Pseudicius maculatus

Pseudicius maculatus is a jumping spider that was first described by Charles Haddad and Wanda Wesołowska in 2011.{{cite web|author=World Spider Catalog|year=2017|title=Pseudicius maculatus Haddad & Wesołowska, 2011|website=World Spider Catalog|publisher=Natural History Museum|place=Bern|url=https://wsc.nmbe.ch/species/32248/Pseudicius_maculatus|version=18.0|access-date=27 March 2017}} They allocated the species to the genus Pseudicius, first circumscribed by Eugène Simon in 1885.{{sfn|Wesołowska|Haddad|2013|page=213}} 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 that, despite looking superficially similar, has a different etymology.{{sfn|Fernández-Rubio|2013|page=127}}{{sfn|Maddison|Bodner|Needham|2008|page=56}} Indeed, 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}} 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 the genus to the Pseudiciines group of genera, which was named after the genus.{{sfn|Prószyński|2017|page=36}} Marchena is a member of the group, while Icius is not. They have a flattened and elongated body and characteristic colour patterns.{{sfn|Prószyński|2017|page=42}} The species name is based on a Latin word that can be translated spotted or speckled and recalls the pattern on the spider's abdomen.{{sfn|Haddad|Wesołowska|2011|page=115}}

Pseudicius maculatus is a small spider. The male has a carapace that is typically {{convert|2.7|mm|in|abbr=on|2}} long and {{convert|2.0|mm|in|abbr=on|2}} wide. Oval, slightly pear-shaped and flattened, it is chocolate brown with a covering of white hairs. It has a black eye field with brown bristles and patches of fawn scales around the eyes themselves. The underside, or sternum, is dark brown. The spider has large chelicerae and dark brown labium. The oval abdomen is typically {{convert|2.7|mm|in|abbr=on|2}} long and {{convert|1.9|mm|in|abbr=on|2}} wide. It is greyish-brown with a pattern of irregular and indistinct white patches on its topside and a dark underside. The top is covered in brown and white hairs. The spinnerets are dark The legs are dark brown and covered in long, brown and pale leg hairs. The forelegs are very stout and long compared to the others. The pedipalps are pale brown.{{sfn|Haddad|Wesołowska|2011|page=115}} The tibial apophysis is very large, particularly in width, and has a pattern of tooth-like appendages. The spider has a curved embolus that points to the cymbium.{{sfn|Haddad|Wesołowska|2011|page=117}}

The female is similar to the male. The carapace is similar, measuring typically {{convert|2.5|mm|in|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|1.7|mm|in|abbr=on}} wide. The white hairs are less numerous and there is a small line of white hairs near the eyes. The sternum is brownish, as are the mouthparts.. The abdomen is typically {{convert|2.5|mm|in|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|1.6|mm|in|abbr=on}} wide.{{sfn|Haddad|Wesołowska|2011|page=115}} Compared to the male, it has a clearer pattern of black and yellow patches on the topside and a lighter underside. The legs are yellow. The spider has an epigyne with a large oval central depression leading to a deep pocket that has gonopores on its edges.{{sfn|Haddad|Wesołowska|2011|page=116}} The short wide seminal ducts lead to single-chambered, heavily sclerotized receptacles.{{sfn|Haddad|Wesołowska|2011|page=117}}

The species is similar to Pseudicius africanus, but can be recognised by its abdominal pattern. The male has a slightly shorter embolus and the tibial apophysis has an extra tooth. The female can be distinguished by the position of its copulatory openings, which are on the edge of the depression rather than the middle.{{sfn|Wesołowska|Haddad|2013|page=213}}

Pseudicius spiders can be found across Afro-Eurasia and the Eastern hemisphere.{{sfn|Haddad|Wesołowska|2011|page=109}} Pseudicius maculatus is found in Lesotho and South Africa. The holotype was found near Bethlehem in Free State, South Africa, during 1995.{{sfn|Haddad|Wesołowska|2011|page=116}} It was subsequently also found in Addo Elephant National Park and the Amathole Mountains in Eastern Cape.{{sfn|Wesołowska|Haddad|2013|page=221}} The first examples to be found in Lesotho were discovered near the Mohale Dam in Maseru District and near the Sebapela River in Quthing District.{{sfn|Wesołowska|Haddad|2014|page=249}} The spider thrives in both grassland and thickets, living in shrubs and trees.{{sfn|Wesołowska|Haddad|2013|page=222}}

{{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=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 | last1=Wesołowska | first1=Wanda | last2=Haddad | first2=Charles R. | year=2013 | title=New Data on the Jumping Spiders of South Africa (Araneae: Salticidae) | journal=African Invertebrates | volume=54 | number=1 | pages=177–240 | doi=10.5733/afin.054.0111| s2cid=59450669 | doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal | last1=Wesołowska | first1=Wanda | last2=Haddad | first2=Charles R. | year=2014 | title=An overview of the jumping spiders of Lesotho (Araneae: Salticidae), with descriptions of six new species | journal=African Invertebrates | volume=55 | number=2 | pages=229–268 | hdl= 10520/EJC161755 }}

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{{Taxonbar|from=Q2832861}}

Category:Fauna of Lesotho

Category:Salticidae

Category:Spiders described in 2011

Category:Spiders of Africa

Category:Spiders of South Africa

Category:Taxa named by Wanda Wesołowska