Biology:Aelurillus

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Aelurillus is a genus of spiders in the family Salticidae (jumping spiders).

Distribution

Species of the genus Aelurillus occur in the Palaearctic and Africa, with a few species known from India (A. improvisus, A. minimontanus) and Sri Lanka (A. kronestedti, A. quadrimaculatus). Aelurillus subfestivus is found in Japan.[1]

Description

Species of the genus Aelurillus are typically about 7 mm long in females, and up to five mm in males. They are stout, squat-shaped and rather furry, with females often uniformly mottled sandy brown, while males are often black, sometimes with a pattern and with light, annulated legs.[2]

Habits

Spiders in this genus mainly catch and feed on ants (myrmecophagy).

A Southeast Asian species of the genus Aelurillus has been observed to jump around 30-40 times its body length straight onto the back of a large gnaphosid spider and kill it.[3]

They like hot, dry, stony places or small bare open areas with dead twigs or similar amongst low vegetation.[2]

Species

As of October 2025, this genus includes 72 species and two subspecies:[1]

  • Aelurillus aeruginosus (Simon, 1871) – Mediterranean
  • Aelurillus afghanus Azarkina, 2006 – Afghanistan, Pakistan
  • Aelurillus alboclypeus Azarkina & Komnenov, 2015 – Turkey
  • Aelurillus ambiguus (Denis, 1966) – Libya
  • Aelurillus andreevae Nenilin, 1984 – Turkmenistan, Tajikistan
  • Aelurillus angularis Prószyński, 2000 – Israel
  • Aelurillus ater (Kroneberg, 1875) – Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
  • Aelurillus balearus Azarkina, 2006 – Canary Islands, Spain (Balearic Is.)
  • Aelurillus basseleti (Lucas, 1846) – Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia
  • Aelurillus blandus (Simon, 1871) – Portugal, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Morocco
  • Aelurillus bokerinus Prószyński, 2003 – Israel
  • Aelurillus bosmansi Azarkina, 2006 – Spain
  • Aelurillus brutus Wesołowska, 1996 – Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan
  • Aelurillus catherinae Prószyński, 2000 – Egypt
  • Aelurillus catus Simon, 1886 – Senegal
  • Aelurillus cognatus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872) – Lebanon
  • Aelurillus concolor Kulczyński, 1901 – Greece, North Macedonia, Turkey, Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Iran, Central Asia
  • Aelurillus conveniens (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872) – Egypt, Israel, Syria
  • Aelurillus cretensis Azarkina, 2002 – Greece (Crete)
  • Aelurillus cristatopalpus Simon, 1902 – South Africa
  • Aelurillus cypriotus Azarkina, 2006 – Cyprus
  • Aelurillus deltshevi Azarkina & Komnenov, 2015 – North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan
  • Aelurillus desertus (Wesołowska & van Harten, 2010) – United Arab Emirates
  • Aelurillus dubatolovi Azarkina, 2003 – Kazakhstan, Central Asia
  • Aelurillus faragallai Prószyński, 1993 – Saudi Arabia, Yemen
  • Aelurillus galinae Wesołowska & van Harten, 2010 – United Arab Emirates
  • Aelurillus gershomi Prószyński, 2000 – Israel, Jordan
  • Aelurillus guecki Metzner, 1999 – Greece, Turkey
  • Aelurillus helvenacius Logunov, 1993 – Mongolia
  • Aelurillus hirtipes Denis, 1960 – North Africa
  • Aelurillus improvisus Azarkina, 2002 – India
  • Aelurillus jerusalemicus Prószyński, 2000 – Israel
  • Aelurillus khorasanicus Azarkina & Mirshamsi, 2014 – Iran
  • Aelurillus kochi Roewer, 1951 – Greece, Israel, Syria, United Arab Emirates
  • Aelurillus kopetdaghi Wesołowska, 1996 – Turkmenistan
  • Aelurillus kronestedti Azarkina, 2004 – India, Sri Lanka
  • Aelurillus laniger Logunov & Marusik, 2000 – North Macedonia, Kazakhstan
