Pseudicius adustus

Pseudicius adustus is a jumping spider that was first described by the Polish arachnologist Wanda Wesołowska in 2006. It was one of more than 500 species that she identified in her career, making her one of the most prolific in the discipline.{{cite web|author=World Spider Catalog|year=2017|title=Pseudicius adustus Wesolowska, 2006|website=World Spider Catalog|publisher=Natural History Museum|place=Bern|url=https://wsc.nmbe.ch/species/32202/Pseudicius_adustus |version=18.0|access-date=2 April 2017}}{{sfn|Wiśniewski|2020|page=6}} She allocated the species to the genus Pseudicius, first circumscribed by Eugène Simon in 1885.{{sfn|Wesołowska|2006|page=252}} The genus name is related to two Greek words that can be translated false and honest.{{sfn|Fernández-Rubio|2013|page=129}} The genus was provisionally placed alongside Icius.{{sfn|Maddison|Bodner|Needham|2008|page=56}} As they are superficially similar, Ekaterina Andreeva, Stefania Hęciak and Jerzy Prószyński looked to combine the genera in 1984.{{sfn|Andreeva|Hęciak|Prószyński|1984|page=349}} The two genera have similar spermathecal structure but work by Wayne Maddison in 1987 demonstrated that they have very different DNA.{{sfn|Maddison|Bodner|Needham|2008|page=56}} Also, despite the names looking similar, they have different etymologies.{{sfn|Fernández-Rubio|2013|page=127}} They were kept separate, but recognised as related. The two genera were placed in the tribe Heliophaninae alongside Afraflacilla and Marchena.The tribe is ubiquitous across most continents of the world.{{sfn|Maddison|Hedin|2003|page=541}} Maddison renamed the tribe Chrysillini in 2015.{{sfn|Maddison|2015|pages=247, 252}} The tribe is a member of the clade Saltafresia within the subfamily Salticoida.{{sfn|Maddison|2015|page=278}} A year later, in 2016, Jerzy Prószyński allocated Pseudicius to the Pseudiciines group of genera, which was named after the genus.{{sfn|Prószyński|2017|page=36}} Marchena is a member of the group, but Icius is not. They have flattened and elongated body and a characteristic colour pattern.{{sfn|Prószyński|2017|page=42}} The species is named for a Latin word meaning partly burnt.{{sfn|Wesołowska|2006|page=253}}

Like all Pseudicius spiders, the species is small. The female has a carapace that is typically {{convert|1.8|mm|in|abbr=on|2}} long and typically {{convert|1.3|mm|in|abbr=on|2}} wide.{{sfn|Wesołowska|2006|page=252}} The carapace is oval, flat, dark brown and covered in greyish hairs. It has a darker eye field with long, brown bristles near the eyes. The spider's face, or clypeus, is very low and covered with white hairs. The spider's mouthparts, its chelicerae and labium, are brown and it has two teeth at the front and one to the back. The underside of the carapace, or sternum, is yellow.{{sfn|Wesołowska|2006|page=253}} The abdomen is typically {{convert|2.6|mm|in|abbr=on|2}} long and typically {{convert|1.3|mm|in|abbr=on|2}} wide.{{sfn|Wesołowska|2006|page=252}} It is elongated and hairy, yellowish with a pattern of eight brown patches in pairs. The underside is yellowish-white. The spinnerets are beige and the legs are pale yellow with brown spines and light hairs. The female has copulatory organs that are typical for the genus. The epigyne is ovoid with a large deep central depression and wide insemination ducts.{{sfn|Wesołowska|2006|page=253}} The species is similar to others in the genus but is most easily identified by the pattern on its abdomen and the shape of the epigyne.{{sfn|Wesołowska|2006|page=252}} The epigyne is similar to the related Pseudicius solitarius but it has smaller receptacles and shorter insemination ducts.{{sfn|Haddad|Wesołowska|2011|page=117}} The male has not been described.

Pseudicius adustus is typical for the genus. Like many jumping spiders, it is not likely to spin webs to capture prey.{{sfn|Jackson|1986|page=13}} Instead, it is mainly a diurnal hunter that uses its good eyesight to spot its prey.{{sfn|Richman|Jackson|1992|page=33}} Pseudicius spiders frequently live in nest complexes rather than solitarily.{{sfn|Jackson|1986|page=14}} They use visual displays during courtship and transmits vibratory signals through silk to communicate to other spiders.{{sfn|Richman|Jackson|1992|page=34}}

Pseudicius spiders can be found across Afro-Eurasia and the Eastern hemisphere.{{sfn|Haddad|Wesołowska|2011|page=109}} Pseudicius adustus is endemic to Namibia. The holotype was found near Brandberg Mountain in 1991.{{sfn|Wesołowska|2006|page=252}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite journal | last1=Andreeva | first1=Ekaterina M. | last2=Hęciak | first2=Stefania| last3=Prószyński | first3=Jerzy | year=1984 | title=Remarks on Icius and Pseudicius (Araneae, Salticidae) mainly from Central Asia | journal=Annales Zoologici, Warszawa | volume=37 | number=13 | pages=349–376 | author-link3=Jerzy Prószyński}}
• {{cite journal | last=Fernández-Rubio | first=Fidel | title=La etimología de los nombres de las arañas (Araneae) | trans-title=The etymology of the names of spiders (Araneae) | journal=Revista ibérica de Aracnología | number=22 | pages=125–130 | issn=1576-9518 | year=2013 | language=ES}}
• {{cite journal | last1=Haddad | first1=Charles R. | last2=Wesołowska | first2=Wanda | year=2011 | title=New species and new records of jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) from central South Africa | journal=African Invertebrates | volume=52 | number=1 | pages=51–134 | doi=10.5733/afin.052.0105 | bibcode=2011AfrIn..52...51H | s2cid=86586010 | doi-access=free | author-link2=Wanda Wesołowska}}
• {{cite journal | last=Jackson | first=Robert R. | year=1986 | title=Communal jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) from Kenya: interspecific nest complexes, cohabitation withweb-building spiders, and intraspecific interactions | journal=New Zealand Journal of Zoology | volume=13 | pages=13–26 | doi=10.1080/03014223.1986.10422643| doi-access=free }}
• {{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. | last2=Bodner| first2=Melissa R. | last3=Needham | first3=Karen M. | year=2008 | title=Salticid spider phylogeny revisited, with the discovery of a large Australasian clade (Araneae: Salticidae) | journal=Zootaxa | volume=1893| pages=49–64 | doi=10.11646/zootaxa.1893.1.3}}
• {{cite journal | last1=Maddison | first1=Wayne P. | last2=Hedin | first2=Marshal C. | 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 | 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=2006 | title=Jumping spiders from the Brandberg massif in Namibia (Araneae: Salticidae) | journal=African Entomology | volume=14 |pages=225–256 | hdl=10520/EJC32698 | url=https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC32698 | author-link=Wanda Wesołowska}}
• {{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=Q587410}}

Category:Endemic fauna of Namibia

Category:Salticidae

Category:Spiders described in 2006

Category:Spiders of Africa

Category:Taxa named by Wanda Wesołowska