Langelurillus manifestus
A spider of the Langelurillus genus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Araneae
Infraorder:	Araneomorphae
Family:	Salticidae
Subfamily:	Salticinae
Genus:	Langelurillus
Species:	L. manifestus
Binomial name
Langelurillus manifestus Wesołowska & Russell-Smith, 2000

Langelurillus manifestus is a species of jumping spider in the genus Langelurillus that lives in Tanzania. It was first described in 2000 by Wanda Wesołowska and Anthony Russell-Smith. The spider is small, with a carapace that is between 2.1 and 2.5 mm (0.083 and 0.098 in) long and an abdomen between 2.0 and 2.2 mm (0.079 and 0.087 in) long. The female carapace is lighter than the male and has a pattern of irregular patches, which may also be found in some examples of the female abdomen. The male abdomen is lighter and has a fawn streak down the middle. The legs are brown, the female having dark rings on its legs. It is similar to other related species, particularly Langelurillus rufus, but can be distinguished by the male's larger size and lighter coloration. The female has an oval epigyne that leads to seminal ducts that are shorter than Langelurillus rufus but longer than Langelurillus squamiger.

Taxonomy

Langelurillus manifestus is a jumping spider that was first described by Wanda Wesołowska and Anthony Russell-Smith in 2000.^[1] It was one of over 500 species identified by the Polish arachnologist Wesołowska during her career.^[2] They allocated it to the genus Langelurillus, which had been raised by Maciej Próchniewicz in 1994.^[3][4] The genus is related to Aelurillus and Langona but the spiders are smaller and, unlike these genera and Phlegra, they lack the parallel stripes on the back of the body that is feature of the majority of these spiders.^[5] In 2015, Wayne Maddison placed the genus in the subtribe Aelurillina, which also contained Aelurillus, Langona and Phlegra, in the tribe Aelurillini, within the subclade Saltafresia in the clade Salticoida.^[6] In 2016, Jerzy Prószyński placed the same genera in a group named Aelurillines based on the shape of the spiders' copulatory organs.^[7] The species is named after a Latin word that means evident.^[8]

Description

Langelurillus manifestus is a small spider. The male has a carapace that is between 2.3 and 2.5 mm (0.091 and 0.098 in) long and typically 1.9 mm (0.075 in) wide.^[8] It is dark brown, rather high and covered with very short grey hairs with a short black eye field. The clypeus also has grey hairs. The chelicerae are brown awith two very small teeth visible to the front. The labium is orange.^[9] The abdomen is similar in size to the carapace, between 2.0 and 2.2 mm (0.079 and 0.087 in) long and between 1.6 and 1.7 mm (0.063 and 0.067 in) wide. It is yellowish-orange, darker towards the edges, with a fawn streak down the middle and a pattern of four dots making a trapezium shape. The underside is pale yellow. The spinnerets are black and yellow. The legs are light brown with brown spines. The pedipalps have very convex palpal bulbs and an embolus that coils around its tip. There is a very short tegular apophysis, or spike, and three tibial apophysis.^[9] The embolus is hidden behind a shield.^[10]

The female has a carapace that is smaller than the male, between 2.1 and 2.3 mm (0.083 and 0.091 in) long and 1.6 and 1.8 mm (0.063 and 0.071 in) wide.^[8] It is brown with two large irregular patches visible on the thorax similar to Langelurillus rufus. The eye field has short fawn and grey hairs. It has light brown chelicerae and a yellow or orange labium. The abdomen is similar in size to the male, measuring between 2.0 and 2.1 mm (0.079 and 0.083 in) in length and 1.9 and 2.0 mm (0.075 and 0.079 in) in width. The top is fawn and covered in brown hairs, with some examples having a pattern of irregular brown patches. The bottom of the abdomen is light. The spider has generally brown legs marked with dark rings. The epigyne is oval with two large lateral depressions, and intensely sclerotized.^[11] It has rather large copulatory openings leading to short seminary ducts and globular receptacles.^[9]

The spider is similar to the related Langelurillus rufus, but can be distinguished by the male's larger size, lighter coloration, wider palpal bulb and more curved dorsal apophysis. The female has a narrower epigyne and shorter seminal ducts.^[12] The spider can be distinguished from Langelurillus orbicularis by the shape of the male's tibial apophysis and the morphology of the female's seminal ducts.^[13] The female is also similar to Langelurillus squamiger, but differs in the way that species has even shorter seminal ducts.^[14]

Distribution and habitat

Almost all, if not all, Langelurillus spiders live in sub-Saharan Africa.^[15] Langelurillus manifestus is endemic to Tanzania.^[1] The male holotype and female paratype were discovered in 1995 in the Mkomazi National Park. It is generally only found in very dry bushland, particularly in areas of Commiphora shrubs.^[16]

References