  • Aelurillus latebricola Spassky, 1941 – Tajikistan
  • Aelurillus leipoldae (Metzner, 1999) – Greece (Crete)
  • Aelurillus logunovi Azarkina, 2004 – Afghanistan, Pakistan
  • Aelurillus lopadusae Cantarella, 1983 – Italy, Algeria
  • Aelurillus lucasi Roewer, 1951 – Canary Islands, Salvages
  • Aelurillus luctuosus (Lucas, 1846) – Mediterranean to Turkmenistan
  • Aelurillus lutosus (Tystshenko, 1965) – Russia (Europe, Caucasus), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
  • Aelurillus m-nigrum Kulczyński, 1891 – South-eastern Europe, Russia (Europe to Central Asia), Caucasus, Iran, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, China
  • Aelurillus madagascariensis Azarkina, 2009 – Madagascar
  • Aelurillus marusiki Azarkina, 2002 – Iran
  • Aelurillus minimontanus Azarkina, 2002 – India
  • Aelurillus minutus Azarkina, 2002 – Syria, Eritrea
  • Aelurillus mirabilis Wesołowska, 2006 – Namibia
  • Aelurillus monardi (Lucas, 1846) – Mediterranean
  • Aelurillus murphyorum Azarkina, 2022 – Kenya
  • Aelurillus nabataeus Prószyński, 2003 – Israel, Jordan
  • Aelurillus nenilini Azarkina, 2002 – Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
  • Aelurillus numidicus (Lucas, 1846) – Algeria
  • Aelurillus plumipes (Thorell, 1875) – Algeria, Tunisia
  • Aelurillus politiventris (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872) – Greece to Israel
  • Aelurillus quadrimaculatus Simon, 1889 – India, Sri Lanka
  • Aelurillus quercussuber Wunderlich, 2023 – Portugal
  • Aelurillus rugatus (Bösenberg & Lenz, 1895) – Tanzania
  • Aelurillus russellsmithi Azarkina, 2009 – Ivory Coast, Ghana
  • Aelurillus schembrii Cantarella, 1982 – Italy (mainland, Sicily), Malta
  • Aelurillus simplex (Herman, 1879) – Hungary
  • Aelurillus spinicrus (Simon, 1871) – Morocco
  • Aelurillus steinmetzi Metzner, 1999 – Croatia, Greece
  • Aelurillus subaffinis Caporiacco, 1947 – Eritrea
  • Aelurillus subfestivus Saito, 1934 – Japan
  • Aelurillus thailandicus Azarkina, 2019 – Thailand
  • Aelurillus tumidulus Wesołowska & Tomasiewicz, 2008 – Ethiopia
  • Aelurillus unitibialis Azarkina, 2002 – Iran
  • Aelurillus v-insignitus (Clerck, 1757) – Europe, Turkey, Caucasus, Russia (Europe to Far East), Kazakhstan, Central Asia, China (type species)
    • A. v. morulus (Simon, 1937) – France
    • A. v. obsoletus Kulczyński, 1891 – Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania
  • Aelurillus westi Azarkina & Zamani, 2019 – Iran

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Gen. Aelurillus Simon, 1885". World Spider Catalog. doi:10.24436/2. https://wsc.nmbe.ch/genus/2476. Retrieved 2025-10-07. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Murphy & Murphy 2000: 273
  3. ↑ Murphy & Murphy 2000: 344
  • Murphy, Frances & Murphy, John (2000): An Introduction to the Spiders of South East Asia. Malaysian Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur.

Further reading

  • Li, D., Jackson, R.R. & Harland, D.P (1999). Prey-capture techniques and prey preferences of Aelurillus aeruginosus, A. cognatus and A. kochi, ant-eating jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) from Israel. Isr. J. Zool 45: 341-.
  • Azarkina, G.N. (2004): Two new species of the genus Aelurillus Simon, 1884 from Pakistan and Sri Lanka (Araneae: Salticidae). Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 13(2): 49-52
  • Szűts, T. & Azarkina, G. (2002): Redescription of Aelurillus subaffinis Caporiacco, 1947 (Araneae: Salticidae). Annales Historico-Naturales Musei Nationalis Hungarici 94: 209-216. PDF

Wikidata ☰ Q117413 entry



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