of the tibial apophysis.{{sfn|Wesołowska|Russell-Smith|2022|page=77}} The female has not been described.

Phintella brevis is endemic to Ivory Coast. The male holotype was found in Lamto in 1975. Other examples have been found near Mount Niangbo.{{sfn|Wesołowska|Russell-Smith|2022|page=75}} The species thrives in savanna or on the branches of shrubs.{{sfn|Wesołowska|Russell-Smith|2022|page=77}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite journal | last1=Bösenberg | first1=W. | last2=Strand | first2=Embrik | year=1906 | title=Japanische Spinnen | trans-title=Japanese Spiders | journal=Abhandlungen der Senckenbergischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft | volume=30 | pages=93–422 | language=DE}}
• {{cite journal | last1=Cameron | first1=H. D. | last2=Wijesinghe | first2=D. P. | year=1993 | title=Simon's Keys to the Salticid Groups | journal=Peckhamia | volume=3 | number=1 | pages=1–26}}
• {{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 | 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 | page=529–549 | doi=10.1071/IS02044}}
• {{cite journal | last=Prószyński | first=Jerzy | year=1983a | title=Position of genus Phintella (Araneae: Salticidae) | journal=Acta Arachnologica | volume=31 | number=2 | pages=43–48 | doi=10.2476/asjaa.31.43 | issn=1880-7852 | author-link=Jerzy Prószyński| doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal|last=Prószyński|first=Jerzy|year=1983b|title=Redescriptions of types of Oriental and Australian Salticidae (Aranea) in the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest|journal=Folia Entomologica Hungarica|volume=44|pages=283–297}}
• {{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 }}
• {{cite journal | last1=Wesołowska | first1=Wanda | last2=Russell-Smith | first2=Anthony | year=2022 | title=Jumping spiders from Ivory Coast collected by J.-C. Ledoux (Araneae, Salticidae) | journal=European Journal of Taxonomy | volume=841 | pages=1–143 | doi=10.5852/ejt.2022.841.1943 | author-link=Wanda Wesołowska| 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}}

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{{Taxonbar|from=Q116256122}}

Category:Fauna of Ivory Coast

Category:Salticidae

Category:Spiders described in 2022

Category:Spiders of Africa

Category:Taxa named by Wanda Wesołowska